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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
More than 1,100 acres on the south side of the Río Matina in the Provincia de Limón are now in the hands of developers who say they plan a major project. Although construction probably will not start until 2008, the developers are the same people who are in the middle of an upscale project on the Pacific coast of Nicaragua. The property in Limón is called Playa del Sol, and it includes 1.85 miles (3 kms.) of Costa Rican Caribbean beach frontage and 1,112 acres. The property title goes to the 50-meter mark from high water thanks to decades of use prior to passage of Costa Rica's maritime zone law. Although the property is held in a corporation, Playa del Sol S.A., the individual owners include Warren Stetson, 82, of Heredia. He is a long-time resident of Costa Rica. He recalled Monday night that people laughed when he purchased the property in 1970. The property has a fresh water lake and connections to the sea via the mouth of the Río Matina that can be used in the development of a marina. The Tortugero canal runs along the west property line and goes north nearly to the Nicaraguan border. The property was purchased by a new company called Grand Caribbean Developments S.A. The purchase price listed at the Registro Nacional is $2.8 million although the property had been offered for sale for $10 million. The land is relatively flat and open for development except for mangroves along the Río Matina and canal. The Puerto Limón and the city of Limón are to the south. If developed, the project would be the biggest on the Caribbean coast to date. There also are no marinas on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica except for the Limón and Moín ports. The project certainly would be welcomed by Costa Rican officials and |
Satellite photo of proposed development
business people in the area because the Caribbean residents have long complained of being passed over by economic development. A preliminary plan for the land done by the previous owners includes an 18-hole golf course and 2,000 residential lots. Sites also were sketched out for hotels and stores. Michael Cobb, president of Gran Pacifica in Nicaragua, said his associates may invest as much as $40 million in the first stage of the Caribbean development. "Based on what we are granted in permits, we anticipate a residential and marina community that takes advantage of the canal that the banana companies dug there 50 years ago," said Cobb in an e-mail. "We expect to create a work similar in size and scope to Gran Pacifica." Gran Pacifica is described as a $50 million development similar to Costa Rica's upscale Los Sueños near Jacó. The development hosts five condo projects. The parent company of both projects appears to be ECI Ltd., a Pittsburgh, Pa., resort development company. The Nicaraguan project is due west of Managua and has 6 kms. or nearly 4 miles of beach front. Small homes and lots are being offered starting at $99,000 |
