Calling Cabo San Lucas
Villas del Mar offers second home owners a sense of community.
Print
Email
Bookmark
ShareApril 1, 2005
“Cabo has an Aspen appeal,” says Ron Hatfield, whose Villas del Mar development features hacienda-style homes that front the Sea of Cortez and offers postcard-perfect views of migrating whales during Baja’s warm winter months. “We have a lot of owners from Aspen. They get tired of the snow, so they come down here.”; function voidFunc() { } voidFunc();)
The Casitas at Villa del Mar blend 4,500 square feet of outdoor and indoor
living space. Signature features include outdoor fireplaces and jacuzzis and
infinity-edge pools. (Click image to enlarge)But balmy weather (the average year-round temperature is 78 degrees) is not everything. Americans, particularly, demand quality and convenience when it comes to buying a home in Los Ca-bos. “They say, ‘If I’m going to be in Mexico, I’d like to have a rustic Mexican home,’ ” Hatfield explains. What they really mean is that they would like a red cushion here and something festive there, but they also want the shower, plumbing and air conditioning to work. “There is still a false perception that you can’t drink the water, you can’t eat the food and there is low-quality construction,” he adds. After a 1994 golfing vacation in Los Cabos, Hatfield, a native Texan, became so smitten with the area that he and his partner Kenneth Schnitzer purchased a strip of land within the upscale 980-acre Palmilla development and began building villas to U.S. construction standards. All of the villas sold before completion date.
Lingering perceptions notwithstanding, the Los Cabos real estate market today is booming, particularly among Californians, Texans and Coloradoans looking for a safe and short destination from North America.
To meet the demand, the Villas del Mar portfolio, which includes 120 homes ranging in price from $1.9 million to $7 million, continues to expand. Two new estate villas and 14 homes in the new mountainside Las Terrazas neighborhood will soon be available. Estate villas, offered at $4.5 million, have 180-degree ocean views and 6,200 square feet of indoor and outdoor living space with large covered terraces and infinity pools. Las Terrazas homes, which go up to 4,000 square feet and sell for between $1.9 million to $3 million, depending on floor plan, will break ground this June. Design details include Spanish wrought iron gates, heavy Mission-style doors and an open-air courtyard surrounded by cascading vines and palm trees.
But building well-appointed homes is not enough for Hatfield. “You have to stick around and provide service, too,” he says. To that end, Villas del Mar property management services offers the customary butler, chef, concierge and maid services found elsewhere. What makes Villa del Mar unique is its proximity to the five-star One&Only Palmilla resort, where residents have access to the 27-hole signature Jack Nicklaus Palmilla golf course, Charlie Trotter’s C restaurant and spa treatments within Mandara Spa’s private villa gardens. Residents also have access to special pricing and a dedicated reservation line through Sentient Jet, an on-site interior design center and a personal golf cart to tool around the property. Even paying utility bills is easy and effortless, as they too can be handled by the property management.
Also new for 2005 is the Club Ninety Six beach club, exclusive to Villas del Mar residents. The $8.5 million club, located on Palmilla Cove, provides access to one of Los Cabos’ few good beaches for swimming and offers wine storage, outdoor spa treatments, a state-of-the-art fitness center, a poolside bar and grill, and oceanside fire pits for its members. “We are trying to bring people together,” Hatfield says. “If you really want to know what people miss, whether it’s Aspen or here or anywhere else, it’s community. At this level of in-come and house buying, it’s surprising how they all know each other or know somebody."
Villas del Mar, 877.847.1662, www.villasdelmar.com
Snell Real Estate, 877.486.7517, www.sfbcabo.com
