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12/01/2006
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| [Real Estate] |
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| Luxury living at the tip of Baja. |
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Locals call it the Rapture of Baja. Precisely, they speak of Los Cabos’
combination of rugged beauty, low humidity and cooling Sea of Cortés breezes
that frequently converts a visitor to a resident. Located where the Baja
Peninsula ends and the Tropic of Cancer begins, the capes—which consist of a
20-mile strip of desert and beach anchored by the two small towns of Cabo San
Lucas and San José del Cabo—have long attracted divers and anglers. But not
until more recent years, when Don Koll, a California land developer who, in
1990, commissioned Jack Nicklaus to design 27 holes at the historic Palmilla
hotel in San José del Cabo, did the region truly take off as a luxury travel
destination.
 Los Cabos’ Villas Del Mar wraps around a V-shaped point of land that
includes the One&Only Palmilla resort and a 27-hole Jack Nicklaus golf
course. (Click image to enlarge)
Indeed, it was the championship golf that first brought Texas
land developer, Ron Hatfield, and his business partner, Ken Schnitzer, to Los
Cabos in 1994. But before their four-day vacation came to a close, the pair
abandoned play for business, and began negotiations to purchase property within
the 980-acre Palmilla development. “My partner found out that the old Palmilla
hotel was for sale and started talking to Don Koll about the possibility of
buying it,” says Hatfield. “However, we decided to start small and buy a strip
of land instead.” Within two years, the partners broke ground on a six-home
subdivision. It would be the first of several phases that now makes up one of
the most well-planned residential communities in Mexico.
From top: Ocean-side Las Haciendas villas are priced at $7 million. Two
homes from Las Entradas priced at $2.25 milion. (Click images to enlarge)
“We were successful
with those six, so we bought land to build five more and sold those—then we
started in earnest to develop Villas Del Mar,” says Hatfield, who now partners
with the Schnitzer family, following Ken Schnitzer’s death in 1999. In 1997, a
year after the first phase began, the second phase consisted of 30 beachfront
homes priced from $1.2 million to $1.8 million (resale prices currently start at
$5 million). At the time, building restrictions within the Palmilla development
called for a Mexican colonial look, with all homes painted white and roofed in
red clay tiles. Over the years, designs began to vary. Casitas originally built
as sexy two-bedroom cottages are today constructed as four-bedroom residences
puzzled next to each other around hillsides. Each includes generous outdoor
living spaces with ocean views—a feature that plays prominently in the 189 homes
at Villas Del Mar.
“As the development has matured and has become more
popular,” ex-plains Hatfield, “people seem to need more and more space.” Of the
six op-tions available, the largest are the 14 newly constructed Las Haciendas
villas. Each five-bedroom home offers up to 5,300 square feet of indoor space
and 6,500 square feet of outdoor living space, which consists of a cooking and
dining area, a separate rock fire pit and fireplace, a heated infinity pool, a
whirlpool hot tub and a private garden courtyard. The homes, priced from $5.8
million to $7 million, blend nicely into the community’s longstanding
architectural requirements and feature such rustic elements as stone retaining
walls, heavy hand-carved wooden doors and travertine floors.
The registration and lobby areas of the private beach club, Club Ninety Six. (Click images to enlarge)
But the
objective is not so much authenticity as it is quality. All Villas Del Mar
homes are built to U.S. standards and feature such comforts as central
air-conditioning, wireless In-ternet service, satellite TV and fiber-optic
telephone service. Then there are the gourmet kitchens, wine cellars and
capacious bathroom suites containing whirlpool tubs built for two. “Still,” says
Hatfield, “when people are paying between $5 million and $6 million for a
vacation house, it’s not because they need another home. Most of our buyers
already have one or two, and some of them three or four. What we are really
selling is an experience, and a big part of that is the service and
amenities.”
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 Calling Cabo San Lucas
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Villas Del Mar
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A New Luxury Mountainside Community
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The Founders Club at Estancia Del Mar, Costa Rica
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Stella del Mare, Hilton Head Island
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