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In a normal world this wouldn’t be news. But these days it seems worth mentioning that a condo and marina development on St. Maarten is opening this month, as planned.
Well, maybe not exactly as planned. The web site for Porto Cupecoy says the project will be completed in summer of 2009. But perhaps that’s quibbling. The project, developed by Orient-Express Hotels Ltd., will officially open next month, bucking the tide of delays and cancellations in the Caribbean.
Porto Cupecoy will eventually include 182 residential units, in addition to restaurants, shops and the marina, with slips up to 200 feet. Seventy percent of the initial phases are sold out and 50 percent of the overall project, according to a press release, which boasts that the development is “proving to be an exception to the rule in the Caribbean real estate market.”
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Several factors have helped sales, the company says. For one, St. Maarten’s unique cultural mix means the project draws customers from France and the Netherlands, in addition to the United States and Canada. The project also benefitted from “a large contingency of primary home buyers who are trading up to Porto Cupecoy from their primary homes elsewhere in St. Martin, St. Barts and the Caribbean.”
“Pre-opening discounts” also lowered the entry price to $400,000 (with the top end priced at $2.8 million). And St. Maarten offers an attractive list of financial benefits, including no property taxes, no capital gains taxes and low closing costs.
To “further entice potential buyers,” developers offered 90 percent financing, two year’s free homeowner’s fees and gave away a free unit with the purchase of a large yacht slip. Prices for yacht slips range from $150,000 to $3 million and, in a unique arrange, the project managers will rent slips for owners when they are not in use, in addition to an on-site rental program for residential units.
