As the sands of time go slowly by… so does the approval process for the Flamingo Marina in Guanacaste.

This is a follow up to my July 2007 article Flamingo Marina Project Update regarding the companies that hung in there during the long, arduous, bureaucratic approval process through the municipality of Santa Cruz. And, finally, the one company that made the cut to be awarded the concession to build and operate the future $100 million dollar Flamingo Marina.

And then there were four:

In March, there were four companies that were still in the running to bid for the Flamingo Marina. Of those four companies, only two of them actually fulfilled the requisites set by the municipality of Santa Cruz. Of the remaining two bidders, only one, Desarrollos de Marinas Matapalo Demm delivered the paperwork on time and made a mandatory $1,000,000 warranty deposit and produced the plans in the proper format.

Tamarindo Lifestyle, another bidder, came up ten minutes late and was disqualified and was given no chance for appeal. Inversiones Rigilicom came up with a warranty deposit of only $850,000 – short $150,000 of the required $1,000,000. Willily Ocean, the last bidder, did not deliver the construction plans in the proper scale.

The municipality heavily weighs the financial capability of each bidder. In this case, Marinas Matapalo Demm, was able to prove a financial capacity of 15% of the net value of the project (in this case about $11.8 Million). Some of the main investors behind Marinas Matapalo Demm are well known in the area:

1. Donald Brooks, a long time developer in the Playa Flamingo area.
2. Van Etten, a Costa Rica real estate investor.
3. Carlos Rodriguez Petyon, a real estate investor of the San Jose Holiday Inn, Flamingo Beach Resort and partner of Driftwood (Hotel Operator)
4. Carlos Rodriguez Peyton also has the financial backing of the Bank of Coral Gables, a private fund operator, Warbug Pincus, for $25,000,000 and $50,000,000 in credit from Bank of America.

It would seem that Marinas Matapalo Demm was the most financially qualified of the bidders overall.

Fast forward to April 2008, after 15 months of the process and Marinas Matapalo Demm has, as expected, been awarded the Flamingo Marina concession and management.

The ambitious marina project will consist of 424 boat slips and will include a 100 slip dry dock and a full size cruise dock that will attract some 140,000 more tourists to the Flamingo Beach area.

This world renowned beach, diving and fishing resort town will now be one of the best places to invest in my honest opinion.

The nearby towns of Potrero, Penca and Prieta will also prove to be solid real estate investment areas due to their proximity to the new marina and the new Hyatt and Rosewood Hotels. The beach areas are really abuzz of the exciting news.

Marinas Matapalo Demm will invest almost $100 million over the next two years and will also contribute some $500,000 every year to the municipality of Santa Cruz as a concession fee. Besides the boat slips and dry dock, there will be 18 spaces dedicated to the local fishermen, a new hotel, a mall, a bullring and a local artisan market.

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Written by Rebecca L. Clower who was born in Chicago, grew up in Buffalo, NY and graduated from Arizona State University. Rebecca is fluent in Spanish, thanks to her mother who is “Tica.”

Costa Rica Realtor Video Interviews – Becky Clower:

• You can see a video interview with Becky Clower about investing in Costa Rica real estate here.
• You can also see a video interview with Becky Clower about living in Costa Rica here.

Rebecca started investing in real estate at 22 years of age and it became a passion, she is also a Realtor® and after rehabbing 40 homes and selling millions in real estate in Tampa, she relocated to Costa Rica to continue practicing her love for real estate, investing and to be closer to her family.

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Andrew Makarik

to@welovecostarica.com

Andrew Makarik is the main editor of WeLoveCostaRica, a fan of this sunny country. He is also a loving husband and a has a lovely daughter. By being a devoted family man and the biggest Costa Rica fan, he wants to make more people feel at home there. WeLoveCostaRica unites people and helps them find new home or a new travel destination. This website is a friendly community where everyone can find not only information, but also new friends and travel pals. Andrew is also passionate about IT and programming, so he himself maintains a friendly atmosphere in this cozy environment of WeLoveCostaRica.com.