Private Islands

« Top Destination: One Foot Island, Aitutaki | Home | Private Islands: The True Way to Live Like a Billionaire »

Should You Retire On Scrub Island?

By Islomaniac | March 2, 2007

It seems that developers are running out of space in the US and the Caribbean to build their posh houses and condos. As a result they have been “forced” to turn to more remote locations in the Caribbean. Follow the link to read the story from the Wall Street Journal. Development for many is synonymous with exploitation so I am interested in reading any comments you may have on the story.

Scrub island

Image source:

June Fletcher

The Wall Street Journal

March 2, 2006 

Source: 

,In a bid to feed the growing appetite for second homes among U.S. residents, a number of major developers are building luxury projects on far-flung Caribbean islands.

Americans have been buying vacation or retirement places for years on well-known Caribbean islands like St. Thomas, Barbados and St. Croix. But the latest wave of building involves real estate that doesn’t register on most people’s radar — islands with names like Great Exuma, Roatan and Scrub — and is geared toward everyone from small-time investors looking for a bargain to wealthy executives seeking a tax haven.

The new waterfront developments include big players like Marriott International Inc.’s Ritz-Carlton, Four Seasons Hotels Inc., and Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc.’s St. Regis Hotels and Resorts. With Swiss/Italian partners, New York developer Donald Trump is building Trump Island Villas on the five-square-mile island of Canouan.

At least 30 resorts with some residential component are planned or under construction throughout the Caribbean, double the number of two years ago, says Scott Berman, a partner specializing in the hospitality industry at PricewaterhouseCoopers in Miami.

None of these new resorts have yet developed the chic of Mustique, a magnet for jet-setters like fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger, rocker Mick Jagger and the late Princess Margaret. In fact, some lack amenities that Americans take for granted, like movie theaters, libraries, supermarkets and golf courses. Scrub Island, a 230-acre island four miles east of Tortola in the British Virgin Islands, has only one restaurant and hardly any people.

Nevertheless, developers are hoping the resorts will catch on with buyers who are looking for unspoiled places to vacation or retire. “People want a ‘Don’t worry, be happy’ kind of island,” says Sarasota, Fla., real-estate broker Michael Saunders, adding that people are buying second homes in the Caribbean because the islands are “pristine, the way Florida used to be.”

Of course, some Caribbean islands are also famous as tax havens, charging permanent residents no or low property, capital-gains, inheritance or income taxes. For some wealthy individuals, that’s as much of an incentive to buy as the prospect of a cool drink and a hammock by the sea.
Though the cost of living is often low by American standards — particularly for local products such as fruits, vegetables and seafood — so are wages. “You feel a little guilty when you know your net worth is 1,000 times that of the average person,” says Marc Walch, a civil engineer who bought a $230,000 oceanfront duplex on Roatan, an island 30 miles off the coast of Honduras, three years ago.

Click here to read the rest of the article:

Share This     Subscribe to This Blog

Topics: Islands in the News, Island Luxury, Islands for Sale, Miscellaneous |

Comments