portugal A Walk in the Parc

A mere six years after he hit what he hopes is the mother lode, Roger Rulewich has at last begun to shape his first golf course in Portugal.

It’s been a long wait. In 2004, Rulewich was hired to provide preliminary designs for four 18-hole golf courses at Parc Alqueva, a 6,200-acre resort community in Evora, a small town that’s about 100 miles east of Lisbon. It’s the kind of commission that architects fantasize about, and Rulewich expected to break ground on the community’s first course in 2006, the second in 2008. But the Bernardston, Massachusetts-based architect had to bide his time until last year, when construction on the community’s first course finally began.

The delay was caused by environmental concerns. Evora is located in the Alentejo region of Portugal, the nation’s hottest and driest region, a place that’s long been plagued by unrelenting droughts. To provide a dependable water supply (as well as hydroelectric power) for the region’s farms, the Portuguese government built the largest reservoir in Western Europe, the 155-square-mile Alqueva Reservoir. It was flooded to capacity just about the time Rulewich won the design job.

The reservoir has an added benefit: it’s expected to become the main attraction of a golf destination. Nearly a dozen resorts and communities featuring golf courses have been proposed in the vicinity of the reservoir, although only a handful are likely to be built.

Parc Alqueva, the biggest of the proposed projects, is the first out of the gate. At build-out, it’ll have scads of villas, townhouses, and apartments, seven hotels, at least three village centers, a marina, a spa, an amphitheater, meeting space, an equestrian center, and other attractions.

The community is being developed by Sociedade Alentejana de Investimentos e Participacoes, an entity created by Jose Roquette, a local winemaker. Roquette owns the Herdade do Esporao winery, which produces mid-priced wines that are sold all over Europe.

SAIP has subdivided the Parc Alqueva property into three estates -– Roncao del Rei, Areias, and Postoro -– all of which will get golf courses.

SAIP describes Roncao, which spreads over 1,850 acres, as Parc Alqueva’s community of “culture and sophistication.” It’s currently taking shape with a marina, a hotel, and Roncao del Rei Golf Course, which is expected to open in 2012.

The second course (as well as a future course) will be part of the 2,145-acre Areias community, which is to offer a “bucolic experience.” SAIP expects to break ground on it in 2011 or 2012.

The third course will be part of Postoro, a 1,200-acre community for “active living.”

Rulewich has done routings for all four courses but hasn’t officially been hired to design any beyond the Roncao track. It’s possible that SAIP will put a “signature” design on some of the future courses.

Nonetheless, late last year Jose Roquette told reporters that the Roncao course “will be indisputably one of the best in Portugal and probably one of the best in Europe.”