Pellas Development Group has started selling houses at its “eco-luxe” resort community in southwestern Nicaragua, and it says that it plans to break ground on the property's golf course next year.
The resort is called Guacalito de la Isla, and it's taking shape on 1,670 acres outside Rivas, a city of 28,000 located between the Pacific Ocean and Lake Nicaragua. Rivas is part of a 30-mile stretch of coastline that’s mostly known for its surfing but is primed for development. Nicaragua's real estate interests have taken to calling it “the Emerald Coast.”
At build-out, according to a press release gratefully reprinted by the Victoria Times Colonist, Guacalito de la Isla will consist of houses (52 lots and 32 villas are currently for sale), a boutique hotel, a marina, a beach club, an equestrian center, a “world-class” spa (jeez, is there any other kind?), and other attractions.
The community's 18-hole course has been designed by David McLay Kidd, the “purist” architect whose best-known layouts include the first course at the Bandon Dunes resort in Bandon, Oregon and two highly regarded tracks in Scotland, the Castle Course at St. Andrews in St. Andrews and Machrihanish Dunes in Machrihanish.
Pellas Development is controlled by Don Carlos Pellas, Nicaragua's richest and most powerful individual. His Grupo Pellas includes about 50 companies, including Nicaragua Sugar Estates, Ltd., the nation’s leading sugar producer, and BAC International Bank, which operates in every Central American nation as well as in Coral Gables, Florida. Grupo Pellas also owns a Toyota dealership, the company that makes Flor de Cana rum, and firms that produce electricity and ethanol.
Pellas says that Guacalito de la Isla is merely the first of several “socially and environmentally sustainable communities” that it plans to build in Central America.
“This new generation of green destinations will be in some of the world’s most unspoiled locations,” Pellas says in the press release. “Each will cater to homeowners and guests who wish to make a difference in their families, their communities and their environment.”
Pellas didn't say whether his new communities would have golf courses, but if Nicaragua is going to develop as a golf destination, it needs deep-pocketed people like him to lead the way. Nicaragua currently has just one golf course, a nine-hole, Neal Oldenburg-designed track at Hacienda Iguana Golf & Beach Club in Tola. At least two other courses are reported to be under construction, including a Mike Young-designed course at Montecristo Golf Club in Leon, and Jack Nicklaus has been hired to design a “signature” course at Seaside Mariana in San Rafael del Sur.
argentina Another First for Greg Norman
Last month, a company controlled by one of the richest people in the United States broke ground on Greg Norman's first golf course in South America.
Norman's 18-hole, 7,100-yard course will be the centerpiece of El Desafio, a 2,500-acre resort community that’s emerging in the Andes Mountains just outside San Martin de los Andes, in the Patagonia region of southern Argentina.
"It's going to be a spectacular golf course," Norman said in a press release.
I'm sure that the community's well-heeled residents expect nothing less.
El Desafio is being developed by Hicks Trans American Partners LLC, an entity created by Tom Hicks, the principal of Dallas, Texas-based Hicks Holdings LLC and a long-time member of the Forbes 400. Hicks has his fingers in a lot of investment pies -– satellite television, steel-making, professional sports, real estate development -– but he's probably best known in the United States as the former owner of the Texas Rangers. Hicks is the guy who signed Alex Rodriguez, now of the New York Yankees, to what was at the time (in 2000) the biggest contract in the history of sports (10 years, $252 million).
The press release doesn't say how much Norman is being paid.
"I have designed mountain courses before, but this course will be unique with its dramatic backdrops and rugged beautiful terrain," said Norman. "We spent a lot of time trying to ensure the best routing for this beautiful piece of property. We wanted to use a least-disturbance approach and create great golf at the same time."
Hicks is developing El Desafio with Terra Patagonia, an Argentine developer. At build-out, the community will include houses, a mountain lodge with the obligatory spa, an equestrian center, and a pair of professional polo fields, one of which has already opened for play.
Those Argentines, they have their priorities.
west virginia A Battle at the Greenbrier
When it comes to building and rebuilding golf courses, disputes over construction-related problems are common. These disputes are rarely made public, however, because they're ultimately bad for business. Nobody benefits.
Unfortunately, that fact hasn't stopped some of the golf industry's best-known personalities from airing their dirty laundry in West Virginia newspapers.
The fight involves the historic, world-famous Greenbrier resort in White Sulphur Springs, which last year hired Lester George, a Virginia-based golf designer, and Aspen Corporation, a West Virginia-based construction company, to prepare its Old White course to host the inaugural Greenbrier Classic.
This fall, George and Aspen sued the Greenbrier, claiming that they weren't paid for services rendered. George said he was owed nearly $200,000, and Aspen said it was owed $1.275 million. Aspen also put a lien on the Greenbrier's 6,500-acre property.
“All work requested of Aspen by the Greenbrier was completed on time and prior to the Greenbrier Classic,” said Aspen, according to a story in the Charleston Daily Mail. “The Old White Golf Course received rave reviews during and following the Greenbrier Classic.”
When news of the suits was made public, Jim Justice, the Greenbrier's owner, came out with guns blazing. The work done by George and Aspen, he told the Beckley Register-Herald, “was so sub-par, it was off the chart.” He also accused George and Aspen of “extreme over-charging -- ridiculous over-charging.”
Justice, a wealthy landowner who bought the failing Greenbrier last year, also vowed to file a counter-suit against Aspen “in the very near future,” and he noted that the amount would be “for approximately 10 times the amount of their suit.”
As best I can determine, Justice hasn't yet filed his counter-suit. But last week George amended his complaint against the Greenbrier, charging Justice with defamation. George called Justice's comments “malicious, spurious, unfounded, false statements” that were designed to harm his reputation.
Here's some news, guys: Lester George's isn't the only reputation that's being harmed.
venezuela A Message from the President
Once again, Hugo Chavez is saying unkind things about golf.
During a recent edition of his weekly television show (it's called “Alo, Presidente”), Chavez reiterated his belief that Venezuela's golf courses should be expropriated and converted to more socially beneficial uses.
“That’s an injustice, that someone should have the luxury of having I don’t know how many hectares to play golf and drink whiskey and, next door, there’s misery and children dying when there are landslides,” Chavez said.
Chavez was referring to recent landslides caused by heavy rains. The landslides destroyed many houses, killing dozens of people and exacerbating an already acute housing shortage.
His comment was the second time in about a year that Chavez has taken a shot at golf. Last summer, you'll recall, he famously called golf “a bourgeois sport” -- which, honesty compels me to admit, is true -- and asked the timeless question, “Do you mean to tell me this is a people’s sport?”
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