Posted by: Editor on Oct 25, 2006 – 10:37 AM
newsandinfo Wish You Were Here
A group of high-profile investors, including pop star Shakira, 29, and Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters, 63, are in contract to buy–and eventually develop–the 700-acre Bahamian island of Bonds Cay.
In addition to a boutique hotel, luxury condominiums and homes with private beaches, the island will house an artists’ retreat. There will be a rotating cast of artists-in-residence, galleries populated with up-and-comers’ works and a program that offers semester-long sabbaticals.
“It’s not about having 200 speedboats and an 18-hole golf course,” says Arturo Rubenstein, a Miami-based investor whose partners in the project also include Antonio De La Rua, son of Argentina’s former president Fernando De La Rua, and New York City financial services firm Guggenheim Capital. “I would say it is an explosion of the senses. It’s a concept more related to art and culture.”
The island is situated in the north-central Bahamas, in an area known as the Berry Islands. It is about 125 miles off the east coast of Florida and boasts three salt pond lakes and five major beaches, including a private cove beach on the island’s northern end.
“It’s a beautiful island,” says John Christie, vice president of Caribbean real estate brokerage H.G. Christie. “It’s got some height to it, which means as you build up, you get better views. There is the ocean to the east of it so you’ve got reefs and views of turquoise water. On the other side of the island is limey, light turquoise water because it is shallow. It’s a great bone fishing area.”
Also involved in the project are Latin American recording artist Miguel Bose, 50, and 37-year-old Spanish pop star Alejandro Sanz, also known for his work on the 2005 Shakira duet, “La Tortura.”
What makes this development different than other celebrity-affiliated projects, Rubenstein says, is that these stars will own homes on the island and reside there part of the year. He plans to begin construction in mid-2007 with a first phase of offerings to hit the market three years later.
Bronfman For Broker?
If he ever decides to leave his day job, it appears Edgar Bronfman Jr.’s got a promising second career in real estate.
In the last several years, Warner Music Group’s chairman and chief executive has listed a number of properties in New York’s Hamptons, including a 6,800-square-foot house on 3.2 acres in Amagansett, priced at $9.5 million, and a five-bedroom home in Amagansett for which he asked $10.25 million. In late 2005, he bought a 4.5-acre Bridgehampton spread for $31 million.
Currently on the market: his 8,000-square-foot home on Indian Wells Lane in Amagansett. Bronfman, 51, bought the three-lot spread, formerly the site of the grass tennis court Namagansett Club, for $12.5 million in the spring of 2005. He is hoping to find a buyer willing to pay nearly $15.8 million for the property, which was gut renovated by a previous owner in 2000.
In addition to six bedrooms and seven-and-a-half bathrooms, the shingled estate features wrap-around porches, a gourmet eat-in kitchen with marble countertops, a full basement with a media/billiard room, a guest cottage, a 42-foot gunite pool, pool house and gardens by award-winning designer Deborah Nevins.
“What’s unique is that it is almost 3.5 acres, but it is three separate lots,” says listing agent William Wolff of the Corcoran Group. “If someone wanted, they could have a family compound or put in a tennis court.”
They can also walk to town or the nearby Indian Wells Beach–perfect for the harried Manhattanite in search of some upscale downtime.
Lucy Maher
Forbes.com