On the Shore of Luxury

Coral Living, February 1st, 2008

O n my second day in Cap Cana, a thunderstorm brought home the essence of this luxury resort in the Dominican Republic near Punta Cana. I’d taken a dip under clear blue skies in both the ocean and the Caletón Beach Club’s enormous swimming pool. I was enjoying a cup of coffee brewed by Mr. Davis, the butler during my stay at one of the 16 villas that radiate out from the beach club. Then the storm blew in. Rain pattered on the high thatched roof. Thunder rumbled across the flat landscape, unimpeded by tall buildings or the kind of dense development that can spoil a resort area.
The storm – more than the short drive from the airport through an empty landscape of scrubby trees, bushes and the occasional cow and horse – illustrated the thoughtful manner in which this massive project has been built so far.
Cap Cana is part of a new direction for the island destination of Punta Cana, long popular with those seeking inexpensive, all-inclusive packages featuring beaches with powder-fine sand. What it hasn’t had is a reputation as a destination for travelers seeking higher quality amenities and leisure activities beyond beachside lounging. Cap Cana is hoping to change that with help from the Dominican government, which has targeted the luxury market by encouraging high-end developments aimed at those devoted to golfing, yachting and other leisure pursuits, including exploration of the area’s food and cultural offerings.
Conceived in 2001, Cap Cana consists of more than 30,000 acres bordering the sea. Its projects are ambitious and include three Jack Nicklaus Signature golf courses. A marina anchors one end of the project, complete with high-end shops and luxury duplexes, and can host mega-yachts.
Following along the beach from the marina are seaside home sites, some with houses already built or being built; a public beach for everyone in Cap Cana; home sites on both the beach and golf courses; the Punta Espada golf course and clubhouse; Green Village, a community of homes, many already finished, with easy access to the golf course; a hotel complex; and the beach club. Finally, on the top of the bluff or farallon, is the Trump organization’s project, which includes a restaurant where I, as part of a group of journalists visiting the resort, ate lunch after touring the resort area by helicopter – the only way to grasp its dimensions. The development includes a town, complete with a school that opened in August for the children of both visitors and residents.
Grupo Abrisa, a well-known name in the Dominican Republic, is overseeing the project, aided by strategic partners. It’s expected to take 10 years or longer to complete the first phase with a planned $1.5 billion initial investment. The project uses architecture, planning and interior design to create its own unique look that encourages harmony with nature. It’s a clear departure from the kind of overheated development that continues to consume swaths of the island. A 20-minute trip to nearby Bavaro on the old road (a new highway is nearing completion) reveals buildings, hotels, condos and other projects going up at a ferocious pace. The landscape is a collage of half-built mansions and apartment projects – some abandoned unfinished – truckloads of workers and an endless flow of dump and cement trucks. Underlying development is the government’s support of tourism to boost the economy. Investments such as Cap Cana enjoy a substantial tax break.
Yet Cap Cana is not just for off-islanders. Dominicans represent more than 40 percent of purchasers, followed by U.S. citizens, who account for about 26 percent of sales. And it’s not conceived as just a tourist destination, though many buyers intend to rent out their properties (the four-bedroom villa we stayed in goes for about $4,000 a night in the high season). Indeed, said Leoncio Crespo, the project’s sales manager, creating a true community is the aim. “Our goal is to have 50 percent of owners live here year round,” he said.
And those who invest in Cap Cana are diverse, noted Saraida De Marchena Kaluche, the director of public relations: “You will see different nationalities, we have young people, professional people, retired people.”
Properties have been snapped up pretty quickly (prices range from about $400,000 for a smaller bungalow to well over $1 million for fancier digs). Indeed, 95 percent of the Trump lots – as yet without a single house – sold within four hours of being marketed earlier this year.
It’s the lure of the links that entices many buyers.

During a tour of the Green Village houses, Scott Harris and his girlfriend were also looking at the properties. “I’ve been watching this area develop for the last year or so,” said Harris, who directs television commercials for a living from his Los Angeles home. A golf enthusiast, he was going to play the Punta Espada course before making a decision.
A bit of natural history can help visitors appreciate Hispaniola – the island shared by the Dominican Republic and Haiti – even more. Oscar Alvarez, an expert in the region’s ecology who works at the project explained that some of the island was once part of a vast coral sea, and much of the land is coral rock. Underground caves and rivers crisscross the rock. The landscape is dotted with dolinas, bowl-shaped depressions of various depths where a cave roof has collapsed at some point in the distant past. Dolinas are cooler and wetter than the surrounding landscape and have their own microclimate. It’s a home to the areas’ many iguanas, and Cap Cana is preserving many dolinas on its land as well as some lakes and other natural features.
Alvarez also pointed out a plant whose bulb was used to make bread by the long vanished Taino, the original Indians. The root, when uncooked, is poisonous. “The bulb holds an alkaloid that can kill a man,” Alvarez warned.
Being out in nature helped me appreciate the essence of one of Cap Cana’s other attractions – the interior design. Patricia Reid Baquero and sister Georgia Reid are responsible for much of the interior design, including the beach club, the Green Village homes, and the Espada Golf Club, where we met with Patricia and Georgia over lunch (aglio olio with vegetables for me; no poisonous bulbs, thank you very much).
The club’s décor is a symphony of natural colors, fabrics and fibers, many, such as the rattan furniture, made by Dominican artisans. Georgia and Patricia also gather items from other island or seacoast cultures that complement the look. For example, the club has coffee tables that are actually wooden beds (minus their cloth coverings) from Bali.
The Reids have sent a lot of work to local craftspeople. In fact, the scale of the project means they’ve been able to underwrite and expand local factories. One example is the blue-and-green curtains hanging at the club’s restaurant windows. Patricia said that the aesthetic aim is to draw attention to the ocean beyond.
“It’s very simple, low key. The art is in the view,” she said, referring to the resort’s beautiful vistas.
Still, most people’s main interest in a restaurant is the food, and here, again, the Caletón Beach Club is trying to depart from the past while capturing the local culture. The menus at the Caletón Beach Club and several other Cap Cana restaurants are being revamped by executive chef Kalych Padro, who came to the project in May. During our stay, Padro and pastry chef Rene Olmeda created delights just for us.
A graduate of Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, Padro spent time learning Asian cuisine as well. He’s adapted those traditions to the Dominican ambience. Two examples: homemade cilantro pasta with guava braised ribs and crab-crusted snapper in a tomato glaze.
And for me – I don’t eat pork or seafood – he made a perfect analog of every dish so I could taste their wonderful sauces. For example when others got lobster, I was treated to the most delicious sea bass. A favorite was a dish we had during an evening devoted to Dominican-inspired food. Called majarete, it’s a corn pudding that almost makes you want to break up with your boyfriend in order to have an excuse to eat lots of it.
Another highlight: a coconut foam. I’ve wanted for a long time to try a foam – a technique popularized by Spanish chefs and used to capture a flavor’s essence. It effervesces on the tongue, leaving nothing but a memory.