Price of luxury villas in Caribbean cut by a million

CARIBBEAN:Villas in a Four Seasons resort being built in Grenada now cost from €1.5 million, writes Frances O'Rourke

VILLAS AT a luxury resort planned on the Caribbean island of Grenada are being offered to buyers from $2 million to $12 million (€1.5m-€9.24m). The starting price has been reduced by $1 million (€770,000) in response to the global credit crunch.

Buyers can stretch payments over five years, by purchasing plots of land from developer Cinnamon 88 for $850,000 to $4.5m (€655,000m-€3.46m).

However, they must sign a contract agreeing to have a home built on it - by Cinnamon, to a design specified by it - before the resort is completed in 2013. The villa prices given above include the cost of the land.

Developer Cinnamon 88 won the contract to build the Four Seasons Hotel and Private Residences resort on a 400-acre site at Hog Island and Mount Hartman in Grenada in 2005 and work on the infrastructure has begun. A bridge now links the island to the mainland.

Around 174 villas are likely to be built in the development, ranging in size from 371sq m to 1,393sq m (4,000-15,000sq ft). The tropical-style villas built with materials like teak, limestone and marble will include ponds, gardens, swimming pools, wine cellars and bars.

A five-star hotel with about 130 rooms, and including a gym, spa and restaurants, is already being built. The first phase of the resort is due to be ready by 2011. Villa owners will be able to use the hotel's facilities and will also be able to put the villas into a rental scheme operated by the hotel.

The resort will also include an 18-hole championship golf course, clubhouse, a 130-berth marina and a sailing school.

Unlike Barbados - where Cinnamon 88 is building a similar resort - Grenada has not attracted much high-end tourism up until now. Purchasers can buy freehold and there are substantial property taxes - but a 10 per cent purchase tax may be waived as part of an arrangement made through Cinnamon 88.

Cinnamon 88 was founded in 2005 by two British developers, Robin Paterson and Mike Pemberton.

In Barbados, it is building another Four Seasons resort, Clearwater Bay, where the first phase will be ready by 2009. Villas there cost from €3.11 million to €10.8 million ($11.5m-$40m), and have already been bought off plans by celebrities like Simon Cowell (who bought two), Andrew Lloyd Webber (two) and former F1 boss Eddie Jordan (one). There will be 35 four to six-bedroom villas, a hotel with 106 rooms and other facilities - like a spa and fitness centre - on a 32-acre site.

www.cinnamon88.com