The "7 Days in Paradise" timeshare?

[Gambitt]

Cuba invites foreign investors into beach resort
von Daniel Thomas (London)

Cuban real estate is up for grabs
ANZEIGE
Overseas private investors and homebuyers are to be given a rare chance to buy Cuban real estate in a move that marks a further loosening of the economic constraints imposed on the island since Fidel Castro seized power 50 years ago. Cuba is set to offer investors the chance to buy an apartment in an exclusive beach resort on the north coast. The leasehold will initially be for 75 years, although the resort's developer hopes to be able to convert it into a freehold.

Esencia Hotels & Resorts, a UK company, expects to get the final go-ahead from the Cuban government in the coming weeks and hopes to begin marketing the resort in June. Andrew MacDonald, chief executive of Esencia, said Cuba's only previous foray into overseas property sales is believed to have involved a handful of leaseholds in the capital Havana eight years ago. "We are in the final stages of the project with the government, and hope to be started before the end of the year," he said. "The Cuban tourism market is growing strongly, so we anticipate significant interest in this."

What's on offer

The Carbonera Club will be a luxurious beachfront resort an hour's drive from Havana, near the tourist destination of Varadero. It will include a hotel, spa, 18-hole golf course and yacht club. The resort, which is being marketed by Savills, the estate agency, is expected to ask for a minimum of $1,500 a square metre for the most basic apartments. The designer is Sir Terence Conran and the architect is Rafael De La Hoz. Construction will be completed in 2011.

Savills said there was likely to be little or no sales or capital gains tax, which would make it attractive to investors. The government says it is planning to open a series of hotels and resorts to improve tourism, one of its top-earning industries, over the next few years.

The Caribbean island attracted more than 2m tourists last year, many from the UK and Spain. The resort will also be marketed in Canada, which unlike the US is not subject to travel and trade restrictions.

Mr Castro nationalised private property when he seized power in the late 1950s, but Cuba has been moving towards a freer market economy in the past few years. He transferred leadership to his brother, Raśl Castro, in 2008.

So, if a bunch of us got together, to purchase one of these apartments, we would have our own place to stay in Varadero, and we could price-out the remaining weeks, to help recover the initial costs?

[JohnnyCastaway]

$1500 (USD i assume) per square metre...
300 sq ft apartment=approximately 100 sq m
$1500 x 100 = $150,000 USD (or ~$174,000 CAD) for a "basic" 300 sq-ft apartment....

 

[flopnfly]

All these nice new apartments will be built and then put up for sale. 

Along come the trusting Canadians, we buy them up and then the Cuban government comes along and takes them off of us in the name of Nationalism???

the cubans have all these nice new apartments to live in and we're out $150,000. 

I'm all for donating to the Cubans but not to that extent.

[Bulldog]

6/49 may help me buy in one day, hopefully tomorrow night 

[bmnichol]

Heather, that was my thoughts also. You can't really own anything in a Communist country, can you???

[flopnfly]

Also.....what happens if they build these on property that used to belong to someone else?? What happens when the Castros are gone and people want to reclaim their land?  Do they also get the new buildings on their land?

[Bulldog]

Heather, that was my thoughts also. You can't really own anything in a Communist country, can you???

It's a timeshare so you only own the right to use it 

[Jammyisme]

IM in . Al in favour raise your hand! 

[karmadoc]

Their distances according to this document don't compute...

http://www.esenciahotelsandresorts.com/carbonera/CC_Overview.pdf

"The Carbonera Club is a unique, luxury beachfront development, which combines Golf and Luxury
living. Located 40 minutes by car from Havana and 20 minutes from the existing tourist destination of Varadero."

Last I checked it takes a fair bit longer than 60 minutes to drive from Havana to Varadero

And OMG please don't let Cuba turn into a timeshare hell like so many other places in the world, it's not gonna benefit the majority of average Cubans any, just ask the Mexicans living on the Yucatan Penninsula.

[Windsortraveler]

I was told they were going to be at the tip of the penninsula, which would be 20 minutes from Varadero.
40 minutes from Havana puts you about where there are already two resorts, doesn't it?

[karmadoc]

Windsor, are you thinking Breezes and Cameleon Jibacoa?
That's what I thought, but they are a hell of a lot further than 20 minutes from Varadero...so I'm not sure where they are talking about..

[Windsortraveler]

Yes I was, but they are about 40 minutes from Havana. and I would think 40 to 45 minutes from Varadero.  I think they have the times wrong from Havana. 
Varadero plus 20 puts you at the end of the penninsula, and I was told by a "semi-reliable" source that that is where they were planning them.  They already have a marina there for the yacht club, and the Varadero Golf Course, although I think that course is only 9 holes and I don't know how they could have enough room for an 18 hole course anywhere on the penninsula. 

[Windsortraveler]

Well, I was wrong - I checked it out and the Varadero Golf Course is in fact 18 holes.

So, if they build at the end of the penninsula they have the marina (yacht club) and they have the golf course and they are about 20 minutes from Varadero, and there is certainly enough land there to build a time share complex.