Riviera Maya Update - From Jsquarred
December 29, 2016
Jsquarred has more information to share. Enjoy:Hi Bob and Mary Ann,
Some Updates - Feel free to post:
- Riviera Maya - the second part of the beach club is coming along nicely. They have about 30 people working on it every day. This will be an extension of the newly opened beach club which is quite crowded (obviously this is probably the busiest week of the year).
Beach Club pool area opened during the latter half of December, 2016. Photos do not do the area justice. However, it is good to know that it is open and being used. This pool area is east of the Grand Bliss units on the north side of the property.
Beach Club pool area opened during the latter half of December, 2016. Photos do not do the area justice. However, it is good to know that it is open and being used. This pool area is east of the Grand Bliss units on the north side of the property.
Lots going on. The vision and the future are amazing. Some of the day to day of running the resort is still a bit bumpy.
- The kids club will be located in this part of the beach club. To the south of the construction of the second half of the beach club is additional construction with tall concrete foundation and footings already made that will be part of a beach club specifically for Residence owners. It sounds as if this 3rd component of the beach club will be Hakkasan. There are plans, at many of the resorts, to slowly phase out Mayan Palace and the lower level offerings and replace them with Grand Luxxe. More Grand Luxxe buildings are also planned for RM. The lazy river will be opened finally. The Cirque du Soleil theater is going to be replaced by a 6,000 person, open air amphitheater for Cirque du Soleil. The first outdoor venue for CDS in the entire world. No idea as to timing. A CDS academy, where guests will be able to take circus instruction from the performers will be built in close proximity to the current theater. The parking structure on the CDS side of the highway will become a kind of strip mall with movie theater, Starbucks, fast food restaurants and a Mexican grocery store. Seems like a nice addition. The water park will be built West (behind) the CDS theater. Then, beyond the water park will be the Estates. These stretch for a LONG distance into the jungle. Plans are for close to 300 homes ranging from 1 to 9 bedroom houses from 2.5 million to 10 million (obviously these numbers will be subject to change). There will be fresh water rivers connecting the homes and solar powered boats to take owners to where they need to go. Also, a gondola designed by CDS to take Estates owners from their area to directly over the highway to the beach club. Some other exciting developments that I am not yet able to share.
- Nuevo Vallarta - Estates will be built as previously posted. Next to the current Greg Norman golf course will be a big solar power facility. These will power the property in NV with leftover electricity being donated to the town. Similar to above, over a long period of time Grand Luxxe will replace other existing hotels. Water Park scheduled to open in Nov. 2017 and the full second phase by Nov. 2018. CDS will be a 1.8 BILLION investment.
- East Cape - Construction has started but no timetable. Most of the resources are going to the theme park, but this is moving forward. Will be all Grand Luxxe with an emphasis on Residence type units. Also, Mansions of the World makes a comeback at this location. A humungous (second largest in the world) salt water pool. Will include sections for cliff diving and jet skiing among other things. The beach club and lazy river will be located on an island within the pool. This resort is built on a mountainside and the golf course will climb along this mountain. There was lots of politics involved with this construction which in part caused some of the delays.
- Other properties - keep hearing about Cuba, Dominican, Hawaii and Costa Rica among others. BUT, absolutely no plans at the moment. Obviously this can change at a moments notice. I think there is a lot of thought being given within the company about how to benefit from changes that might occur due to a Trump administration. They think it will actually benefit Vidanta as more Mexicans, central and south americans will travel and buy in Mexico and not the US.
- Contracts - there are no more upgrades. Unclear if this was at this moment, or forever. Surely, the idea is to shift to a much more exclusive offering and clientel with a much higher price point. They have a new marketing arrangement with Neiman Marcus (which is owned by Texas Pacific Group that also owns CDS). They are hoping to benefit from the exclusive high end clients of Neiman Marcus. They expect all of our contracts to be worth quite a bit more when the theme park opens.
Happy and healthy New Year.