Poas Burps -Live Streaming!!

ISSUE #655: April 17-22, 2017

2017-04-24

Brian Timmons, Newsletter Author
Brian Timmons

Dear friends,

When I started Residencias Los Jardines, I started writing a weekly newsletter -determined to tell all the good, bad, and the ugly. I knew some readers would be interested in the construction process. I expected others might be interested in the lifestyle of two people who had decided to live outside the box. For others, the adventures of Lita, the parrot and the cat took on an entertainment saga all its own.

Residencias Los Jardines is finished. We periodically have re-sales and rental availability. Some readers may be interested in this information.

Brian Timmons
Developer / Property manager
Residencias Los Jardines

Web: https://www.residenciaslosjardines.com
Emails: info@residenciaslosjardines.com
ResidenciasPropertyManagement@gmail.com

Featured
rentals & sales

Paradisus Condos / Rohrmoser
FOR SALE / RENT
Visit our website

Paradisus Condos - click to visit

Each of the units consists of two bedrooms / two bathrooms, and a large living/dining/kitchen area. The floor plan of each of these units has eliminated the optional "den / office" divider. The result is a larger area offering more flexible furniture arrangements while still maintaining the option of including an office area. At 105m2 plus two parking spots each and storage locker, they offer a great opportunity for someone seeking views, security, central location, and first class, all round living...

PRICE REDUCTION
Semi furnished unit: For sale: $235,000
Fully furnished unit: For sale: $245,000
Floor 12 -west view

FOR RENT
13th Fl / East view
furnished​
Available April 5
$1,400

 

Escazú
FOR SALE: Agent says this is a Bargain...

$225,000
2700 sq ft house in best area Escazu
Owner finance at 8%
This is 3-4 bedroom house with garden and views with owner finance at 8% for balance of $200,000. 2 car garage with watchman directly in front of the house. Downpayment is $25,000

Market activity
sales & rentals

Sales: Los Jardines: Units #106A, #114, #123, #124 and #125

Rentals: Paradisus: For Rent: 13th Fl / East view / furnished​ / Available April 5 / $1,400
Los Jardines: Unit #112 available for rent / May 1st / $1,250 mo.

Residencias Los Jardines
property management, rentals & re-sales

FOR SALE
Unit #106A: $ 165,000 / See Unit
Unit #114: $ 199,000 / See Unit
Unit #123: $ 199,500 / See Unit
Unit #124: $ 135,000 / See Unit [new]
Unit #125: $ 135,000 / See Unit

FOR RENT
Unit #112: $ 1,250 mo / May 1st See Unit

For sale

UNIT #106A
FOR SALE
$165,000

Total Area (Sq Ft): 1250
Total area (Sq M): 120
Bedrooms: 2
Bathrooms: 2
Floor(s): 1
Type: Apartment
Furnished: Yes

This is a fully furnished 2-bedroom unit situated in a 2-story building, which has two units on the ground floor and two units on the 2nd. floor. Each unit is the same size (1,250sf) divided into 800 sf of interior space and 450 sf of covered front and back terraces. Units 106A and B are on the ground floor; Units 106 C and D are on the 2nd. Floor. The solid masonry demising wall (common wall) as well as the 5" concrete slab prevent sound transference.

UNIT #114
FOR SALE
$199,000

Total Area (Sq Ft): 1290
Total area (Sq M): 120
Bedrooms: 2
Bathrooms: 2
Floor(s): 1
Type: Semi-Attached
Furnished: Yes

This 2 bedroom/2bathroom,1,290 sf single floor end unit home includes a 150 sf front terrace plus parking for one car. This house is fully air conditioned and has recently been professionally decorated by international decorator Alcides Graffe and has undergone a complete renovation—new modern furniture, finishings, window coverings, and art work by Carlos Gambino. It is arguably the nicest furnished unit at Residencias Los Jardines and only steps from the pool

UNIT #123
FOR SALE
$199,500

Total Area (Sq Ft): 1516
Total area (Sq M): 140
Bedrooms: 2
Bathrooms: 2.5
Floor(s): 2 story
Type: Detached
Furnished: Yes

This two story, detached 1,423 sf home + parking for one car has two bedrooms, 2 ½ bathrooms and a 2nd floor covered terrace.
The open railed wrought iron cement stair case leads to the 2nd level where the master bedroom with en-suite master bathroom as well as 2nd bedroom and en-suite bathroom are located. Also accessed from the 2nd floor hallway is the covered terrace.
This is a very nicely furnished home with a good floor plan for those wanting two floors.

UNIT #124
FOR SALE
$135,000

Total Area (Sq Ft): 662
Total area (Sq M): 61
Bedrooms: 1
Bathrooms: 1
Floor(s): 2nd Floor
Type: Semi-Detached
Furnished: Yes

This 662 sf, + covered parking for one car, is a one bedroom home on the 2nd floor overlooking the large pool. It is ideal for a single person or couple.

UNIT #125
FOR SALE
$135,000

Total Area (Sq Ft): 662
Total area (Sq M): 61
Bedrooms: 1
Bathrooms: 1
Floor(s): 2 floor
Type: Semi-Detached
Furnished: Yes

This 662 sf, + parking for one car and 33sf locker is a one bedroom home on the 2nd floor overlooking the large pool. It is ideal for a single person or couple—or investment property.

For rent

UNIT #112
FOR RENT
$1,250 mo.
Available May 1st

Total Area (Sq Ft): 1290
Total area (Sq M): 120
Bedrooms: 2
Bathrooms: 2
Floor(s): 1
Type: Attached
Furnished: Yes

This 1,290 sf single floor home includes a 300 sf front terrace plus parking for one car. It is attached on two sides by a 6 inch cement demising (common) wall, which prevents sound transfer.

Our Lives

Weather: The Central Valley continues to transition into the rainy season... we have had rains 3-4 times this past week... Plants are happy...

Poas Burps!!! or F...ts as the case is: this is about as exciting as it got this week... sulpherous eruptions with loud noises... sounds like me without "bean-o"

Tranquility in the Central Valley: a condition of Semana Santa only... now, normal chaos.

Market Activity: only one call / viewing which resulted in the rental of 116.

My Car: again I am hopeful.

News Items of the Week

Comments

1. Poas: it has been belching but no ash

2. Golfito Marina Village: an update on a long, strung out development. Golfito Bay is a fantastic anchorage and beautiful but there is no infrastructure there for a marina or for a destination other than a rest stop... again MHO

3. Discovery Park: something smells about this one just as it smelled of another mega development involving Joe Biden's brother... I cannot understand why anyone would choose this location..it is hotter than hell, water is a continual problem despite what is said in this article, and I just cannot fathom anyone being able to enjoy anything in 40C / 100 F temperatures... when the countryside is dying for lack of water and the ocean being another 30 min. distance... something is not right here... MHO

1. Watch Live Streaming from Volcan Poas

https://www.ovsicori.una.ac.cr/index.php/vulcanologia/camaras-volcanes/volcan-poas

2.President Solís inaugurates first phase of long-awaited Golfito Marina Village

GOLFITO, Puntarenas — The president of Costa Rica flew into Golfito on Friday to inaugurate the first phase of a dream a dozen years in the making, the Golfito Marina Village and Resort.

“Few things satisfy the president of the republic more than inaugurating projects like this that create jobs, produce conditions of well-being for communities that need them, and to do it in a region so rich and so beloved for me as the Southern Zone,” said President Luis Guillermo Solís at an event attended by hundreds of people, including local schoolchildren.

Phase I includes a 50-slip marinas for 40- to 140-foot yachts, plus one for a gigayacht. When all three phases are completed, estimated to be in 2020, there will be about 155 slips, including several that can accommodate the biggest yachts in the world. There will be a commercial village with stores and restaurants, a 70- to 100-room hotel and dry dock for boats.

It’s one of the biggest projects ever undertaken in the Southern Zone, with about $34 million invested so far, and it’s expected to create hundreds of jobs in a former banana town that has long struggled economically. Figures were cited Friday of $50 million for the total project, some 70 percent of it financed by Banco Nacional, though this appears to be a low-ball estimate that could rise higher.

The visionary behind this project and one of the chief investors is a 66-year-old U.S. developer born in Israel named Noam Schwartz.

“We developed a lot of projects in Quepos and Manuel Antonio, 10 or 11 projects,” Schwartz said in a brief interview on the pier. “And then we had an opportunity to buy a piece of land here, and that was before the recession. Everything was quick — how much money do you need, $20 million, $40 million? And so we bought the land with some other partners, and it developed from there.

“We started construction about 10 years ago, and the recession came, and we had to stop. So it was sitting dead for about eight years. And now I’m semiretired, so I decided to come here and make this the — I don’t want to say the last project — but THE project.”

Pedro Abdalla, the San José-based chief architect, noted in remarks to the audience that Golfito’s duty-free zone, the Depósito Libre, opened its doors exactly 27 years ago, on April 21, 1990.

“Golfito is a real treasure, with an extraordinary potential for development,” he said. He cited figures about the employment this project would create and said it was the goal that 80 percent of the employees come from the Southern Zone.

“After 12 years, I’m extremely emotional,” he said, sniffing back tears, as the crowd broke into applause.

Also in attendance, most of them addressing the audience, were Vice President Ana Helena Chacón, Tourism Minister Mauricio Ventura, Golfito Mayor Elberth Barrantes and Banco Nacional General Manager Juan Carlos Corrales.

After the speeches, a ribbon-cutting was held in front of the marina, but Solís first called for the schoolchildren to file in for the photo. Ventura, with scissors in hand, asked which girl’s ponytail he was supposed to cut off, and the kids shrieked.

David Johson, the Fort Lauderdale-based marina sales director, said the Golfito marina fills a need for superyachts that routinely pass Costa Rica by, on their way to the Galapagos or elsewhere, because there’s no place for them to dock.

3. Construction of Discovery Costa Rica set to begin in 2018

Leaders of government, business and diplomacy met at the the National Theater Tuesday to provide details about the massive new adventure park that Discovery will open in Guanacaste in 2020. Costa Rican officials responded at the press conference to environmental concerns about the project, which will include manmade water attractions in a region of the country heavily affected by droughts and water rationing.

Construction on the park, first announced by President Luis Guillermo Solís earlier in the week, will begin next year with an initial investment of $400 million, Discovery Costa Rica CEO John Scheman said at Tuesday’s event.

The company has already acquired a 880-hectare property located 2.3 kilometers (1.4 miles) from Daniel Oduber International Airport in Liberia. The property will host the Discovery Ranch, the center of the project that will also include Discovery Beach, Ocean and Volcano.

Thomas Turner, chairman of Sun Latin America, the project development company, said the company is currently evaluating options for the location of the other three destinations, “but they all will be in Guanacaste.”

The ranch will include hotels, a hospital, school and wellness complex, bike and hiking paths, sports training facilities, an inland ocean, a water park and cabins, as well as outdoor spaces of dry forests, ravines, and canyon cliffs overlooking the Liberia River.

Scheman noted that Discovery hopes the park will showcase Costa Rican “art, their music, and their folklore to the rest of the world.”

President Solís attended the press conference along with Vice President Ana Helena Chacón, as well as the Environment and Tourism Ministers Édgar Gutiérrez and Mauricio Ventura. U.S. Ambassador S. Fitzgerald Haney, lawmakers, various Guanacaste officials and tourism leaders also took part in the announcement event.

Solís welcomed the project and said Discovery’s decision to invest here shows that Costa Rica can commit to big investment and development plans “that are completely in line with our vision of sustainable development.”

Discovery representatives also confirmed that they will employ 2,000 workers during the construction stage and, once operational, will generate 4,000 direct and indirect jobs.

Vice President Chacón said they first heard of the project in 2015 when developer representatives presented them with the idea. Government officials have since held several meetings with the developers to agree on the project terms and requirements, Chacón said.

Environmental concerns

Minister Gutiérrez said the project already obtained all environmental feasibility permits, so developers can proceed with construction.

He added that “the project will not endanger the water supply in Guanacaste.”

The northern Pacific province has faced serious droughts in recent years that resulted in millions of dollars in losses to the agricultural and the livestock sectors, and have made water rationing a fact of live for residents of the province. In 2015, droughts prompted the National Emergency Commission to allocate more than ₡1 billion ($2 million) to assist Guanacaste’s farmers.

The minister said the project will supply its water from existing wells inside the property. These wells have valid and current permits from the Costa Rican Water and Sewer Institute and from the Environment Ministry’s National Subterranean Water and Irrigation Service, Gutiérrez said.

“The project will not use any water from any of the sources that supply the communities in the province,” he said.

He also stressed that the project will be submitted to the strictest environmental controls from all agencies involved.

“You can rest assured that we will not put our natural resources, nor any communities at risk,” he said.

FOR RENTAL OR SALES INFORMATION
ON ANY OF THE ABOVE, CONTACT:

Brian C. Timmons
Property Manager RLJ and Newsletter Author

Costa Rica:
Cell: (+506) 8305-3965
Land line: (+506) 2282-4142 Ext. 101

Canada:
VOIP: (+416) 461-2203

Web: https://www.residenciaslosjardines.com
Emails: info@residenciaslosjardines.com
ResidenciasPropertyManagement@gmail.com

 
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