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Wednesday
Jul212010

The New Luxury Deliverable: Turks And Caicos Sporting Club, Ambergris Cay

 


In some of my recent Luxist articles, The Dawn Of A New Economy and From Conspicuous to Conscious Consumption I have suggested how newer definitions of luxury help inform the decisions about how and why people buy in this unusual social-economic climate. I learned from the many presenters at the Luxury Summit, a luxury ideas symposium held last month, about the nuances of an emerging economy with new luxury consumer decision-making processes, especially regarding big ticket items. And few are bigger than second and third homes. It is no secret this market has suffered, as has the primary home market in 2009. But there are rays of light in 2010, and especially with the Turks And Caicos Sporting Club at Ambergris Cay. Amid the barrage of news about market declines and foreclosures, this club is doing well. And the reasons for success circle back to the trends explored at the Luxury Summit.

" Last year," recounts Steve Schram, CEO and Managing Partner of DPS Development who owns and runs Ambergris Cay, "was basically a static year. We didn't make money, we didn't lose money There were a few sales, but nothing like we were used to. Then, in 2010, YTD, we have done 20M worth of new home sales. It seemed as if potential buyers were actually hesitant to call us in 2009, and then, in 2010, they called. It was as if the phone lines were reconnected. Most were member referrals, which is always rewarding. There are three new homes just started and another seven to ten starting in the next six months. We will start two of these houses in the next two months. Members and their families know what they receive here, and it fits so well with a newer sense of social and environmental responsibility, along with a sense of being connected to each other and to the island."

One of the many trends gleaned from the Luxury Summit, and borne out by the success of the Turks And Caicos Sporting Club, is that the luxury consumer is not on autopilot anymore. Their purchasing interests have evolved from I want to I need to we need: essentially a journey from individual self-absorption to a kind of familial populism. The consequence of such a shift is the take away value -- which has also moved from quantitative excess to a qualitative rediscovery of feeling favorably connected -- whether it is with people or new experiences. In both instances, Ambergris Cay fits with these ideas in an eco -sensitive, communitarian way.

Owned and managed by DPS Development, Ambergris Cay itself is a private island about 3 ½ miles long by 1 ½ miles wide, about 1100 acres, 450 of which is a nature preserve. It is a 25 minute plane ride from the Providenciales airport to the Ambergris Cay airport, with its 5700 foot paved jet strip and Customs/Welcome house. Club members often fly their private jets in and out of this airport, either back to Provo or Miami or beyond. It is 575 miles from the Florida mainland.

The original vision for this island was conceived by Henry Mensen, a Canadian developer and visionary who bought Ambergris Cay is the mid 1990's, with the belief that an eco-sensitive community could exist and sustain itself, once the island was discovered by others. He built a personal family compound at the eastern tip of the island, called Ocean Rise, and hoped others would discover it also. Who did discover it and see its possibilities were Steve Schram and Peter Pollak, founders and owners of DPS Development, a well respected development company, whose earlier enterprises included The Ford Plantation, The Greenbrier and the Snake River Sporting Club, to name a few. Steve and Peter understood Mensen's vision: an ongoing sustainable development that included an eco-sensitive infrastructure. To that end, Menson sold it to DPS, and the cautious planning commenced, infrastructure first. This plan-- now completed -- included the airstrip, the radio tower that allows Internet and cable TV in all the homes, a large reverse osmosis water purification and filtration system plant that allows pure water into the homes, the irrigation systems, and the Calico Jack (the Club's restaurant and bar) Pavilion. Because of the DPS commitment to eco-sensitive processes, Ambergris Cay also has a glass and plastic recycling program, and clean burning trash incineration.. There is also a new Environmental Learning Center, used by children and families of members to learn more about the unusual flora and fauna of the island.

The Club is redefining the meaning of a traditional sporting club. When many think of a sporting club, they think of golf courses, tennis courts, multiple swimming pools, yacht racing, where nature is separated from culture, and sanctuary is separated from adventure. It is very different here, as members use the Club as it was envisioned – both as a haven for adventure and for sanctuary from the world. In both cases, the sensuous component is never far away. The members and friends often go fishing, always catch fish, and then the catch is taken to Chef Tadd Frye, who in turn creates dishes of Sashimi and sushi, from Ahi tuna, Grouper, Yellowtail, Conch. The members can also go on Flamingo searches, snorkeling and deeper diving expeditions, all types of fishing, catamaran sailing, and sea kayaking.

Other activities are nature walks, both in the day and in the evening to see the highly hybridized flora of the island – an example: Turks Hat cacti that grow only on this Cay. There are also explorable pirate and Loyalist ruins here also. The evening nature walks expose peering red eyes in the dense brush and bush. Of course, in the daytime there are large Rock Iguanas at many turns in the road, always looking at bemused members in a stern, reprimanding way – whose island do you think this is? they seem to ask. And when members need some sanctuary within sanctuary, there is a Wellness Center, offering Yoga and Qigong, and massage sessions.

At present, there are now over 200 members have purchased view lots and have built or are building beach cottages -- large three and four bedroom homes, all with ocean views, and ocean access. Some have plunge pools; all have decks that look out to sea. Pricing runs between $600,000 and $3M per lot, given the size. At present, thirty lots are available.

This Club has allowed the meaning of luxury to evolve into newer dimensions of balance, happiness and community. The few brands that propagate this Platonic idea of eudemonia, translated as human flourishing, flourish themselves.
Wednesday
Jul212010

Evolving Definitons of Luxury: The Tryall Club, Jamaica

 


Because of the ongoing severity of the economy, the definitions and presentations of luxury appear to be evolving. What is emerging, due to the shock and awe of this recession-roller-coaster ride, is the shift in luxury awareness from mirror to window, or, from narcissism of self, involving conspicuous consumption, to window: looking from conspicuous to conscious consumption, infused with a strong measure of social awareness. Looking out the window garners new vistas, and as it does, garners divergent root systems in the meaning and awareness of the luxury experience.

A new example of this evolving definition are the new ideas put into place at the Tryall Club – a bastion of family tradition and colorful history near Montego Bay, Jamaica.

It is, and has been for the past ½ century an enclave of understated elegance, with an exceptional social history and multilayered cultural tradition. Originally a 2300 acre sugar plantation, it was transformed in the 1950s into an elite club of private oceanfront, ocean view and golf course villas. Bing Crosby ( who bought four plots of land in one morning), and friends visited there, Noel Coward, Princess Margaret, Winston Churchill all were there. It defined and still does, some of the best that money buys in terms of time, space, location and design aesthetic.



At present, The Tryall Club offers 84 private villas, many for rental – moving from $3000 to $25,000 a week, and a few which start for sale between $750,000 and reach $4,770,000 . Utilizing a Caribbean Colonial architectural style, each one- and two-story residence is noted for size (up to 20,000 square feet), views (of Montego Bay, the golf course and the northern coastline), and, perhaps most, its household staff. Every villa has a minimum of one private butler, cook, housekeeper, gardener and laundress. Each villa rents for between $3,000 and $40,000 a week, and was also designed to house their private home staff: chefs, housekeepers and assistants, landscapers, gardeners, laundresses, drivers. The Tryall Golf Course is built in and around the exceptional centuries old ruins of the sugar plantation and the still-functioning aqueduct and water wheel.


Many Villa owners were introduced to the Tryall Club by their parents and grandparents, each carrying their legacy to their own children, grandchildren and in some cases, great-grandchildren. In this regard, the Tryall Club feels like a living legacy.
But, legacy or not, the story may well have ended there, with guests and owners coming and going, everything perfect, clean, bright, colorful, ironed, and static. But the trajectory of life does not go that way, as what's static usually entropizes -- and the Villa owners' way of seeing and doing are certainly not that. Those that I met are profoundly aware of the cultural and social complexities away from the enclave. It is to their great credit they do more than talk about these issues.

Alice Needle, owner of a Villa named Haystack, is representative of the philanthropic mindset of the many Villa owners I met. She owns a 12 bedroom, 12 1/2 bath Villa on three acres, and four of those bedrooms and baths are for her staff. The staff residences have ocean views, and spacious living areas. She is also the person who helped begin the Sandy Bay Basic School, located in Sandy Bay the neighboring town to the Tryall Club. It is a school for the children of all the Tryall Club staff. The day before I met her, she was down at the school, painting the interiors.

George Hodges, Villa owner and incoming President of The Tryall Club, has donated many computers to the Sandy Bay Basic School as well as to the High School in Montego Bay. More are to come. Recently, as of February 13, the Villa members held the Sugar Cane Ball, that included a silent auction. The money raised there was for Hanover Charities, that supports health and education initiatives in Hanover Parish, the area surrounding the Tryall Club.

In addition, the Tryall Fund, a substantial amount of money garnered by other silent auctions and events, supports the Lucea Infirmary, a nearby orphanage, and the evening health clinics in Sandy Bay. The Fund also supports educational scholarships for children of the employees of the Tryall Club, Also, one of the Villa owners funded a medical clinic close to the property in Hopewell, about 5 minutes away from the club. So, should any of the owners or staff on the property become ill, medical help is close by, and yes, the doctor makes house calls.

"Perhaps it is the beauty and the peace here that allows for such giving spirits," suggests Ms. Needle. " We live a beautiful life here – look around! There is ocean view, flowers in bloom, fruit on the trees, all you would ever want or need. And our Jamaican friends make us feel at home. They are wonderful, caring, hopeful people, and I want to do all I can to make them happy, just as their caring for the club and my villa, make me happy."

" Yes," adds Mr. Hodges. " A rich life used to mean just having a lot of money. Now, I like to think that having a social conscience redefines the meaning of rich. A rich life, to us, means doing good as well as doing well. Once you have a social conscience no matter where you are, it never leaves you."

Filed under: Estates, Luxury Travel & Hotels

Tuesday
Jul202010

Thought Leaders -- The Multicultural, Luxury Dimension: A Interview With Luca Franco




Luca Franco is well-known in hotel and hospitality circles as one whose reputation has been forged in the luxury, multi-cultural realm. He is fluent in five languages: English, French, Italian, Spanish, German, and, Latin and is working on Portuguese. Luca's multi-cultural hospitality experience also is as varied as his linguistic expertise, as it ranges from working with the Ferragamo Group, Bulgari Hotels, to the Four Seasons Hotels and Residences and Marriott Vacation Clubs, to name a few.

Early on, his reputation became solidified as the person who brought the Palazzo Tornabuoni in Florence,Italy, to the fractional interest market, taking the first steps to allow the historic 15th century Medici palace to become what it is today: a multi-awarded contemporary mixed use private residence club. I wrote about this club in a Luxist column, earlier this year. The Palazzo has won many awards, with most recent being from the Urban Land Institute, the Award for Excellence in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. It was selected from 43 entries across 17 countries, yet the Palazzo stood out ( see below) for the "meticulous level of renovation and restoration demonstrated throughout."

Luca has also had success in the company he founded, Luxury Leisure Properties International, where he and his team have created similar alliances with other hotels, including the renowned Strategic Hotels. In all, they work to create successful high end mixed use projects,with luxury fractional, condo-hotel, wholly owned residences, within existing hotels. At present, his projects range from working at the Baglioni Marrakech Hotel and Residences in Morocco, the Copthorne Hotel in Dubai, to a fractional offering at Rio Quente in Brazil, the San Gimignano Golf Country Resort in Tuscany, and the Ritz Carlton Hotel and esidences in Herzliya, israel. Recently, I interviewed him about his latest projects, and how he sees the future of the luxury mixed use hotel/residence industry

Monday
Jul192010

The Opening of the Veer Residences, CityCenter Las Vegas


Last week, on July 14th, the Veer Towers, an integral part of CityCenter, Las Vegas, opened for business. It is one of the most, architecturally avant garde buildings within an exceptional array of edgy, urban structures, Veer Towers is designed by Helmut Jahn and is the only full residential development at City Center. The Towers incline toward each other at 5 degree angles from the center, and are 37 feet high, home to 335 contemporary condo residences, ranging from 500 to 3300 square feet, from studios to 3 bedroom residences and penthouses. Pricing begins from the mid $300,000s to a few million, depending on size, location and interiors. Turnkey interior packages are available, where potential members can move in with only their toothbrush, if desired. At present, in honor of the Veer opening, at some of the Veer towers studios owners can receive a complimentary turnkey interior design/living package, worth up to $20,000 -- an interesting deal, and might include a toothbrush.

I have written about City Center on Luxist before in an article entitled: City Center: The New Urban Vision, but had never been to Veer Towers, as they had not been completed. Now, walking into the residential towers from other areas of CityCenter, I was reminded how much of a city within a city CityCenter really is. Everything is within close proximity. From seeing a studio with exceptional views of the a portion of the Las Vegas skyline, plus multileveled rooftops of Crystals,the 500,000 square floor retail/shopping area, to a residence on a higher floor, ( see image above), the Veer residences offer a sense of sanctuary and peace, all within a city NOT known for such things. Looking out a Veers Towers window at this city of constant. colorful movement can be a peace-inducing experience.



"Living at Veer Towers is a fascinating juxtaposition for contemporary living," said Tony Dennis, Executive Vice President of City Center, Residential Division. " It juxtaposes and ultimately balances the evolving urban mosaic of CityCenter with a deeper variety of artful life immersion, where owners can see great art and great architecture almost everywhere they turn, both inside Veer and outside. Finally, you can see the present and the future combined here: what Las Vegas is known for now – and what Las Vegas will been known for in the future."

The residences feel as if they have been built for a population who want the needed amenities in this kind of living – a rooftop pool (see below), hot tub, fitness center, a rec room, private boardroom and business center, bike storage, residential valet and concierge, and 24 hour security, but also, have an eco-sensitivity woven into their texture of lifestyle interests. Veer is the complex that has won a the 6th gold LEED certification for CityCenter, from the US Green Building council, and that has come to matter to many who buy here.

Yet, Veer is also a child of CityCenter –as Veer's artwork is part of CityCenter's fine art collection. It displays two dramatic, hand wrought mud-wall drawings by Richard Long, 8 feet high by 50 feet wide, in the lobby of the west and east tower walls. Veer Towers also rises from Crystals,City Center's 500,000 square foot retail/shopping/entertainment space, where pieces of art by Claes Oldenberg Jenny Holzer, Henry Moore, Maya Lin, Nancy Rubin, to name just a very few, are almost everywhere. Outwardly, as in the rendering above, the same sense of artistic dynamic abides, with the inward inclining Veer Towers almost at its most visual midpoint.
Monday
Jul122010

Thoughts on Consumed: Rethinking Business In An Era Of Mindful Spending



A seminal book about changing consumer perceptions and attitudes will be released to the public on July 12. Titled Consumed: Rethinking Business In the Era Of Mindful Spending by Andrew Benett and Ann O'Reilly, it takes the reader on a unique process journey through the history of how consumers came to this post- consumptive stress disordered moment, and what the trend implications are for businesses and consumers in the future.

In a recent interview, Andrew Benett, one of the co-authors, said, " It is much more difficult to change a behavior than to change an attitude, but it is obvious we are seeing a revolutionary attitudinal sea change in the consumer. We are moving from hyper-consumerism of past years to more mindful consumer attitudes at the present, and probably in the future."

Much of the book discusses the results of a new consumer study, created by EURO RSCG Worldwide, and fielded by Market Probe International in October-November 2009. Seven markets were studied, Brazil (n=700), China (n=700), France (n=700), Japan (n=700), the Netherlands (n=700), the United Kingdom (n=700), and the United States (n=1,500). The research was based on an attitude assessment questionnaire, and depicts an historic shift in consumer values and attitudes, as the sample populations showed themselves recalibrating what it means to be a consumer in this hyper-consumptive global village.

In the book, these results are discussed within the larger context of the present socio-economic, depressed, recessed moment, and how this moment is creating a stratum for a newer, evolving consumer mindfulness.

The idea of mindfulness is well-known in philosophy, religion and psychology as it is a present-centered awareness of feeling and thinking. Mindfulness also displays a true mind-body connectivity, allowing greater awareness of what is happening in all cognitive and visceral dimensions. The book reveals how newer consumer decisions have been motivated and modified by this evolved awareness. Some of the more relevant research results are highlighted below:

• In the Western markets surveyed, a majority of the samples believe society is moving in the wrong direction. This concern runs particularly high in France (70% agreement), the U.S. (66%), and the U.K. (63%).

• 69% of the global sample worry that society has become too shallow, focusing too much on things that don't really matter. Again, agreement is strongest in the U.S. (79%), France (77%), and U.K. (75%), although a majority in each of the seven markets agreed.

• Six in ten respondents believe we, as a society, have become intellectually lazy, while nearly seven in ten believe we are physically lazy.

• 59% worry that people have become too disconnected from the natural world. This feeling is particularly prevalent in China (70%), Japan(65%), Brazil (64%), and the U.S. (60%).

• A majority (51%) worry that digital communication is weakening human bonds.

• 67% of the global sample believe most of us would be better off if we lived more simply-with the highest scores coming from the U.S.(78%), China (72%), and the U.K. and Brazil (both at 68%).

• Whereas 70% respect/admire people who live simply, just 19% feel the same about people who live a "high-luxury lifestyle." Only in China and Brazil do a sizeable minority (35% and 31%, respectively) claim to admire people who live luxuriously, but even in those markets more than twice as many respondents admire people who live the simple life.

• Signaling one aspect of the simplicity they seek, 68% of the sample (81% in China and 78% in France) said they no longer want lots of "bells and whistles" on the products they buy; they would rather just have the functions they really need.

• Four in ten respondents have adopted or thought about adopting a slower lifestyle.

• 72% of the global sample (80% in the U.S.) are shopping more carefully and mindfully than they used to.

This attitude revolution, whose dimensions relate to slower, more careful choices was inevitable, as Mr. Benett argues in his book as he quotes E.F Schumacher, an economic theorist: "Infinite growth of material consumption in a finite world is an impossibility." In other words, prices, cost, acquisition of more and more stuff, cannot rise higher and higher ad infinitum. Gravity does not allow it, nor does common sense gravitas.

As the research shows, the unease about conspicuous consumption has morphed into a positive, counter-measure: with mindfulness taking those buying decisions a little more slowly, with a great deal more precision, all with a new consumer loyalty to brands whose messages relay and reflect the consumer's own -- messages that involves a cleaner environment, toward deeper community, and toward moderation.

Consumed is an elegantly argued, well-cited (footnotes go from page 203 to page 234) book that defines evolutionary and revolutionary consumer changes, whose purchasing cycles have yet to conclude. The book moves from the reasons for historic hyperconsumerism to the conundra faced because of it, to a new movement in attitude and awareness, which, slow though it may be, may indeed profoundly alter consumer buying behaviors for years to come.