Reserva Conchal Real Estate:
The Importance of Being Earnest

High along the northern shore of Costa Rica, nestled along the white sands of Guanacaste’s beautiful Conchal beach, lies Reserva Conchal Beach and Golf Resort. Internationally known as a prime opportunity for land and home ownership, this growing community owes its success to a carefully plotted 25-year plan that does not, for second, lose sight of the connections between buildings and nature, nature and people.

Working under the creed of environmental responsiveness, resource efficiency, and community and cultural sensitivity, Reserva Conchal Beach and Golf Resort has integrated social and environmental goals with its financial considerations, thus managing to develop a five-star hotel, a championship golf course designed by Robert Trent Jones, Jr., two luxury condominium stages and several high-end villas and family homes, not displacing the natural flora and fauna, but integrating them into the community’s overall design.

By practicing environmental responsiveness —reusing already developed land, restoring degraded land, and preserving as much virgin land as possible—Reserva Conchal Beach and Golf Resort has found it possible not only to minimize damage to the local ecosystem, but actually to improve the surroundings. In fact, with the establishment of a private wildlife refuge and research center, which will be run jointly with the Ministry of the Environment; and with its active involvement with environmental training in the surrounding communities, Reserva Conchal could become a vital actor in bringing about ecological restoration.

Already, the use of native plants instead of exotic turf and flowers, has reduced the need for mowing, irrigation and chemical treatments, in the golf course as well as in the landscaping around the luxury residences, enhancing groundwater recharge and the wildlife habitat. Approximately forty percent of the existing vegetation will remain, providing natural corridors for colorful local species, such as coatimundis, raccoons, and howler monkeys.

The buildings themselves: every family home, every condo and studio apartment, every villa, have been planned to make the best of the sun, wind, land forms, and natural vegetation of Guanacaste. They do make the best of the breathtaking ocean views and the sprawling golf green, but they also make use of the natural conditions to provide heating, cooling, lighting, ventilation, and protection from the elements. Furthermore, they were designed according to the colonial design native to the area, respecting local customs and building practices and honoring the cultural fabric of the region.

Even as the community expands over its 930 hectares and more family homes, townhouses and villas are added, as well as a Beach Club, and Equestrian Club and a boutique hotel, Reserva Conchal’s plan calls for riding and hiking trails and easy access that could reduce the internal use of automobiles and foster interaction within the community, where residents can meet in their terraces, bond over first-rate golf or have an evening drink on balconies overlooking the Pacific.

But, is there a tangible benefit to all this, besides a life of beauty and laid-back luxury?

For owners and resalers, the integrated approach has already translated into very tangible results: reduced operating costs of buildings and landscapes, improved sales or leasing rates, higher property values, increased absorption or occupancy rates, reduced liability risk, healthier standards of living and reduced regulatory delays during permitting processes. For a growing number of potential buyers, these are the new amenities of community-oriented real estate. As a result, the typical family home, condominium, villa or studio apartment at Reserva Conchal is sold out even before it is built.