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 With relations improving between the United States and Cuba, tourism
and real estate are seen by many businesses as the most interesting
investments, and the race is on to get in.
Ian Livingstone, co-executive chairman of London & Regional, said in
a telephone interview from London that construction would begin in
the first quarter of 2016 in conjunction with an international
building firm yet to be named.
Cuba currently has just one 18-hole golf course, but the Caribbean
island's Communist government says it wants to eventually have at
least 12 golf resorts.
"People are desperate to buy in Cuba but they need some reassurance
at this stage and that means a reputable company such as ours,"
Livingston said. "It is important we get the right quality because
Cuba wants to start attracting more high-end tourists."
Aside from an 18-hole course, plans include a marina, 100-room
luxury hotel and more than 1,000 privately owned beach front
condominiums and villas.
The state enterprise Palmares SA has a 51 percent stake in the
project, as it does with other planned golf resorts. In exchange for
its majority stake, Palmares grants land with no property claims
attached and allows a renewable 99-year lease on condos and villas.
Besides the London & Regional project, Palmares signed final papers
last month with the Beijing Enterprise Group for a similar project,
Jose Alonso, the tourism ministry’s business director, told official
media last week.
He said a third project would be signed later this year, without
naming the developer, and that two additional developments were
being negotiated with unnamed Spanish firms, also with between 1,000
and 2,000 condominiums and villas for sale.
"Investors and important hotel operators are arriving who never came
before," Alonso said, referring to the thaw in U.S. relations.
The United States and Cuba on Wednesday agreed to reopen embassies
and restore diplomatic relations as of July 20, and U.S. Secretary
of State John Kerry said he would come to Havana for a flag-raising
ceremony.
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Cuba received 3 million tourists last year and reported a 15 percent
increase in arrivals over the first four months of 2015. More
Americans are coming after President Obama loosened, but did not
lift, travel restrictions in January.
While Cuba has talked about such resorts for years, financing has
proved perhaps the biggest obstacle. But Livingston said, "We are
not investing other people’s money, it is our own private money."
London & Regional, owned by Livingston and his brother, has a
portfolio valued at well over $10 billion and assets valued at some
$1.5 billion, he said.
Despite the restoration of diplomatic relations, the U.S. embargo
prohibits Americans from visiting Cuba as tourists or purchasing
homes. U.S. President Barack Obama could restore diplomatic ties on
his own and take further executive action to weaken the embargo, but
only Congress can lift the embargo completely.
In the meantime, U.S. developers and hotel companies are also
prohibited from operating in Cuba.
(Reporting by Marc Frank; Editing by Daniel Trotta and Christian
Plumb)
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