The Latest in Luxury Resort & Real Estate News

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Punta Cana Resort Set to Open First Private Golf Club

(PUNTA CANA, Dominican Republic) -- This venerable resort-style community that first put Hispaniola on the tourism map 40 years ago is about to welcome its first private golf and oceanfront community called Corales. The secluded and exclusive development features a Tom Fazio-designed layout and resident owners such as entertainer Julio Iglesias, designer Bunny Williams and famed Dominican fashion designer Oscar de la Renta.

Set between rocky cliffs and coral reefs, Fazio's first soon-to-be-opened course in the Dominican offers awesome ocean views, including a striking eighteenth hole that features a dramatic carry over the rocky Bay of Corales. In addition to playing the Corales course, residents of the 625-acre development will have access to a second P.B. Dye-designed course planned to be open by the end of 2009 at Puntacana's new Hacienda community.


Of course, Corales club members also can enjoy all the activities and amenities that the 15,000-acre Puntacana Resort has to offer, including the main 355-room hotel and a boutique villa hotel with interiors designed by de la Renta.

Corales encompasses only 126 homes, all of which feature magnificent  views of the golf course, Caribbean Sea or lush, palm forest just steps from the new Corales Clubhouse. Homesites are priced from $330,000 to $2 million.

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Roco Ki Ready to Open New Nick Faldo Resort Course

(PUNTA CANA, Dominican Republic) -- The Dominican Republic's newest luxury resort-style community is getting geared up for the opening of the Faldo Legacy Course. Scheduled for a grand opening in January, this fabulous links course has the makings to be one of Nick Faldo's best.

Part of the new Westin Roco Ki Beach & Golf Resort scheduled to open in 2010, Faldo's first course in the Caribbean is already collecting worldwide accolades for its mix of thrilling holes and memorable landscapes.

For instance, the first tee of the 7,075-yard layout starts with a panorama of the course, including the headlands, ocean and mountains beyond. Two holes later, Faldo's routing takes you down into a tropical sanctuary where centuries-old mangroves line the fairways. Then, golfers continue over a sawgrass plain and return to the captivating cliffs of the Caribbean at the 15th hole.

Arguably the highlight of the round is the 104-yard par-3 17th that plays across an ocean inlet from the back tees, a hole many are comparing to the classic par-3 7th hole at Pebble Beach. The final hole is also full of action with two shots over the crashing cliffside surf, making the two-hole finish one of the best in the Americas.
    
Perhaps that's one reason the Association of British Travel Agents named the Faldo Legacy Course one of the world's top-ten new resort courses, second only to storied St. Andrews in Scotland.

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Discovery Land in Development at Baker's Bay Golf & Ocean Club

(GREAT GUANA CAY, Bahamas) -- Nestled between the Sea of Abaco and the Atlantic Ocean on Great Guana Cay, Baker's Bay Golf & Ocean Club is a private 585-acre community being developed by Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Discovery Land Company.

Just a short ferry ride from Great Abaco island, Baker's Bay features a Tom Fazio-designed 18-hole oceanview golf course, a 165-slip deep-water marina which accommodates yachts up to 250 feet, a lively commercial marina village and two private clubhouses for members and their guests scheduled for a spring 2010 opening.

The Baker's Bay residential offerings will be composed of ocean front homesites, luxurious island cottages, and colorful beach bungalows that blend perfectly with the cultural heritage of the Bahamas. Oceanfront estate lots are priced from $2.25 million to $7 million and homes range in price from $1.9 million to $5.5 million. Golf course estates are selling for $800,000 to $2 million.

Baker's Bay marks the first real estate project in the Caribbean for Discovery Land, recognized as one of the world's leading developers of upscale private golf club communities. Other world-class private amenitized communities created by Discovery Land are the ultra-exclusive Kukio community on Hawaii's Big Island, Mirabel in Scottsdale, the Madison Club in La Quinta, Calif., El Dorado in Los Cabos, Mexico and Iron Horse in Whitefish, Mont.