BajaNomad - It's Official, it's Fadesa in Loreto

It's Official, it's Fadesa in Loreto

The Sculpin - 5-29-2007 at 12:38 PM

Fadesa to Invest 4 Billion Euros in Mexican Resort (Update1)

By Joao Lima

May 28 (Bloomberg) -- Fadesa Inmobiliaria SA, a Spanish real estate company, will build a 4 billion euro ($5.4 billion) resort in Mexico, adding to three other projects the developer has in that Latin American country.

The complex will be located in Loreto, in the Mexican state of Baja California Sur, and will include more than 6,500 homes, a marina, hotels and golf courses, La Coruna, Spain-based Fadesa said today in an e-mailed statement.

The project, called Loreto Paraiso, will target mostly U.S. and Canadian customers that are seeking a second home, the Spanish company said.

Fadesa is investing in hotels and tourist homes outside its home market after benefiting from a housing boom in Spain which is now slowing as demand is curbed by rising borrowing costs. The developer has also started projects in Morocco and in Eastern Europe.

To contact the reporter on this story: Joao Lima in Madrid at jlima1@bloomberg.net .

Last Updated: May 28, 2007 07:17 EDT

elizabeth - 5-29-2007 at 12:50 PM

Another report....

28 de mayo de 2007, 13h10
Fadesa construirá en México el mayor complejo turístico de su historia

Santiago de Compostela, 28 may (EFE).- El grupo inmobiliario gallego FADESA construirá en el Estado mexicano de Baja California Sur, el mayor complejo turístico de su historia como empresa, en el que invertirá alrededor de 4.000 millones de euros, según informaron hoy fuentes de esta empresa.

Santiago de Compostela, 28 may (EFE).- El grupo inmobiliario gallego FADESA construirá en el Estado mexicano de Baja California Sur, el mayor complejo turístico de su historia como empresa, en el que invertirá alrededor de 4.000 millones de euros, según informaron hoy fuentes de esta empresa.

Este complejo turístico, denominado "Loreto Paraíso" es un "resort" de gran envergadura situado en el Mar de Cortés (Océano Pacífico).

Fuentes empresariales indicaron en un comunicado que se trata de una actuación sin precedentes, una firme apuesta de FADESA por México como país de enormes posibilidades, tanto en el apartado turístico como de primera vivienda.

El "resort" será ubicado en la localidad de Loreto, la ciudad más antigua de Baja California Sur, situada a 350 Km. al norte de su capital, La Paz, una zona de playas y acantilados salvajes, considerada un paraíso para amantes del buceo, pesca, avistamiento de ballenas y snorkel.

El apartado residencial de Loreto Paraíso lo integran aproximadamente 6.500 viviendas, entre apartamentos, villas adosadas, pareadas y aisladas, mientras que el componente hotelero se caracterizará por su variedad.

Ofrecerá más de 7.000 habitaciones distribuidas en hoteles de lujo, gran turismo, hoteles boutique, también ofrecerá propiedad fraccional, tiempos compartidos y condohoteles.

El complejo se completará con cuatro campos de golf, que contarán con el diseño de las grandes firmas de este deporte, una marina, grandes zonas de ocio y animación, zona de servicios, así como una importante zona de conservación ecológica.

Con el proyecto de "Loreto Paraíso", son ya cuatro las actuaciones de FADESA en México, país donde tiene en marcha otro complejo en la propia Costa del Pacífico y otros dos en las ciudades de Guadalajara y San Miguel de Allende

Spanish Development

Loretana - 5-29-2007 at 12:50 PM

Say goodbye to San Bruno.

Triste!! :no:

capt. mike - 5-29-2007 at 02:06 PM

where is this compared to loreto bay?

DENNIS - 5-29-2007 at 02:23 PM

Baja California has cancer. How far will it spread before the Baja we all know and love is dead?

San Bruno

Loretana - 5-29-2007 at 04:21 PM

Capt. Mike...

San Bruno is 30 klicks north of Loreto by boat.

There are some very distinctive cliffs when seen from the water.

It is also one of the best spots for yellowtail, and is renowned locally for roosterfish, cabrilla, and pargo.

With Loreto Bay to the south, and now this Spanish Development to the north, we're being hemmed in!!

Yikes! :rolleyes:

capt. mike - 5-29-2007 at 04:29 PM

ok, i know just where that place is! flew right over it last month bringing a patient back to mulege from la paz hospital. my right seater spotted it and asked me what it was - i didn't know and didn't have a ref map with me.
that bay is gorgeous!! there were campers and moored sail boats about, a perfect place for a resort.
i'll watch this one to see what becomes.

San Bruno

Loretana - 5-29-2007 at 04:41 PM

Capt. Mike,

You certainly saw San Bruno in all its' glory.

There is a world class mangrove swamp there teeming with birds and underwater creatures and...............I'm getting depressed just thinking about it!!

I think we'll go up there to fish tomorrow, and love it for all its' worth. :dudette:

Crusoe - 5-29-2007 at 04:53 PM

And..........Dont forget what the Villas Group has planed for Ensenada Blanca........This type of out of control expansion is really ridiculous for this area because of the lack of water and infrastructure. Mexican political officials will most certainly sell out and be bribed to dish out permits for large desal plants and that will be just like signing a death sentence for the Sea of Cortez. The brine will end up killing what marine life is left. Even more riculous is the fact that there really is nothing all that great about Loreto as a world class resort area. Its very cold and windy all winter, extreemly hot and humid in the summer months and dry as a bone the other niceer 5 months out of the year. Its real charm lays in the fact it used to be a halfway authentic mexican town/ village. That will be lost forever.The only reason the developers are there now and are interested, is because there is no where else left to go...... and it has a somewhat convienient location to So. California. Its all happening right before our eyes. Maybe organizations such as Green Peace and Sea Watch-etc.,etc.. and the Surfrider Foundation can wake up more people to the urgency of stopping this type of ruination of this pristine desert landscape. Its so short sighted. When its gone, its gone forever!! To bad. :fire:

oldhippie - 5-29-2007 at 05:06 PM

I'm thoroughly depressed, really.

Should we start a lottery for how many weeks before Plaza las Glorias announces a hotel at El Requeson?

oldhippie - 5-29-2007 at 05:08 PM

oh no, it's already there!

elrequeson.jpg - 32kB

Loretana - 5-29-2007 at 05:10 PM

Crusoe, it gets worse!

This site is what I got when I "googled" Loreto Paraiso.
Some freakin' paradise, eh?

http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2007/02/19/index.php?section=esta...

I can read and understand spanish, and I had to pour myself a fat glass of wine after I read this.
Yes, it makes one feel, ah, encabronado!!

oldhippie - 5-29-2007 at 05:13 PM

I remember when it looked like this.

elrequeson_original.jpg - 27kB

oldhippie - 5-29-2007 at 05:28 PM

"there will be 260 thousand new inhabitants in the region", indicated Sergio Moral Pole, representative of the not governmental group in the Committee of Municipal Planning" - computer translation

Don't worry about watering the golf courses. There's a fellow Nomad who claims all you need to do is spread the sewer water around. That should work. My game stinks afterall.

Crusoe - 5-29-2007 at 05:44 PM

Thank you Loretana for the website.......Hard to believe they also have plans for San Basillo and San Nicholas and Agua Verde.There is something very bogus going on here. Time will tell......And Old Hippie.....Time has told it all to me....because when I was a young lad of 7 years old in 1949, I learned how to surf at the Santa Ana River mouth. (It seems as only a few months ago)Its between Huntington Beach and Newport Beach. And now..... I am a old man with alot of blue water under my keel.......Some time in the early 1960s we lost the river mouth as a prime surf spot because they needed flood control for the building and development of Oarange County. I was last at the "Rivermouth" in 2006 watching human turds and toilet paper and tons of cheap plastic debris, washing into the Pacific. I shed a huge tear.. Its all happening right before our eyes.!! :barf:

SAD.

bancoduo - 5-29-2007 at 05:53 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by morgaine7
Is anybody familiar with FADESA's other projects in Mexico? Not that Guadalajara or San Miguel have the same environmental and infrastructure issues, but it would be interesting to know if the developers are likely to show more insight than those in charge at Loreta Bay. Four golf courses, sheesh ... you gotta wonder where they're gonna get all the golfers, let alone the water to maintain the facilities.

Kate

I lived in San Miguel in the 60's. It was a beautiful colonial town. I drove thru there 10yrs. ago. It turned into a polluted sh*thole.

This is a town that is a designated Mexican national monument. "GOOD LUCK BAJA"

A historical Mexican town with fast food restaurants. Paradise for Gringo fat asses. :no:

oldhippie - 5-29-2007 at 06:21 PM

Crusoe,

"because when I was a young lad of 7 years old in 1949, I learned how to surf at the Santa Ana River mouth"

Wow!! really, WOW!! I'll read your posts with a new found respect. I'm an old surfer too and I know................well, you and the other surfers here understand what I know and I can't possibly explain it.

When is the bomb going to be dropped on Conception Bay? Maybe Fonatur will do the raping without partners after all the other creeps have shot their wad and made a trip to Loreto a TV game show prize. Come on down!

Crusoe - 5-29-2007 at 06:47 PM

Old Hippie.......Thanks for the shot of Reqeuason. Looks almost as its out of some science fiction movie. Didnt fool me for a second though. Thanks. At first I thought it was a cruise ship at one of my most loved beaches in Conception Bay. So it goes.......I spent many months there in the early 1970s camped in a small tent while on kayak trips or in a small open boat that was beachable, and later in a larger sailboat anchored off. It was a special place where you could feed yourself from the sea very easily and every one was smiling all the time. Suuny every day and sheltered from the strong winds......of life!!!!! ++C++

DENNIS - 5-29-2007 at 06:52 PM

Viva River Jetty surfers.
Crusoe -------- I remember when you took off in front of me and................

The Sculpin - 5-29-2007 at 07:17 PM

Here is more on Fadesa, and their website

http://www.fadesa.es/index2.php?idioma=1

FADESA WILL BUILD THE LARGEST HOLIDAY RESORT IN THE COMPANY’S HISTORY IN MEXICO

La Coruña, 28th May 2007.- FADESA Group will build what it will be its largest holiday resort in the Mexican State of Baja California Sur: Loreto Paraíso, a resort of considerable scope on the Sea of Cortez (Pacific Ocean), in which it will invest around 4,000 million Euros.

This project is unprecedented and shows FADESA’s firm commitment to Mexico as a country of vast possibilities for both holiday homes and first homes. The resort will be set in the town of Loreto, the oldest town in Baja California Sur, situated 350 km north of its capital, La Paz. It is a very exclusive area of natural beaches and rugged cliffs, regarded as a paradise for diving, fishing, whale watching and snorkelling enthusiasts.

The residential area of Loreto Paraíso will contain approximately 6,500 homes, including apartments and semi-detached, terraced and detached villas. The hotel accommodation will be characterised by its wide variety, offering more than 7,000 rooms in luxury hotels, upper-upscale hotels, boutique hotels, as well as fractional property, time-shares and condo hotels. The resort will also have four golf courses, which will be designed by the greatest names in this sport, a marina, large leisure and entertainment areas, services area, as well as a significant ecological conservation area.

This holiday resort will also offer state-of-the-art services and is designed in line with sustainability criteria and a perfect integration with the landscape and the environment. Loreto Paraíso is a very ambitious project aimed at the luxury market of mainly North Americans and Canadians, known as snowbirds: people with high spending power looking for a second home in order to spend the winter months in warmer climates.

FADESA in Mexico
With the Loreto Paraíso project, FADESA now has four projects in Mexico, where it is already developing another resort on the Pacific Coast and another two in the cities of Guadalajara and San Miguel de Allende.

Paraíso Litibú is the other resort that FADESA will promote on the Mexican Pacific, but this time in the State of Nayarit, at just 40 minutes from Puerto Vallarta airport. The resort has an investment of 260 million Euros and is located along a 2-kilometer stretch of beach, on which the Spanish company will build two luxury hotels to sleep 640, around 320 homes, including villas and apartments, a golf course designed by Greg Norman and beach clubs. This project by FADESA is part of a Plan designed by the Mexican Government for the year 2025, which aims to turn Cip Nayarit into a top holiday destination, similar to Riviera Maya.

In Guadalajara, the second most important and populated city in Mexico and capital of the State of Jalisco, FADESA has begun the construction of a resort composed of approximately 600 luxury homes, including apartments and chalets, a luxury hotel and around 20,000 m2 for a large shopping area. The project has an investment of 230 million Euros, and includes a gym, a spa, swimming pools, a Business Center and spacious green areas. In total, this resort covers an area of 12 hectares, situated in an exclusive area with high levels of growth in Guadalajara, between Valle Real and Puerta de Hierro. In addition, the resort borders the Lomas golf course and offers spectacular views over the course and the city.

FADESA’s third project will be located in San Miguel de Allende (State of Guanajuato), a treasure of Colonial Mexico situated at approximately 250 km from Mexico City. The city has been given the rating of Pueblo Mágico (Magical Town) and is famous for its important artistic community from around the world, its cobbled streets, its colourful houses and its patios; where the Spanish company will build 200 second homes and a Luxury Boutique Spa Hotel, with a total investment of 48.5 million Euros. This resort is mainly aimed at the American and Canadian public and covers 28 hectares.

Madrid Real Estate Exhibition
FADESA will make this announcement at the Madrid Real Estate Exhibition (SIMA), which will run between 29th May and 2nd June, and where the company has set up an avant-garde stand of 552 m2 on which it will display its entire offer of first and second homes, both home and abroad. FADESA will, at SIMA, place special emphasis on its promotions in Madrid, as well as its golf, coastal and mountain developments, with Vallfosca Resort Ski & Golf as the main protagonist.

Crusoe - 5-29-2007 at 07:27 PM

AND........ Dennis........It really didnt make any difference to us kids in those days. It was the "Aloha" spirit...... There was plenty for everyone...... Life was good... and we could buy a gallon "Red Mountain" for $1.49 cts.( to hell with Trader Joes 2 buck Chuck) Red Mountain was better stuff, and a six pack of " Busch Bavarian1/2 qts." for 79 cts...... and a dozen day old Winchell's doughnuts for 25 cts. ,and a 16 oz.jar of Skippy peanut butter for 25 cents, and some old foul cans of tuna and cheap white bread and you were good to go and live on the beach anywhere between San Diego and Oregon. .......No people in those days......Play with the young wild and crazy women and feel like a millionare. Now all these kids aspire to Hummers. Sorry for the rant!!!!!! I just had to much fun!!! ++C++

capt. mike - 5-30-2007 at 04:33 AM

the stated scope is laughable, 4 frickin golf courses?! get real!
must be a lot of gullable euros about they can hood wink into deposits.
hell, the Spaniards are as goofy as the Mexicans politicos who pronounce unrealistic developments....aka the Nautical Escalera et al... :lol:

Bob and jane - 5-30-2007 at 05:33 AM

We shall see!! In the 20+ years we've been visiting San Bruno, we've seen this area change almost yearly. The whole area is one LARGE flood plain, constantly changing. The north beach, after last summer, was almost no longer a beach. The estero on one side, and the ocean on the other had reclaimed most of this long, sandy beach. Access to the beach was cut off by a tidal cut. The south beach likewise has changed dramaticly, year to year. The esteros, yeah, they never change-right. The whole area from the hwy. to the beach(almost 4 miles)is a giant 3 dozen vados. We shall see.

Phil S - 5-30-2007 at 07:57 AM

kBob & Jane. Your sure right about "change". I've been visiting San Bruno for about 15 years. It's at mp26 I believe. Junction is where the military check point is located. I was surprised to see the road fenced almost all the way to the beach???????? Anyone know who actually put up the fence? Also looks like someone is cultivating & growing something besides 'pot' in that area. Maybe it's for the future workers who will be there. Probably add another 1,500 workers into that area. I do swear that the blamed peninsula will break off one of these days somewhere south of Guerro Negro :lol:

Loreto Bay must be happy to hear about these developments. Will take the pressure off them for a while. Maybe a diversionary effort on their part. Maybe Loreto Bay is doing it under the name of other companies????
Maybe with Fonatur money behind it????? Nutin' funny about this!!! I can imagine what it will be like trying to drive down to Loreto in the future with all the "new owners" driving their vehicles down pulling trailers of furniture.
Might require another border crossing just to handle that traffic alone. Thought of flying down is beginning to maybe make more sense. Though I HATE FLYING> geeezzzz!!!!!

oldhippie - 5-30-2007 at 08:27 AM

This developer has 4 Mexican projects going at the same time. Ambitious folks.

"the luxury market of mainly North Americans and Canadians, known as snowbirds: people with high spending power looking for a second home"

That confuses me. Aren't most "snowbirds" retired folks? From what I've read the retiring baby boomers are a sorry lot when it comes to retirement funding. A "second" home and luxury hotel vacations are both extravagant things for people on a fixed income, especially when you now need to plan on living to you're 85 or so. Reality will set in and these folks will stay home with a warm fire in the fireplace and their money in safe bonds producing income. In fact, recent surveys indicate that the southward migration like the boomer's parents did to Florida is not on the agenda for most boomers.

I think these folks are betting on something that's not going to happen.

oldhippie - 5-30-2007 at 08:34 AM

Oh yeah, I forgot one thing. There's only one direction the inflation rate is going to go from here - up. That's going to hurt.

Strange, I never thought I'd think that inflation is a good thing. But now I'm hoping for a wrecked economy so these developers fail.

elizabeth - 5-30-2007 at 08:42 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by The Sculpin
Here is more on Fadesa, and their website

http://www.fadesa.es/index2.php?idioma=1

FADESA WILL BUILD THE LARGEST HOLIDAY RESORT IN THE COMPANY’S HISTORY IN MEXICO

La Coruña, 28th May 2007.- FADESA Group will build what it will be its largest holiday resort in the Mexican State of Baja California Sur: Loreto Paraíso, a resort of considerable scope on the Sea of Cortez (Pacific Ocean), in which it will invest around 4,000 million Euros.

There might be some hope here...if they think the Sea of Cortez and the Pacific Ocean are the same, they might be lost.

I can't imagine that between this place and LB that there are enough people who want to live in an area that doesn't exactly have ideal vacation weather most of the year. One of the reasons we chose Loreto years ago, was because we figured the weather wouldn't be appealing to the masses!!!! So much for that plan.

ha!! old hippie, you obviously have not a

capt. mike - 5-30-2007 at 03:06 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by oldhippie
This developer has 4 Mexican projects going at the same time. Ambitious folks.

"the luxury market of mainly North Americans and Canadians, known as snowbirds: people with high spending power looking for a second home"

That confuses me. Aren't most "snowbirds" retired folks? From what I've read the retiring baby boomers are a sorry lot when it comes to retirement funding. A "second" home and luxury hotel vacations are both extravagant things for people on a fixed income, especially when you now need to plan on living to you're 85 or so. Reality will set in and these folks will stay home with a warm fire in the fireplace and their money in safe bonds producing income. In fact, recent surveys indicate that the southward migration like the boomer's parents did to Florida is not on the agenda for most boomers.

I think these folks are betting on something that's not going to happen.

clue when it comes to finances and how to retire...........
your assumptions about how BBers plan and manage $$
are laughable - maybe its the way you do it?!
i still work, sometimes.. :lol:

and i have a TON of friends and assoc that either are retired late 40s and 50s or have situated themselves so that they can choose to work whenever they want to, or not at all.
none of them draw Social dole yet, a few have pensions licked in they earned - all are savvey $$ managers and investors.

and wishing ill economy to halt progress? - great, you show your colors...that's so very common of the left agenda when they can't make things happen for themselves, they want everyone to suffer alike.

attitudes like yours claim your own sooner or later - bunch of failing marooons.:moon:

The Sculpin - 5-30-2007 at 04:09 PM

I'm heavy in real estate.....I don't mind inflation! It's not necessarily a good thing, but I'm certainly not hurt by it. Bond investors shouldn't be hurt by it either as long as they keep their portfolio fresh. The increase in interest rates should hedge their yield, and when the market turns, they're holding high interest bonds that will be cashed out at a premium. Not bad!

Don Alley - 5-30-2007 at 05:21 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by capt. mike
ok, i know just where that place is! flew right over it last month bringing a patient back to mulege from la paz hospital. my right seater spotted it and asked me what it was - i didn't know and didn't have a ref map with me.
that bay is gorgeous!! there were campers and moored sail boats about, a perfect place for a resort.
i'll watch this one to see what becomes.

Quote:

Originally posted by capt. mike
...attitudes like yours claim your own sooner or later - bunch of failing marooons.

So, you just fly over and pronounce it a "perfect place for a resort." :rolleyes:

By the way, based on your description you were looking at San Basilio and San Juanico to the north.

Maybe the Spaniards are lost too. :biggrin:

capt. mike - 5-30-2007 at 06:34 PM

"So, you just fly over and pronounce it a "perfect place for a resort." sayeth Sr. Alley...

sure!! how do you think i find my spec lots?!
:lol:

and yeah.............i have been lost many times, part of the fun doncha know!

amir - 5-30-2007 at 07:11 PM

I find it interesting that people with excess money and who speculate in real estate then complain about what other people with even more money want to do to increase their fortunes, that is, speculate with their larger investesments on even larger development projects (for example Loreto Bay and Loreto Paraiso).

It appears that the rich don't like it when the mega-rich are getting richer. Is it because the richer one gets, and the larger the development one plans, the smarter one gets? People with the most money are the smartest then? Is this all about envy then?

I also find it interesting that people who have other values than money are called marooons. I qualify as a marooon then. It also follows then that people with less money than outfits like Fadesa, are also marooons. Investors in Fadesa want to retire in their 30's. They must think that people who invested poorly in lesser projects and couldn't retire until the 40's and 50's are marooons, too.

I will now await for some angry replies. Please remember I'm a marooon.

--Amir

toneart - 5-30-2007 at 07:30 PM

Amir,

The right wing vilify those not very rich as inferior, unimportant and therefore not worthy of existing, and certainly not entitled to any sort of help. They also vilify people with advance college degrees as "elitist". That should tell you something about the IQ in that gene pool. They are also easily identifiable by their signature......name calling.

The comedian, Stephen Wright says, "The trouble with the gene pool is that there are no lifeguards".

:yes:

Worldtraveller - 6-1-2007 at 11:47 PM

When is construction expected to start on this Fadesa project?

capt. mike - 6-2-2007 at 05:57 AM

ha!! likely after they've pre-sold most of the lots and taken the money out.....they'll get the obligatory big entry arch built and then.......tanksville.

CaboRon - 6-2-2007 at 07:36 AM

Amil, Please add me to the "marooon" list. The pot at the end of the rainbow, at least to me, is the road to enlightenment, not the bank. CaboRon :cool:

CaboRon - 6-2-2007 at 07:38 AM

Sorry about the mispell of your name Amir. Keep the faith. CaboRon

Skeet/Loreto - 6-3-2007 at 02:01 PM

I thank the Good Lord that I wa able to enjoy 37 years on the Sea of Cortez and Loreto. That also includes the beautifull Beachs from Loreto to Conception!
For those Real Estate Investors, look a little further North, there is already a Large Cinder Block Structure{Catherall} Buliding ready to be Occupied, a Road built, Iron Gates across the entrance. Build my a group of Canadains in a Commune where 5 White Spanish Guys were Breeding Several White Ladies where the Kids were all Slim and Blonde.
It is strange how this part of the recent Loreto History does not seem to be talked about, or Known about on this Board. Would make for a good Book!

Mike: Do you know about the Hot Water Area just North of Basillo. Gets to 105 Degrees and the Lobster near are nearly White.

Skeet/Loreto

jerry - 6-3-2007 at 03:26 PM

i like inflation.s i too have propertys and inflation lets me pay them off with cheaper dollars
but then early retirement and money is usally had by doers
not people who are trying to stop them (excepty lefty lawers) lol :lol:

History

tehag - 6-3-2007 at 04:47 PM

Skeet:

I'd like to know more about this "recent history". Can you refer me to a source, please.

T

Skeet/Loreto - 6-3-2007 at 06:57 PM

tehag: Several years ago there appeared a Group of Poeple from Canada; If my Memory is right they were called "Fabains"/
They paid a Million Dollars to have a Road built into the Beach with Huge Iron Gates and a Guard to keep out the Locals. they proceeded to build a Large Cider Block Structure.
They would not allow anyone to be near or Speak to the Children, who all looked the Same, Blocd and Slim/
At one time during their stay they rented a place in town from Carmen-Owner of the Cafe Ole. They used it as a stopping over place for the Kids going and coming by Airlines and then going up to the "Church".

They were there for at least a year and then one day left, leaving Equipt and Trucks inside the Building. --They also built a House right in the middle of the Arroyo- May be gone after the Last Hurricane.

That sll the History I know.

Skeet

history

tehag - 6-3-2007 at 07:13 PM

Where?? The cinder block building, the gate, the road to the beach??

Thanks;

T

Bob and jane - 6-3-2007 at 07:32 PM

Tehag,
Skeets is talking about the little bay just south of Punta Mangles, a few miles north of San Bruno. We used to stop there in our inflatable when our sons were young. There were wonderful mangroves and an intriguing grave, sometimes sharks swimming in the shallow waters. The building went up maybe 15 years ago, give or take. We didn't beach there after that. Rumor had it that it was an orphanage, a home for "wayward" boys, a religious cult, etc. We never really knew. We also heard that the government ran them out of there. For the last 5 or 6 years it appears to house nothing more than a seasonal fish camp. You can see it on the reality boards in Loreto now for many millions of dollars.

oldhippie - 6-3-2007 at 07:33 PM

Those of us who wrote Sandra Dibble may have done some good.
Capt. Mike, before you start in, the Union is a conservative newspaper with a Republican slant.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

High-end tourism growth is criticized

Environmental stress seen around Gulf of California

By Sandra Dibble
STAFF WRITER

June 3, 2007

Rapidly growing tourist corridors around Mexico's Gulf of California are time bombs that strain environmental resources and threaten the region's long-term economic potential, a newly released study concludes.

Conducted by the Mexico City-based Mexican Institute for Competitiveness, or IMCO, the privately funded study criticizes what it describes as developers' growing tendencies to appeal to the high-end tourist market through luxury hotels and golf courses, saying these have placed increased demands on the region's scarce water supply.

The study also is critical of the Mexican federal government's program to promote nautical tourism in the Gulf of California region through a series of linked marinas. The Proyecto Mar de Cortés, formerly known as the Escalera Nautica, “is based on a type of tourism that is inadequate for the regional reality,” the study says.

IMCO is a politically neutral, nonprofit think tank that focuses on issues affecting Mexico's economic competitiveness. The study was commissioned by the Mexican Nature Conservation Fund, which supports environmental groups across Mexico, including the Gulf of California.

“The idea was to better understand what's happening in the region, and to see whether the current economic logic has an economic future,” said Francisco Padrón Gil of the Mexican Nature Conservation Fund. “What this shows us is how this style of development is not economically competitive, and in the long run, you're bringing in tourists who spend less and don't recognize the value of the destination.”

Although completed late last year, the study was released last month to the Red Mexicana de Periodistas Ambientales, a newly formed group of Mexican environmental journalists.

The focus of the study is the Gulf of California region, a sparsely populated area that is rich in marine life and endemic species; 244 islands in the gulf were designated a United Nations World Heritage Site in 2005.

Developers have increasingly focused on the tourism potential of the region, and many areas have been experiencing an unprecedented real estate boom fueled in large part by U.S. customers. Just last week, a Spanish company, Fadesa, announced plans to build a $5.4 billion project in the small Baja California Sur community of Loreto; its plans include 6,500 residences, 7,000 hotel rooms and four golf courses.

At its current growth rates, the region's hotel rooms will increase from 31,000 to 400,000 in the next 40 years, the IMCO study says. The growing demand for four-and five-star hotels is causing greater environmental impact than more modest facilities, according to the study.
With rising competition for clients, room prices have been falling, which means lower wages for local employees, the study said.

The Loreto-La Paz corridor is one of seven areas in the study that have environmental importance and development pressures. Also included are other booming tourist areas: the Tijuana-Ensenada corridor, Puerto Peñasco and Los Cabos.

Throughout the peninsula, “in terms of sustainability, the main problem is water,” said Rodrigo Gallegos, a consultant to IMCO.

The study singles out golf courses. The typical golf course uses enough water for a population of 6,000, the study said. Although many use recycled water, in some areas where there is not enough supply, the golf courses are sustained by fresh water drawn from local aquifers.

Although desalination has been touted as the solution for the peninsula, the current technology is still too expensive, IMCO's Gallegos said.

The study says local and state governments are doing little to control the rampant growth, and it calls for rules to regulate the development.

There are alternatives to the current growth, the study says, but “people are overlooking the fact that a sustainable development can be as profitable as a conventional one, the study says. “If nothing is done in the short-term, the region will get worse. The aquifers will be dry or saline; the coasts will be polluted; and with less biological diversity, the ecosystems will be broken . . . the bubble will burst.”

The study echoes concerns that have been voiced for years by environmental groups in the region.

“We are heading for a collapse of monumental proportions,” said Enrique Hambleton, president of Pronatura Noroeste, and founding member of the Baja California Sur group Niparajá. The study “is an alarming wake-up call for all of us.”

The growth in the region “is occurring without investing in adequate infrastructure,” said Richard Kiy of the San Diego-based International Community Foundation, which funds conservation efforts on the peninsula. In the “long term, this will only lead to the Baja boom becoming more like a Baja bust.”

Tourism development officials for the state of Baja California and the Mexican federal tourism development agency, Fonatur, did not respond to requests for comment on the study.

“The true competitive potential of the region has not yet been fully discovered, much less developed,” the study said. “There is still time to recover, but soon it will not be so.”

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Sandra Dibble: (619) 293-1716; sandra.dibble@uniontrib.com