I recently had the pleasure of meeting with Kyle Porter and some of his friends here in Atlanta to talk about Las Catalinas. Kyle is a big fan of what we are doing, and his enthusiasm is contagious – here is his post about the event on his blog.
A Blog in Praise of Las Catalinas
March 9, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Lola’s del Norte is …. Open!!
March 3, 2011 by 1 Comment
Today was the first day of business. I am proud to say I was among the first customers! Everything looks great, and the food was fantastic. Oh, I have been waiting a long time for this! Come tomorrow and you too can be among the first customers.
Ruta de Malpais
March 1, 2011 by 5 Comments
I just finished a great bike ride with friends, run by Pura Vida Ride – the new outfitter business at Las Catalinas. Here is my report!
Day 1 – Santa Cruz to Nosara
This is the hardest ride I have ever done. [Read more...]
Recent Construction Photos
February 17, 2011 by 3 Comments
Here are a few nice images of how the initial houses at Las Catalinas are coming along. Most of the houses are getting ready for final finishes. The installation of the hardscape for the public areas is about halfway done. We are in the home stretch!!
Photo credit to Steve Beshara!
Ground Hog Day
February 3, 2011 by 1 Comment
I suffer in winter. Here I sit in Atlanta gazing out at a drizzly 37 degrees Fahrenheit. But in Las Catalinas this time of year the weather every day is pretty much guaranteed to be perfect. Warm and sunny, low humidity, a nice breeze. Bob Davey calls it Ground Hog Day – after the movie where the same day repeats endlessly. I’ll call him up and ask “how is the weather?” “Ground Hog Day,” is the reply. Here is his photo from last night at Las Catalinas … Ground Hog Day.
Road Trip Report – Monte Verde, Lake Arenal, and Rancho Margot
January 6, 2011 by 1 Comment
One of the cool things about the Guanacaste beach area where Las Catalinas is located is that there are so many wonderful places to visit within nearby striking distance. Last week I got to do a road trip with two of my children, Bob Davey, and two of his children. This is my report.
Our first destination was Monteverde, the famous high altitude cloud forest preserve area. The drive there was spectacular. From Las Catalinas a nice paved country roads take you through the Guanacaste and Nicoya countryside across the Tempisque River bridge to the Pan American Highway. From there you leave the pavement behind and start heading up! The shortest route would be via Juntas. We went via Guacimal. The scenery and views on this route are stunning. To the east we could see the clouds clinging to the ridge tops. To the west is an incredible panaroma of the Gulf of Nicoya and the mountains of the Nicoya Peninsula beyond. [Read more...]
Happy New Year from Las Catalinas
January 4, 2011 by 5 Comments
It was a beautiful holiday season at Las Catalinas. With large portions of our beachfront park complete, we had more visitors than ever enjoying the beaches. Here is the view from the upper deck of the nearly complete Lola’s del Norte across the beachfront park.
And here is what the sunset looked like the other night. Oh, how I wish I were still there…
Happy New Year, everyone!
Notre Dame Studio Work on Las Catalinas
December 10, 2010 by 1 Comment
I’m here in South Bend Indiana. Yesterday was the day for final presentations on the studio work that 16 fifth-year architecture student have been doing on Las Catalinas. The students have done a huge amount of work, and produced some beautiful images! I’ll get the real scanned versions of the work soon, but for now here are some photos I took with my camera phone. My whole batch of snapshots is here.
View of planned hilltown area on Punta Guachipelines
Hillside house with terraced gardens on Punta Guachipelines
CIMA hospital has broken ground 40 minutes from Las Catalinas.
November 25, 2010 by 5 Comments
There is some exciting news in our region of Costa Rica, CIMA hospital has broken ground in nearby Carrillo which is roughly 40 minutes from Las Catalinas. CIMA currently operates a world class full service hospital and professional offices in San Jose and is one of the preferred private hospitals in the country by expats and Costa Ricans alike. In fact, Reid Berry, the son of Las Catalinas’ General Manager James Berry, was born in CIMA San Jose in March and was amazed by not only the quality of care, but also the affordability of the services. Attached is the original Spanish newsletter and below is an English translation:
‘Pacific Plaza has just begun construction just outside of the Liberia airport, the CIMA Hospital and Medical Plaza will be the first two buildings to be built.
After being given the starting signal on November 2nd, the construction officially began on the first complete medical services community in Costa Rica, located in Carrillo Guanacaste 10 KM from the Daniel Oduber Liberia International Airport.
The first phase will have a total built area of 16,000 square meters (160,000 square feet) and the construction will take approximately 12 months to complete. The hospital will be managed by the CIMA corporation, will feature a class A medical services hospital, and the medical center will have room for 40 medical specialty offices and some convenience stores.
“The initial term of the work of Pacific Plaza, embodies the commitment and success of the management over the past two years, we look forward to the opening of the project and the implementation of CIMA Guanacaste” … noted Mr. Bennet, Director General of the Hospital CIMA in San Jose.’
More from Notre Dame
November 7, 2010 by Leave a Comment
Those fifth-year architecture students at Notre Dame have been working away on their Las Catalinas projects. They had an interim review on Monday and we got a few images. Some of them look pretty exciting!
