Roadway Connectivity Opening New Markets


News from Panama / Wednesday, December 19th, 2012

I have often shown where new roadways have opened up new markets in Panama. I shot a video in January of 2012 to show first hand  a new road under construction in a market that offers excellent opportunities for investment and upside potential. This post  has an updated video that I shot in December when my partner and I did a road trip to Quebrada de Piedra and went fishing.  This area is just now beginning to take off and there is a lot planned for the future here.  There are a number of great videos below, both onshore and offshore that help to describe the incredible beauty of this area.

District of Tole

 

Located at the eastern edge of Chiriqui is the district of Tole. Tole is the head of one of the more populated (42,000, most of them indians of the ngobe ethnia) districts of the Chiriqui Province.

The access, located over the Pan-American Highway, at 350 kilometers from Panama City   and 90 kilometers from David, opens to a mountainous region inhabited by people dedicated to the agriculture, cattle raising and handcrafting.

As you take the Pan-American Highway towards Panama City, and there is a road that turns south (right) directly after the customs checkpoint at Guabala. This is the old Pan-American highway that goes past a navy base, the towns of Quebrada de Piedra and  Nata de Tole.  Continuing on one enters the province of Veraguas and on to Sona and either south to Santa Catalina or back north to Santiago.  This is all new highway completed in the last 9 months.

This is a coastal region that fell off the map until recently with the development of new communities and residential tourism projects planned around the excellent access to the Pacific Ocean, the island of Coiba and the incredible fishing, beaches, diving and eco tourism oriented activities in the area.

Here are the two projects planned for this market we call Quebrada de Piedra.

Hannibal Bank Marina and Resort  – The first phase of 15 hectares is situated on the water front located directly in front of the concessioned marina site.  The center of the project will be enhanced with a marina village, hotel, commercial center and other facilities in conjunction with the marina.  The marina slips and condominiums would be built out in phases depending on presales and demand.  This project comes with a fully approved concession for a major marina that will begin construction soon.  This is the only one of it’s kind west of Panama City all the way to Costa Rica.  The total project size is over 700 hectares and is fully entitled for development.

Vida Nueva – The Vida Nueva project is situated on 78 hectares or approximately 193 acres of ocean view hillside land and 331 hectares or approximately 818 acres of lower lying property where there is a marina planned for a parcel on the Rio Tinto that leads to the ocean.  The project was conceived in 2007 and now consists of over 90 home sites ranging from a little over 2,000 square meters to almost a full hectare or from half an acre to almost 2.5 acres in size.  In addition there is an area designated for a small commercial development in the future. The project will be a gated community with access to the 331 hectares of land for future phases of development, green space and a marina which is to be built as sales commence for the home sites.  The marina is planned in phases beginning with “in and out” service and a few slips for docking.  At a later date a full service marina is contemplated with numerous slips, fuel service and a marina hotel and restaurant.

Now that the road is completed and people start to discover this area the market will change quickly as it did in Boca Chica where land prices went from $3 per m2 to $20 per m2.    It follows all the models that we have seen from the gold coast near Coronado and down the Azuero to Pedasi.  New roads open up opportunities to buy beautiful properties at prices as low as 20% of near term appreciation.

I  frequently visit this area and have a number of properties for an investor or an owner/user looking for a place to build a family retreat, an Eco lodge or resort on the Pacific coast here in Chiriqui. The two huge projects outlined above are already approved, funded and will occupy over 2,700 acres of the land around Quebrada de Piedra. While there will be great deals on some of the initial lots being offered, the real money will be made buying select sites in the $3 to $10 per m2 range.  I can offer you ocean view land in the surrounding hills from under $3 per m2.   I had  a spectacular 5 hectare site (12.35 acres) , fully titled with paved road and gorgeous views out to the Pacific, water and electric service on the road and only $10 per m2 or 93 cents per square foot.  A client bought the property, subdivided it into several large lots, sold two of them and recouped his entire investment and he still owns 60% of the property!!   You will not find better sites than these on any of the Pacific coast and I challenge anyone, anywhere in Panama to show me a better value. In this case I define value as proximity to an international airport and city with hospitals, shopping centers and other venues like the mountain highlands of Boquete and Volcan all within 2 hours.

Here is one property that we have for only $2.50 per m2 with stunning views of the Pacific and 360 degree views back to the mountains.  This listing is an Exclusive Listing  of Panama Advisory International Group and consists of 11.6 hectares or over 28 acres.  It is on a paved road just past the town of Lajas de Tole, a quaint little village of mostly cattle ranchers.  The altitude is higher than Quebrada de Piedra so the temperature is a little cooler especially at night.  There is power and water service at the entrance to the property and the owner had cut in and graveled a road to the top part of the property where and his wife were going to build their dream home.  On a clear day you can see Coiba Island.

All of this property can be yours for under $300,000.

Let’s look at what makes this area a super opportunity to get in on.  Remember this is now less than 2 hours from David and the new International Airport and also the same distance from Boquete.  When the Pan America Highway is four lanes, it will take much less

So within 2 hours from our home of Boquete in the mountains, Rolando and I turn off the Pan America Highway and minutes later down the new road,  we are out on the water headed out to sea.

You can see in that video the mountains that are directly on this part of the coastline offer Malibu views of the Pacific Ocean with sunsets over the water.

We have several great sites both on the mainland and also on the peninsulas that you see in the distance in the next video.  One site shares views shown here from a fishing resort nearby. Click on picture for video

We headed to some nearby islands and started looking for some supper and soon we were on the fish

You are minutes from the open waters of the Pacific and just a 45 minute boat ride from Coiba and Secas, two island chains just offshore that are incredible.  Click on picture for video

Diving and fishing in these waters is unparallelled anywhere else in Panama and are world class.

I have another site of almost 15 acres that has a half a mile of ocean front and sunset views over the ocean that is the most unique property that I have seen in Panama and has a permit for a pier and dock in a protected cove for mooring a medium to large yacht.  Click on the photo for more.  Soon we will offer some beachfront properties nearby that are also spectacular and very aggressively priced.  While a few of the properties are rights of possession status right now, Panama has recently announced a major push to title properties that we have in application.

Please contact me for further details on this market or for any other property that might be on your wish list this year.

More videos for your viewing:

Coming home to Paradise Fishing Lodge

Early morning

Sunset in Paradise

Another Post I did on the roadways of Chiriqui can be seen here

Roads to Paradise