Click here to try our new website - marhabapanama.com · If you judge places simply by the density of billionaires displaying flesh, then yes — folly. Billionaires like St Lucia

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December 17, 2015 12:05 pm

By Alexander Gilmour

Less developed than nearby locations and famed for its Pitons, theisland’s charms are luring high-end buyers

Set between the Pitons, Sugar Beach is a Viceroy resort where one of the Glenconner Beach Residences is on sale for$16m

It’s rare that you travel to a country — however small — and find that your family used toown it.

I discover this at dawn, outside a five-star hut, halfway up a hill in St Lucia. A big pink moonis dangling in the sky. It is light enough to read.

In 1722, the king of England gave St Lucia to John, 2nd Dukeof Montagu. Montagu sent seven ships to claim his colony. His men landed in December andheld the island for a week or so. Then a French force forced them off. And that was it.

The duke — my flesh and blood — did not sail with his flotilla. He stayed in England (he was

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Caribbean rock star: where to buy in St Lucia

©Courtesy of Suger Beach Residences

Caribbean rock star: where to buy in St Lucia - FT.com http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/1623db00-9e6f-11e5-b45d-4812f2...

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known to be a nice man, who kept a hospital for old cows and horses). His venture lost him£40,000.

The moon slides into the Caribbean Sea.

Almost 300 years later, you can’t just invade St Lucia — times have changed. But would it befolly to buy a little piece of it? It depends.

If you judge places simply by the density of billionaires displaying flesh, then yes — folly.Billionaires like St Lucia — their yachts do, too — but they congregate in better numberselsewhere.

“I think the leader in the Caribbean is still St Barts,” says Giles Hannah, seniorvice-president at Christie’s International Real Estate. (Saint Barthélemy, to you and me.)“It’s almost in its own league.” Mustique has cachet, too.

Yet St Lucia is not to be ignored. In a league of high-end Caribbean destinations “I’d put StLucia second or third with Barbados”, says Hannah. On the podium, in other words.

In other made-up leagues, you might even put it first. In a Piton league, perhaps. A Piton?Gros and Petit Piton — two volcanic rocks that jut from sea to sky in south-west St Lucia,rocks of such beauty that to see them is to be in love. In this league, St Barts cannotcompete.

St Lucia also has the world’s only “drive-in” volcano. And it has charm.

The Landings, Rodney Bay, where apartments are on sale for up to $3.75m

Christos Poravas, of Sotheby’s International Realty, maintains that St Lucia is “considerablyunder-developed compared with most other islands, so it retains that Caribbean charm”.


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2nd Duke of Montagu

A young Alexander

Charm extends to the people. Who could be more charming than Darren Sammy, formercaptain of the West Indies cricket team? He was never West Indies’ best player, and hiscaptaincy was questioned relentlessly. But in 2012, the philosophical Sammy led WestIndies to their first world title since 1979. “I never worry about the critics,” he said after thematch. “I go by one way in my life. I say if Jesus Christ  .  .  .  never did a thing wrong but yetstill he was crucified, who is Darren Sammy?”

Fine, but what of the economic charms of St Lucia’shousing market? Seven years after the crash, it is onthe “rebound”, says Poravas. It is a buyers’ market. Inthe prime Caribbean markets, says Hannah, “the last12 months have seen prices recover to 2012 levels,having dropped 8 per cent over 2013 and 2014”. In StLucia, transactions have risen by 20 per cent in thepast 18 months.

Added to that, the island’s government is welcoming.From January 1, St Lucia will accept applications forcitizenship by investment, meaning that as long as youhave a net worth of $3m, you can apply to be St Lucian.Prime minister Kenny Anthony, who calls himself “ajealous guardian of St Lucian citizenship”, announcedthe programme in October.

So where to buy? My five-star hut, nestled in Sugar Beach, a Viceroy resort, would be nice.From the terrace, I see the sun nibbling the tops of Gros and Petit Piton. The white beach iswaking up below  .  .  .  But let’s go back.

In 1992, all this belonged to Colin Tennant, Lord Glenconner — the manwho made Mustique, befriended Princess Margaret and kept a pet elephantcalled Bupa. Now it belongs to Roger Myers, the man who made Café Rougeand Sugar Beach. Myers is building the Glenconner Beach Residences, fourhomes on the beach. One is sold, three remain. The best one — a 9,721 sq fthouse on a 68,000 sq ft lot — is yours for $16m. It’s even better than my hut,or will be when it’s built.

Attached to the resort, each residence is designed by Lane PettigrewAssociates, in gingerbread style. You may expect French windows and whiteclapboard walls, pools and gardens, claw-footed bathtubs and hardwoodfloors.

Are they worth it? “They’re clearly the last ones on the beach,” says DouglasElliman’s Neal Sroka, who is marketing the properties. True. And what abeach. White. White when the local sand is black. An imported beach isbetter than black sand that burns your feet. Better looking, too. White sand

©National Portrait Gallery


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Gilmour

Lord Glenconner and his wife, Anne, on Mustique in 1967

makes a perfect view more perfect.

Beyond the view, rental returns might tickle you, too. No one will promise anything, but themarket is strong for “special homes in the Caribbean”, says Sroka. In peak season —Christmas to Easter — your $16m hut could generate $15,000 a night.

That said, if you have $16m to invest in the non-essential, you can likely afford to keep it foryourself. But it’s like those guys who own big yachts, says Sroka — the cost of upkeep is“tremendous”. “I know very few people who own anything over 200ft that don’t have a yachtbroker renting it when they’re not using it,” he says. Me too, as it goes.

Other sweeteners involve various waivers on inheritance tax, stamp duty and such like. Andthere’s the resort to play with.

Eight-hundred years ago, Caribs, who predate the white colonials, ate fruit and beans, sweetpotato, yam, peppers, corn and cassava. They also kept a small, bark-less breed of dog.

At Sugar Beach, you could live on a Carib diet ifyou fancied it — or eat scallops on a purée ofJerusalem artichoke, Kobe beef with a red winejus or mahi mahi (fish) with green fig mash. Youcould also take Zumba classes, play tennis,ping-pong, ride round by tuk-tuk, have amassage up a tree — anything. You might evenget to keep a small, bark-less breed of dog.

But maybe the Pitons are too subdued for you?Then head north to Rodney Bay, where therhythm is bouncier and there are berths to parkthe yacht. The Landings — another five-starresort — is marketing some swish-lookingapartments for up to $3.75m (via landingsvillas.com). And nearby, Sotheby’s InternationalRealty is selling Villa Atlantis for $3.99m. Set210ft above the sea, the villa, built in “Tuscan”style, has six bedrooms and a 60ft infinity pool.

So is it folly? “One of the things I’ve noticedwhen I’m selling high-end property in the Caribbean,” says Sroka, “is nobody needs whatwe’re selling.” It’s like buying fine art, he says. “The only difference is you get to use it”.Buying in St Lucia is a decision of the heart. Folly or not is not the point.

Back at Sugar Beach, Myers has a vision for the future: “To lie in a hammock.” You could bedoing that on Christmas Day — just put the Monets on the market and sail away. You mayeven stay longer than a week.

©Lichfield/Getty Images


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Alexander Gilmour was a guest of Sugar Beach, a Viceroy resort

Buying guide

The island’s property laws are based on the English legal system

St Lucia gained independence in 1979, but retains Queen Elizabeth II as head of state

The climate is tropical, with average highs of 31C and average lows of 23C

Two St Lucians have won Nobel Prizes — Derek Walcott for literature and Arthur Lewis foreconomics — giving the island “the honour of having the highest number of laureates percapita in the world”, says prime minister Kenny Anthony

What you can buy for . . .

$2m A three-bedroom flat in a five-star resort with views of Pigeon Island

$5m A six-bedroom villa on Rodney Bay

$15m A 10,000 sq ft property in a World Heritage site, in the shadow of the Pitons

For more property listings, please visit ftpropertylistings.com

Photographs: Courtesy of Suger Beach Residences; Lichfield/Getty Images; NationalPortrait Gallery


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