Real Estate Investor Magazine South Africa August 2016 | Page 50
TRENDS
The Trend of
Sustainable Amenities
Crystal Lagoons
T
he list of investor needs and requirements is
growing and, in order to set themselves apart,
developers are responding to the growing need
to be “eco-friendly”, and also to provide amenities for
fun and recreation.
Crystal Lagoons, a multinational technology
and innovations company, has started a real estate
revolution around the world, enabling the creation and
maintenance of unlimited sized bodies of crystal clear
water at very low construction and maintenance costs,
which, when included in property developments, have
contributed to exponential growth in sales prices,
sales velocity as well as increase in project density.
The key though, is that these lagoons use 30
times less water than an average golf course and
a half of the water used by a park of the same size,
answering the need for sustainable amenities boasting
both recreational features as well as natural beauty.
Crystal Lagoons, the world’s top amenity, can use any
water type – fresh, salt, or brackish. Patented in 160
countries, Crystal Lagoons is revolutionising world
markets in areas of urban development, tourism,
public space and industrial applications.
The company, involved in over 400 projects in
different stages of development in 60 countries, has
recently established an African base in Cape Town,
and Alastair Sinclair, Crystal Lagoons’ Regional
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AUGUST 2016 SA Real Estate Investor
Director for Africa, says that despite the continent
being a water-scarce region of the world, a Crystal
Lagoon is a sustainable and eco-friendly prospect for
developers because of the value that the technology
and concept adds.
Due to drought, and the vast amounts of water
required to keep golf courses going, many residential
estates in South Africa are unable to keep up the
maintenance required to remain operational. Crystal
Lagoons have transformed distressed golf estates into
hugely profitable investments – in Santo Domingo
in Chile, the Las Brisas de Santo Domingo estate
experienced an increase of more than 220 percent in
unit prices following the addition of a Crystal Lagoon.
Ken Jowdy, CEO of Legacy Properties, says of
their addition of a Crystal Lagoon at The Resort at
Diamante, Cabo San Lucas in Mexico: “The Lagoon
opened up a new demographic for us. We used to be
a golf-centric sales organisation, but having family
amenities that attract the full spectrum of luxury
buyers whether golfers or not, has allowed us to
market and sell to visitors that we could not convert
previously.”
In Chile, the San Alfonso Del Mar resort originally
planned 400 residential units. Due to increased
demand created by the addition of a Crystal Lagoon,
the project expanded to 1400 units and now attracts
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