This article is part of our latest special report on Waterfront Homes.
For years, ecotourism has been both a buzzword and a lifestyle trend. Tour operators, hotels, and even private jet companies have come up with ways to attract the wealthy who still want to enjoy luxurious vacations while limiting their impact on the earth.
These concepts have also arrived in the second-home market, where a new spate of buyers, keen on limiting their effect on the climate, are pushing developers to rethink how they plan and build both individual homes and communities.
Renewable energy and sustainable building materials are only part of the way these destinations work to reduce their effect on the climate. Developers are becoming more aware of how they can help — and how much potential owners want them to — shape and improve local communities rather than simply develop the land and hire the local population for a work force.
Here is a look at three areas where sustainability is in practice.
Costa Elena, La Cruz, Costa Rica
If the 400,000 acres of the Guanacaste Conservation Area can be considered Costa Elena’s back yard, then the Pacific Ocean is the front. Seclusion has often been a desirable feature for homeowners and travelers, but these days few can afford to disconnect completely.
Corey McCann, who runs a medical technology company, can afford to be away but not off the grid. He said Costa Elena offered him the best of both worlds.
“Before Covid I used to travel 25 days a month,” Mr. McCann said, “and I was splitting my time between Boston and San Francisco.” He said eventually wanderlust set in and he realized he couldn’t live in a city any longer.
He and his partner traveled to Mexico and Florida before landing in Costa Rica, where they spent about six months working remotely before eventually settling in Costa Elena.
“We really got into this ocean-to-table way of living,” Mr. McCann said, “where we were able to go out, catch our food every day, eat our catch, and be part of nature and part of the ocean.”
While Costa Elena offers residents a community filled with amenities including pools and private beaches, Mr. McCann said those weren’t what attracted him. The convenience of ownership was one aspect, he said, but so was the community’s commitment to sustainability. “It’s hard to be an ocean person and to not be focused on sustainability.” He and his partner “were looking for a spot that was unspoiled, but one that also wasn’t being spoiled by us being there.”
Before beginning development, Costa Elena partnered with a government entity that manages water and sewer services in Costa Rica to build a potable water system in 2012 in costal villages near the development. Carlos Hernández, the resort’s chief executive, said the filtration system had to be built before beginning construction. After it was finished, the system was donated to the government. It currently provides water to some 10,000 residents in the area, he said.
Costa Elena begins a second phase of selling in 2023, and the resort says it has committed to keeping 60 percent of the property as open spaces. Homesites for building begin at $550,000 and finished homes of four and five bedrooms cost $2.35 million. Each home includes amenities like property management, concierge services, and an exclusive rental program management.
Club Ki’ama, the Bahamas
Club Ki’ama’s homes on Elizabeth Island, just 10 minutes by boat from George Town, are completely off the grid. They use solar power and hydrogen batteries for their backup generators.
The project was designed to be completely sustainable from conception to completion. Homes were prefabricated in Belize, which helped to reduce waste, time, and costs, then shipped to the Bahamas and assembled on-site. Thirty-three fractional ownerships have been sold among the 16 planned club residences with construction underway.
Developed by EcoIsland Development, in partnership with Silent Yachts and Silent Resorts, Ki’ama claims to be “the world’s first 100 percent solar powered, fully sustainable carbon neutral private island yacht and residence club.”
In addition to their construction measures, Steve Dering, an EcoIsland Development partner, said even the containers in which the prefabricated houses are shipped are reused. Some become the private pools that sit beside every home.
The project’s goals extend well beyond home construction, the backup hydrogen batteries, and their commitment to only building on 18 percent of their 36 acres, leaving the rest natural.
Club Ki’ama is also partnered with Silent Yachts, which are solar-powered, catamaran-style crafts. The club will eventually own eight of the yachts to pair with the 16 club residences. For $525,000 and $26,000 in annual dues, homeowners get one week in their home and one week on the yacht.
For those wanting a private estate residence, eight of those will be built and prices start at $4.25 million. Cheryl Dillon, a consultant from Suwanee, Ga., who bought into the development, said she and her husband were looking for places that would allow them to be an example to their children about how to buy a second home.
“We’ve been trying to impress upon our kids and educate them that we have to be good citizens of the world,” Mrs. Dillon said. “They’re learning conservation and sustainability now in school. And so, for us, this was an opportunity to show them we are trying to make purchases that leave the world in a better place.”
Oil Nut Bay, British Virgin Islands
Joel and Susan Carlins, who founded the Magellan Development Group in Chicago, were among the first developers in Illinois to win a silver certificate from LEED — a rating system for green building created by the nonprofit U.S. Green Building Council — for the Lakeshore East development in 2009.
So when they were looking for a second home in the British Virgin Islands, sustainability, along with natural beauty, was one of their goals. They found plenty of both in the secluded Oil Nut Bay. Among the many things the community has incorporated into its plan, where homes can sell for upward of $19.5 million, are restrictions on plastic bottles, having its own glass-crushing facility on site, as well as desalination plants to help create potable water. Solar power generates electricity for desalination, as well as amenities like air conditioning, hot water and community lighting.
And while materials must be shipped in over great distances, which disqualifies the project from the ability to get full LEED certification, the developer of the resort, David Johnson, said homeowners are encouraged to work with Oil Nut Bay’s team to build their homes to those standards. The Carlins, who’ve had a home in St. John for many years, were looking for a place that was “pristine,” Susan said.
Oil Nut Bay’s homes start from $2.95 million. The development’s mandate calls for 50 percent of the land to remain as open space with nature trails and land preserves. Susan said she and her husband liked the limits placed on the scope of building because what they fell in love would stay that way for many years.
And because the Carlins were not new to both second homes or developing their own high rises or housing communities, they often sent their own people from their Chicago firm to examine the construction of their new home. They said the reports always came back positive. Joel even went so far as to take his own laser level with him on one excursion.
“The walls were aligned properly,” he said. “Every single one of them was within the range of perfect.”
