The Residences at Secret Bay, Dominica’s only six-star, award-winning, all-villa resort has completed construction on four new villas and is concurrently launching its Phase 2 sales, remaining true to its commitment to offering new citizenship investors buy-in of a ready villa.
This brings the total number of ready to invest villas to 10 (with a further one set to be completed by early 2021) with Phase 1 delivering six villas back in 2019. Now nearing sell-out, this Phase 1 of six villas has garnered citizenship by investment buyers from North America, Middle East, Africa and Asia especially, and now has just a few shares remaining.
According to Gregor Nassief, proprietor of Secret Bay and The Residences at Secret Bay, and Chairman and CEO of GEMS Holdings, Secret Bay has seen a 70% increase in inquiries from Americans seeking second citizenship from Dominica – a mere two hours from the southern coast of Florida, US – through a real estate investment.
“We’re thrilled to launch our next phase of sales for The Residences at Secret Bay,” says Gregor, “We continue to see interest from savvy investors around the world who are seeking a built product, a proven operating and financial performance and a competitive exit strategy with a robust market for resale.”
Recently named Number One Resort in the Caribbean and Number Six Resort in the world by Travel + Leisure’s 2020 World’s Best Awards, marking the first time a CBI Investment real estate project has been awarded top marks in the world’s leading travel awards, Secret Bay is an existing development with eight years of successful operation under its six-star belt and a long track record of rental demand returns.
Made up entirely of standalone luxury villas, enveloped in a rainforest-rich embrace, The Residences by Secret Bay is designed to complement, not compromise, the land, located as they are in the dense Dominican rainforest.
These new Phase 2 residential-style, 1,400-sq-ft, hillside villas have a private pool, an outdoor rain shower, floor-to-ceiling glass walls, a gourmet kitchen, a private plunge pool, and hammocks and day beds positioned to make the most of the jungle-to-ocean views that extend to Morne Diablotin, Dominica’s highest mountain, and are situated within the Secret Bay’s densest rainforest area.
The topical-modern architectural masterpieces are sustainability built with Guyanese Greenheart hardwood and feature indoor furniture handcrafted from Dominican Red Cedar by local artisans.
The Residences at Secret Bay, which is owned and managed by GEMS Holdings Limited, who own and manage various hotels that have been operating successfully throughout Dominica for the past three decades, is the only government-approved real estate project in Dominica that offers purchase options to both vacation home buyers and citizenship investors.
For the latter route, investors must undergo due diligence, and once passed, can either contribute to a government fund or invest in pre-approved real estate like Secret Bay.
Successful applicants obtain second citizenship for themselves and their eligible dependants and become entitled to the benefits associated with Dominican citizenship, including visa-free and visa-on-arrival travel to 140 destinations, ability to diversify wealth, and the right to live, work and study in sunny Dominica.
And Dominica has plenty of draws from an investment point of view. Not only has the Caribbean island just been named by National Geographic as being in the top 25 destinations on the rise for 2021 due to its adventure tourism and focus on sustainability, but it has further been named as one of the top 20 most attractive locations for investment in the future, according to the Financial Times’ fDi tourism locations of the future 2019-2020.
Dominica’s Prime Minister, Dr the Hon. Roosevelt Skerrit has also praised the project, expressing that “[…] investing in Secret Bay, you can be assured of your investment. You can be assured of a return on your investment. It is a project that cannot be compared to any other in the Caribbean.”
Dominica Citizenship by Investment Programme
Introduced in 1993, Ranked the world’s best CBI Programme for the fourth consecutive year, according to the latest CBI Index 2020, Dominica’s longstanding Citizenship by Investment programme, at 27 years old, is widely considered to be one of the world’s most efficient and transparent CIPs, combining extensive due diligence with efficiency, speed, affordability and reliability.
Offering rapid relocation, with just 45-60 days application processing times, and the cheapest CBI cost at US$100,000 (along with Saint Lucia and Antigua & Barbuda), Dominica’s CBI programme is not just competitive, it’s winning.
Recently, Dominica extended its ‘dependent’ clause in its CBI Programme to include a wider range of family members, including grandparents and adopted siblings. Dominica furthermore reduced the qualifying fund contribution for a family of four from US$200,000 to US$175,000, comprising the main applicant, their spouse and two dependants other than a sibling.
A Dominican passport gives citizens visa-free access to 141 countries, slightly less than other Caribbean countries, though Dominica has seen the greatest increase in visa-free offerings since 2019 compared to the other CBI countries, and is set to add China to its list. And, as per the just-released Henley & Partners Passport Index 2020 for Q4, Dominica has moved up two places in the passport power ranks from its position in Q1, to 33rd in the world.
Find out more about Dominica’s Citizenship by Investment Programme with our country profile by clicking here