MICHES, Dominican Republic – Long-time developer but
first-time hotelier Adriana Cisneros learned a valuable lesson early on in her protracted
process to create a never-seen-before $212 million, luxury Four Seasons resort project
in under-developed Miches, Dominican Republic: tune out the noise.
The daughter of late legendary Latin entrepreneur
Gustavo Cisneros and now CEO of the family’s Cisneros Group – owners of media, entertainment, real estate and consumer products – has been developing
under Cisneros Real Estate the undulating, 1,353-acre beachside Tropicalia site
since before COVID, and during her early days faced a lot of skepticism and
resistance.
“It’s really hard to stay true to your vision when the
market doesn’t want to believe that it’s possible,” Cisneros told Hotel
Investment Today in a mid-March interview. “I knew what I wanted to do, and I
knew that it was possible. But I really had to take my time educating a lot of
people so that they could see that it was possible.”
Aerial view of the Tropicalis site in Miches, Dominican Republic
You see, in the Dominican Republic, no one had ever built a
luxury resort (with the exception of a small Aman). No one ever built at more
than $300,000 a key and most projects were Spanish-led all-inclusives, while
Cisneros was talking about a project north of $1 million a key with rates at
$2,000 a night. So, her initial conversations with the banks went nowhere. They
didn’t think she would succeed.
“It just took us a while to convince them of how incredible
the D.R. was and the fact that it had every single element that you needed to
succeed,” she said. “It just needed somebody to come and raise the bar and fly
the flag of Four Seasons… Now it’s a different story.”
While COVID postponed her plans and her initial financing
for a project solely owned by Cisneros Group, Adriana eventually did make a
deal with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and she said with a bit of
glee that the likes of Rosewood, Ritz-Carlton and other luxury operators are following.
“We kept at it, and instead of being annoyed, we just
educate them,” Cisneros continued. She found comps from Puerto Rico and Mexico
and continued the conversations about the wonder and beauty of D.R. beaches.
At the same time, the president of country decided to make tourism his
number one priority, which has led to increased airlift at four airports. “Punta
Cana has more airlift than Cancun,” Cisneros exclaimed. “There are flights from
every country in Europe directly into the D.R. The country has invested a lot
of infrastructure in hospitals and all these things that you really need to be
able to have a big brand say, ‘okay, this is great. Let’s go do it.’”
Stamina, forethought
Apparently, stamina is a long suit for Cisneros, who said it
will likely take some 30 years to develop the entire Tropicalia project, which will
include a second and complimentary hotel beside a golf course still to be built.
It just took us a while to convince them of how incredible the D.R. was and the fact that it had every single element that you need to succeed. It just needed somebody to come and raise the bar and fly the flag of Four Seasons… Now it’s a different story.
Adriana Cisneros
For now, Tropicalia is Cisneros’ only focus, but she did admit to having talks with other potential developers, and don’t be too surprised if more deals are announced at some point because she seems to really like the hotel business and its challenges.
With the 95-key, 25-residence Four Seasons Resort and Residences
Dominican Republic at Tropicalia – a sustainable, low-impact, low-density
development being built on Cisneros land on Samana Bay’s southern coast set to
open in late 2026 – the lessons learned by a rookie hotelier have been many. But she
is an experienced developer and far from a shrinking violet.
Cisneros also has forethought. Before even putting a shovel
to dirt at Tropicalia, she knew the local Miches community had to understand her
plans and buy-in. She has spent nearly a decade focused on just that and said she will keep community engagement a priority.
“We needed to listen and understand who the community was,
figure out what their perceptions were about what was going to happen,” Cisneros said. “We knew that we were going to change that area of the Dominican Republic
forever. It was completely isolated, and those communities felt like they had
been left behind. What we were coming with was the tsunami, and we wanted to
get it right.”
Her team spent two years listening to understand what the
community needed and devised a plan to get them ready to accept and receive
Tropicalia.
In her research, she discovered that the local girls were
not becoming educated, not graduating high school – likely a bare minimum for a
potential career at Tropicalia.
As a result, they founded Fundación Tropicalia, an
empowerment program to help girls in Miches finish school, instill
self-confidence and better know their rights. A program for boys is now in
development, at the community’s request.
They also created Soy Niña Soy Importante (I’m a
girl; I’m important), a summer program that works with all of the at-risk girls
between the ages 9 and 18 to teach them that they should go to school and
graduate. The camp gives them the tools to help them develop self-agency. They
provide sex education and teach them to speak up if they are abused. Now, an
after-school program is being developed to make sure the young women continue
to thrive and learn skills for careers.
“A lot of them now end up going to college, and all of them
would potentially be able to work for Tropicalia,” Cisneros said. “That was that was a huge challenge, and I
think we actually came up with a solution. This camp will forever be part of
our DNA and part of the work that we do in the D.R.”
To date, Cisneros said her group has invested about $5
million in the program and some 3,300 girls have attended the camp.
Maintaining value
The other challenge Cisneros had the tenacity to attack were
related to local infrastructure – specifically water, electricity, waste
management, security and road health.
Not having the pressure of having to do a hot sale of all the properties was great because the prices that we’re asking for now are unheard of in the Dominican Republic, which I knew, because I’m building something that doesn’t exist in the Dominican Republic but are really competitive worldwide.
Adriana Cisneros
“I was very worried about those things because I’ve traveled
so much and seen that go wrong in so many places, including all over the Dominican
Republic,” Cisneros said. “I realized that I shouldn’t be worried by myself and
have to find a way of making this a concern of all my neighbors, and that I
shouldn’t try to solve it only for my benefit – that we actually needed to
solve it for the entire neighborhood.”
While not the sexiest story, Cisneros said she is most proud of
creating a partnership between everybody that has an economic interest in the
coast. It is called ProMiches and working with the government they were
first able to build an aqueduct to guarantee access to water without having to
deplete the watershed system. They also put in place a waste management program
with more work ahead.
“This is probably going to be what’s going to help us
maintain value,” Cisneros continued. “The greatest of all the invisible things
that we’ve done – that’s probably the most important.”
Right partners
Completely self-funded in stage one of Tropicalia’s
development, Cisneros said she wants to bring in investment partners as the
project progresses.
“It’s about to get quite significant, and I don’t think I
want to do it alone,” she said.
And from the start, the neophyte hotelier has been
surrounding herself with the right people to make the initial phases a success.
She said the Four Seasons team helped her think through the
ideal site and product mix. “They were a dream to work with us as thought
partners and not just as the management company,” she added.
Cisneros also brought in world-class land planners EDSA, who
has 50 years of experience in Latin America, to create a plan for land that has undulating
mountains, a lake in the middle, surrounded by mangroves, as well as a “crazy
coastline,” which includes the Samana Bay.
“It wasn’t obvious at the beginning how we could connect it
all because there were no roads,” Cisneros said. “EDSA started coming with me to
read the lands. We were literally moving around on donkeys and motorbikes
trying to even see how the property would flow. Now, our plan seems extremely
obvious. It wasn’t obvious.”
One of the other experts that Cisneros brought to the table
was Brazilian architect Isay Weinfeld, who’s the architect and interior
designer for the Four Seasons.
“My mission was to find an architect who I didn’t have to
explain what living in the tropics was about,” she added. “Someone that
understands that it’s really about the shadow and not about the light to give you
that sense of rest when you’re inside, and has a great sense of how the air
should flow so that you’re not relying on air-conditioned spaces all the time.”
Cisneros found that in Weinfeld. “I don’t have to explain
anything to him, and that is amazing when it comes to figuring out the right
design for the property.”
It is amazing that there’s still so much beautiful land available. It is a pleasure to be able to work with the government of the Dominican Republic, who are very straight, who are supporting responsible development with gusto, and who have made tourism their number one interest for economic development of the country. There’s rule of law; it’s a proper country.
Adriana Cisneros
For the 25 residences that are “selling like hotcakes,”
there is a mix of flats and villas, ranging from about $5 million up to $18
million, and Cisneros said half have already sold with about $60 million under
contract.
Even better, the project was created so the residences
didn’t have to sell before the hotel could be built.
“Not having the pressure of having to do a hot sale of all
the properties was great because the prices that we’re asking for now are
unheard of in the Dominican Republic, which I knew, because I’m building
something that doesn’t exist in the Dominican Republic but are really
competitive worldwide.”
She said there are buyers from California, Europe and, as
expected, the East Coast. “The fact that people from California are choosing to
come to the D.R. instead of just going to Hawaii or Baja, I think it’s
fascinating,” she said.
What also fascinates Cisneros is the age of the buyers. “They’re
so young. These young people have made so much money, so much faster than what
we would have seen 15 or 20 years ago… We’re catering to a younger group that’s multi-generational.
We’re thinking about the little kids and the grandparents. The property just
lends itself to that very well.”
Exciting moment
With Tropicalia gaining more attention, Miches is growing as
a development destination.
“We’re the hottest place. Everybody wants in,” Cisneros
said.
But the way Cisneros helped the government zone the area
only allows for low-density, high-end products.
Rendering of the Four Seasons residential flats at Tropicalia
“That was sort of rare in the D.R. and I’m so happy that we
were able to do that way before anybody started doing a master plan because I
think if not, we would have ended up with huge buildings and high density. And
that’s just not possible,” she said.
Club Med is one of the first resorts open in the community.
“It’s full. It’s low key, green and full of French people,” Cisneros joked.
There is also a Zemi Miches Punta Cana All-Inclusive Resort,
Curio Collection by Hilton opening in a few months with a price point of about
$600 a night, according to Cisneros.
More are likely coming to the area, including more luxury
brands such as Rosewood in other beach areas of the Dominican Republic.
When asked what message she would impart to the hotel
investment community, Cisneros said the D.R. has everything in place already to
become the number one luxury destination in the Caribbean.
“It is amazing that there’s still so much beautiful land
available. It is a pleasure to be able to work with the government of the
Dominican Republic, who are very straight, who are supporting responsible
development with gusto, and who have made tourism their number one interest for
economic development of the country,” Cisneros said. “There’s rule of law; it’s
a proper country.”
Cisneros added that every time she visits, she goes swimming
and said it cannot feel more remote. “And yet, we’re two hours from Miami or
three and a half hours from New York. That’s amazing as you literally could
feel that you are in the Maldives after an 18-hour flight. It has everything
going for it that that should really make it into a number one destination.”
She continued with Rosewood and Ritz-Carlton coming to the D.R., there
will be a luxury story to tell, as well. “It’s a pretty exciting moment.”
