PANAMA: Portones del Mar Yacht Club & Resort To Cost $275 million

The plan is to build a tourist resort that includes residences, a hotel, and a marina with capacity for 400 boats, in an area of ​​55 hectares in Chame, province of Panama.

The project consists of the construction of a marina with capacity for 403 boats in the Bay of Chame, a 16 storey hotel with approximately 300 rooms, which will have an area for commercial use and facilities to support the marina.

The EIA indicates that the Marina will be built in two phases. The first phase will have capacity for approximately 304 boats and the second for approximately 99 boats, making a total of approximately 403 boats.

The dimensions of the boats vary between: a maximum length of 100 meters and a width of 22 meters; And a minimum of 12 meters length and 4.50 meters width. Construction of the marina will take about 18 months.

The area of influence of the project will be Chame Bay, where the marina, Marina Village and Beach Village will be developed. A navigation channel will be made for the approach of the boats to the main and secondary docks.

The Hotel will have a lobby, reservation area, administrative and maintenance office, banquet and conference area, restaurant, recreation center with gym and so on. In addition there will be a swimming pool area, beach cabins and parking lots as per the rules established for this type of zoning.

Residential condominiums will also be built, totaling approximately 728 units between the different stages. In addition, two beaches will be established and restored.

The project is called "Portones del Mar Yacht Club & Resort" and according to the document, it will require an investment of $275,000,000.

A bill has been approved in a first debate, which seeks to create a Special Free Trade Area within the perimeter of Puerto Armuelles and Paso Canoa, whose sole purpose is to promote the sale of tax free goods to tourists.

This bill amends article 27 of Law 19 of 2001, which creates a special and Free Trade Zone and customs regime and Multimodal Logistic Support in Barú and was approved in a first debate on Monday afternoon by the Trade and Economic Affairs Commission in the Blue Room at the National Assembly.

Discovery Communications Inc. is licensing its name for a $1 billion eco-tourism park in Costa Rica as the media company seeks new revenue from fans of its cable networks, which include Discovery Channel and Animal Planet.

Discovery Costa Rica, scheduled to open in late 2020, will be near Liberia, according to a statement from the company. The town is a regional hub in the northwest part of the country that tourists pass through on their way to the country’s Pacific coast beaches.

Activities will include rock climbing, hiking, scuba diving and other pursuits across four locations at the country’s beaches, parks and volcanoes, with a focus on biodiversity and conservation.

Discovery Costa Rica will have a water park, along with Discovery-branded hotels and restaurants, said Richard Wirthlin, chairman of investor relations at Sun Latin America, the developer leading the project.

While media giants like Walt Disney Co. and Comcast Corp.’s NBCUniversal build and run theme parks tied to movies and shows, Discovery is taking a more low-key approach. Sun Latin America is assuming the risks associating with developing and owning the project. The companies declined to disclose the financial terms of their deal.

The media company, based in Silver Spring, Maryland, wants viewers to “live out the lifestyle of Discovery beyond the experience of a TV screen,” said Leigh Anne Brodsky, executive vice president of Discovery Global Enterprises, the company’s licensing unit.

“Millennials are interested in more than lying in a beach chair,” Brodsky said. “They want to have an experience.”

Licensing gives Discovery an opportunity to increase ancillary income at a time when its main revenue sources -- TV advertising and cable subscriber fees aren’t growing as fast as they once were.

The company has also licensed its name to an adventure park in Moganshan, China, that opened last year, and has a partnership with Princess Cruises for snorkeling and other activities tied to TV shows like “Deadliest Catch” and “Shark Week.”

Such arrangements contributed less than 5 percent of Discovery’s 2016 revenue of $6.5 billion, and the company is exploring more licensing deals, a spokeswoman said.

Animal Planet, one of several Discovery cable networks, aired “Wild Costa Rica,” a show celebrating biodiversity, in August.