Four Seasons reaches agreement to manage Costa Rica luxury-home enclave

Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts will manage a beachfront luxury-home enclave that will be built next to its recently renovated hotel in Costa Rica's Peninsula Papagayo by the end of 2019.

Four Seasons Private Residences Prieta Bay at Peninsula Papagayo will consist of 20 homes on 17 acres next to the 182-room hotel. The homes, which will be developed by Miami-based Gencom, will feature glass walls with pocket doors, and will be designed to appear "to grow out of the landscape," Gencom and Four Seasons said Thursday.

With almost all of Costa Rica's power coming from renewable sources, the homes will also be designed for minimal water and power usage. Costa Rican architect Ronald Zurcher, whose projects have included the nearby Andaz Peninsula Papagayo and the JW Marriott Panama Golf & Beach Resort as well as the Four Seasons next door, will design the homes.

Residents will have walkway access to two nearby beaches as well as membership privileges to the Peninsula Papagayo Club, which includes golf and tennis facilities. The homes break ground in February and will be priced in the $3.5 million range.

Gencom purchased Peninsula Papagayo on Costa Rica's northern coast last year and is planning more than $100 million in capital improvements to the residential and resort development, including work on its golf course and 180-slip marina and the creation of eight miles of nature trails.

In addition to the homes, those improvements included the renovation of the Four Seasons Resort Costa Rica, which was built in 2004 and reopened earlier this month after a $35 million renovation. Those upgrades included new furnishings, artwork and artisan pieces in all guestrooms, suites and villas, while the property's 15 hillside Canopy Suites received new plunge pools.