Puttin’ On The Ritz – The Ritz-Carlton Residences
BY CARL MICKELSON
A distinct satisfaction comes with playing a renowned resort course like Maui’s oceanfront gem, the Plantation Course at Kapalua Resort, home of the PGA Tour’s Mercedes-Benz Championship. You realize that not only have you tackled a world-class course head-on, you’ve done it in an incomparably picturesque setting.
The only downside to the experience is that one must travel so far to enjoy it. Imagine, though, if the commute home was minutes, not hours, from the bag drop. For a discriminating segment of second-home buyers, living within the confines of a full-service luxury resort affords them the ultimate lifestyle upgrade.
The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, long synonymous with world-class hotel and resort operations, is expanding its Ritz-Carlton Residences offerings into an increasing number of popular luxury golf destinations. True to its roots in high-end hospitality, The Ritz-Carlton has made resort-caliber service and worry-free, pampered living hallmarks of the Residences lifestyle.
A step beyond the fractional ownership opportunities many resort communities (including The Ritz-Carlton Company) offer, Ritz-Carlton Residences are whollyowned, deeded properties that are all yours and accessible any time you wish. Residents enjoy basic services like property maintenance and housekeeping as well as a patented Ritz touch: a dedicated, 24-7 concierge staff. Full-time concierge support means fussing with details like dry-cleaning, airport transportation, meal preparation, and vacation itineraries, can easily become someone else’s worry.
Your only job? Enjoy yourself.
“Our residents are like family to us,” says Aprelle Hastings, concierge services specialist at The Ritz-Carlton Golf Club & Spa in Jupiter, Florida. “We know a lot about them, like their birthdays, anniversaries and recreational preferences, so it becomes fun to anticipate the things that will make their lives more carefree.”
We’ll start a tour of Ritz-Carlton Residences in Hawaii, where The Ritz-Carlton Residences, Kapalua Bay is set in a secluded inlet of bay along the shimmering Pacific, offering 84 three- and four-bedroom residences with 3,002- to 4,271-square-foot floor plans. All are designed with spacious lanais and outdoor living spaces that reveal dramatic, uninterrupted views of the ocean, mountains, and neighboring islands Lanai and Molokai. Property owners can join the Kapalua Club, which affords access to sporting amenities, dining, beaches, and a spa. With a platinum membership, they can play the new, private Tom Fazio-designed Mauka Course.
Also at Kapalua, a recent renovation to the hotel brings— along with new spa, dining, and recreational amenities—a new private wing of 107 one- and two-bedroom Residential Suites, also part of the Residences program.
Also in Hawaii, but not opening until late 2009, will be 14 ocean-view homes at The Ritz-Carlton Residences, Kauai Lagoons, in conjunction with a complete renovation of the Jack Nicklaus-designed Kiele Course at Kauai Lagoons Golf Club.
The Ritz-Carlton Golf Club & Spa in Jupiter, Florida, was Ritz-Carlton’s original residential community, designed to elevate the concept of luxury living. Just north of Palm Beach, the community’s centerpiece is the satisfying parkland- style Ritz-Carlton Golf Club, intensified by island greens, lagoons, and marshes. The Mediterranean-style community offers a private spa and fitness center, numerous lakes and nature trails, and home offerings that range from two to five bedrooms with floor plans as large as 7,000 square feet.
Out west in Arizona, The Ritz-Carlton, Dove Mountain near Tucson will feature a Residences enclave along with a 250-room Southwestern-styled Ritz-Carlton Resort and Spa and two Jack Nicklaus Signature courses. The Residences will have as many as 91 single family homes, including 20 “large lot” offerings. Many of the homesites are adjacent to the course that will host the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship starting in 2009, while others enjoy rugged desert panoramas of the nearby Tortolita Mountains.
Following a different model is The Estates at Creighton Farms, which is not a resort but a low-density, high-end community in Virginia, about 30 miles west of Washington, D.C. Ritz-Carlton will manage the club, which features a Jack Nicklaus Signature course, and provide concierge service to residents.
Outside the U.S., The Abaco Club on Winding Bay, A Ritz-Carlton Managed Club (on Great Abaco Island in the Bahamas), is one the most talked about new golf properties in the Caribbean, thanks to a thrilling 7,183- yard Donald Steel/Tom Mackenzie links-style collaboration that features seven holes that play along a mesmerizing Atlantic shoreline. Residential offerings at The Abaco Club include 71 cottages and 63 estate lot homes that allow residents to take advantage of luxurious community amenities like a beach club, spa and fitness center, fine dining, and equestrian center.
In the Dominican Republic, the 220-room Ritz-Carlton, Cap Cana is scheduled to open in 2011 along with 194 privately owned beachfront Residences at The Ritz-Carlton, Cap Cana. The first of three Jack Nicklaus Signature courses opened in 2006.
There will be two Nicklaus Signature courses at the Ritz-Carlton, Los Cabos, Quivira and its associated Residences on the southernmost tip of Mexico’s Baja Peninsula. This upscale resort and residential community is being built on 1,850 acres and three miles of private coastline.
If your concept of a “dream home” is about capturing the spirit, comfort, and adventure of your favorite vacation moments, these Ritz-Carlton Residence communities beckon. Loudly. With home prices ranging from $1.5 million to well over $10 million, these communities are designed for a special class of buyer with a special vision for making the most of leisure and family time.
“Our clients come to these properties with high expectations because of The Ritz-Carlton affiliation,” says Merrill Yavinsky, regional vice president of sales, Ritz-Carlton Club and Residences, Hawaii. “The only way to exceed those expectations is with unparalleled properties in superb natural locations and with service that truly fosters an enriched, worry-free lifestyle for our residents.”
For some, the vacation never has to end.
