Vertical condos

I guess this building shows that developers will build condos even when they own a small plot of land and there is no where to build but up. This building appears to have only one condo per floor on each of about 7 floors., overlooking the bay at Playa Flamingo.

Under current building restrictions, I do not think it would be legal to build a condo this high so close to the ocean. Several years ago the then-President of Costa Rica, Oscar Arias, issued an executive order that for three years prohibited new construction within 200 meters of the ocean in our part of Costa Rica, and allowed only three story buildings from 200 to 800 meters. It also required that about half of each parcel of land must have vegetation, rather than buildings or pavement.

Not long after the building restrictions were imposed, the U.S. economy collapsed, and that reduced the demand for new condo and housing development in Costa Rica, as most of the purchasers are Americans and Canadians. The market took care of putting a moratorium on new building near the ocean.

If you have not done so already, I respectfully recommend that you check out the photos of Varenna, Italy that we have posted on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site. Varenna is located on the eastern shore of Lake Como, an Alpine lake north of Milan. I think Lake Como is one of the most beautiful spots on earth.