In Panama, a Home in the Mountains

December 2, 2007

By KEVIN BRASS

ALTOS DE CERRO AZUL, Panama
The terrace of Rachelle and Ben Smith’s home is one of the few places on earth with views of both the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. On clear days, they sit there and watch the ships line up to enter the Panama Canal.

The area is also something of a bird paradise. Ornithologists regularly lead tours through the valleys, hoping for glimpses of the toucans, migratory birds and rare hummingbirds that regularly visit the treetops in the Smiths’ backyard. “The rope across there is for the monkeys,” Mr. Smith said, pointing to ropes strung through the tall pines around the house, near platforms covered with sliced bananas and bird feed.

The couple paid $150,000 in March 2006 for their three-bedroom, three-bath home. The house is situated on two acres of land, and it is a little more than an hour’s drive from Panama City.
In 2003, after Mr. Smith — who goes by “Smitty” — sold his plumbing business in Jacksonville, Fla., the couple spent three years living on a 38-foot sailboat called the Seawolf. But two years ago, while they were visiting relatives in the United States, their boat was destroyed by Hurricane Wilma.

Their initial search for a new home focused on the Caribbean and Costa Rica. But then they met Marie Farrell, a Panama native and an agent with ReMax in the Jacksonville area.

Fast-growing Panama is generally considered an easy place for foreigners to buy property, compared with other countries. English is commonly spoken, the United States dollar is the accepted currency, there are no restrictions on owning land in most areas and the government offers a long list of friendly discounts for pensionados, expatriates who have settled in Panama.
For the Smiths, Panama had an extra appeal — no hurricanes. “We were sick and tired of running from hurricanes,” said Mrs. Smith, 52.

Read the whole story here

Investment propels a real estate boom for Panama

Stability and a steady growth rate are helping to transform this regional hub.
By Sara Miller Llana Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

November 26, 2007

Panama City - The hilltop view overlooking the former Howard US Air Force Base in Panama says it all. The vacant barracks will be the site of a $10 billion minicity slated to be the size of Central London. Just beyond the hills, the Panama Canal is undergoing a $5 billion expansion, and in the background cranes hang over new skyscrapers that seem to rise every week.
Panama, it seems, is in its prime.

Once overlooked as nothing but a canal, this tiny Central American nation of 3 million is attracting residents, businesses, and investors the world over. Some are seeking a haven from political situations in the region. Others are jumping on what they see as one of the best investments around. But as the government markets itself as the Latin American lodestone, many caution that the city is growing too quickly out of its own infrastructure.

"We are the geographic hub of the Americas," says Ivan Carlucci, the president of the Panamanian Association of Real Estate Brokers and Developers, adding that 11,000 new units will come online this year. He boasts that 99 percent have already sold. Some say that speculators have fueled the boom, but Mr. Carlucci says he expects the real-estate market to maintain its momentum because of other large infrastructure and industrial projects throughout the country. "We will be sustained by all the other aspects."

See the whole story here

A day in Panama City— brand-new skyscrapers, and a colonial quarter

Nov. 13, 2007, 12:56PM
By ARTHUR FROMMER King Features

Still reeling from the fact that our Panama City hotel had a full-scale casino of roulette wheels, blackjack dealers, craps tables and slots (nothing had prepared us for Panama's Las Vegas-style gambling), Roberta and I headed for our first morning in town to the city's outstanding quarter of colonial gems, the Casco Viejo district of 17th-century Spanish charm.

Preserved as the conquistadors left it, Casco Viejo vies with Old Havana and Old San Juan in authenticity — but it is beginning to leave the others behind with the restored beauty of its courtyards, and the sparkling tiles and marble that line many of the cafes, restaurants and shops that occupy these historic structures. Just as Panama City's downtown across the bay is transforming itself into a totally unexpected, skyscraper-packed Hong Kong, Casco Viejo is in the process of being restored into the most tastefully attractive area of the city.

Here the district is studded with fun gift shops (potholders and eyeglass containers in the strongly colorful designs — "molas" — of Panama's indigenous Indians, dolls in the ruffled long skirts of Panama's 19th-century women, feather-light Panama hats), the cafes and restaurants are gracious and courtly, the sight of the city's skyline across the water is stunning, the Presidential Palace (currently housing the Honorable Martin Torrijos) is the center of power and is surrounded by military — but friendly — guards, and the chief sightseeing attraction is the Museo del Canal Interoceanico (the museum that relates the history of the Panama Canal — although its inscriptions are in Spanish only, its many visual aids and movies are understood easily). The Canal museum is an indispensable stop, a necessary prelude to your visit to the Miraflores Locks later in the day.

After a $30 lunch for the two of us (including appetizers, main course, two Panama beers and dessert) at the elegant Mostaza Restaurant, we took a cab to the Miraflores Visitors' Center on the outskirts of town for a look at the actual workings of the canal. As we stood on a high outdoor balcony overlooking the Miraflores Locks, an announcer speaking over a loudspeaker in Spanish, English and French explained the intricate workings that lifts these giant vessels to different levels of the artificial waterway. Asian sailors stood on the deck of one enormous container ship, looking up at us tourists as we gazed at them and their ship.

From Miraflores, we visited not one but two successive marketplaces of Panama City, and bought gifts for relatives back home at prices that were a quarter the levels charged in the lobby gift shop of our hotel. The tourism of Panama is centered not simply in Panama City, but to a far greater extent in the picture-perfect, uncrowded beaches (with several large resorts) just outside Panama City, and in the renowned San Blas Islands, Pearl Islands and Bocas del Toro offshore islands, as well as on the Gulf of Chiriqui. It's found in the mountain stretches of Boquete, housing rain forests, coffee plantations, and Embera and Kuna Indians — a superb setting for tourism.

Just as Americans began flocking to Costa Rica a decade ago, they're now going to what might become the new hot spot of Central America, Panama. You should consider a trip.

Engineering giants vie for $5bn Panama Canal deal

Published: 14 November 2007

Teddy Roosevelt called the construction of the Panama Canal "by far the most important action I took in foreign affairs during the time I was president." Yet it was also one of the most bruising. His detractors derided the massive project as the worst brand of America's buccaneering, gun-boat, diplomacy. The New York Times labelled it "an act of sordid conquest."

Yet nearly a century after it stirred such controversy, the 50-mile passage cut through the isthmus of Panama to connect the Pacific and Atlantic oceans – one of the world's most ambitious engineering feats ever undertaken – is is need of a makeover.

A clutch of European and Asian construction and engineering giants, including Ferrovial, the owner of Heathrow airport, are putting the finishing touches on proposals to be submitted this week to the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) to cut a new third lane running alongside the two existing channels that are now too narrow to accommodate the world's largest ships. Interested bidders must provide detailed information proving their financial and technical capabilities by tomorrow to be able to enter the formal auction process for the $5.25bn (£2.54bn) project. The proposals are the first stage of the bidding process. Because of its sheer magnitude, companies are required to partner up in consortia.

The Spanish construction giants FCC and ACS have teamed up to put together a bid, while Italy's Impregilo has joined with Sacyr Vallehermoso of Spain, the Dutch giant Jan de Nul, and the Panamanian group Cusa to form a rival group. Ferrovial is examining the project, as is the domestic rival Acciona, but is still undecided whether it will enter the auction.

The project will be paid back through an increase in the fees paid by ships passing through the channel, which last year generated a total of $1.7bn for the ACP. Today, the canal handles 5 per cent of global shipping traffic with more than 14,000 ships passing through its locks, but it is rapidly reaching capacity. Fed by increasing demand from the east coast of the United States for cheap Asian goods, it will reach its maximum traffic load, on current trends, by 2012, raising the spectre of a bottleneck of freighters queuing up on either side of the isthmus.

The canal is no longer able to handle the newest generation of super-freighters, which have become too wide and heavy to pass through its locks. Under the project, a third lane will be dredged up alongside the two now in operation, doubling capacity. There will be a new set of locks fitted on either end to accommodate today's larger ships. Freighters were once built especially to fit through the canal. Called "Panamax" ships, they were designed to fit within the dimensions of the locks – 33.5 metres wide and 320 metres long. In recent years, however, an increasing number of super-freighters, not surprisingly labelled "post-Panamax", have been built. The new locks will be 55 metres wide and have a length of 427 metres.

"World commerce is dependent on the canal. And as we continue to stay the course on our expansion plans, we foresee the new lane of traffic along the waterway influencing the future of shipping," Dani Kuzniecky, chairman of the ACP, told the Panama state news agency. "We are fully committed to this project and believe that expansion will fuel growth in the logistics and transportation sectors throughout the region – and the benefits will be felt all over the world."

Companies and port authorities are already gearing up for the increase in traffic that the expansion will allow, especially in Florida, which is where many ships from Asia unload their goods. Yet as demand for commodities and other goods being fed by China and India continues to grow, even larger ships are now being built that are already beyond the canal's new spruced-up dimensions. The expansion is slated to be completed by 2014, marking 100 years since the French crane boat Alexander La Valley, tiny by today's standards, became the first vessel to sputter through the newly cut passageway.

Another Huge Project Planned for Panama

Panama builds on its Economic Boom

von Richard Lapper and Adam Thomson (FTD.de - (Panama City) -

A $10bn project outside the capital is the latest sign of US and Canadian hunger to invest in residential property developments. President Martín Torrijos of Panama last month unveiled what could become one of the biggest investment projects in the country's history, with a value of up to $10bn. The creation of an urban centre the size of central London on the outskirts of Panama City is the latest sign of an economic boom that has invited comparisons between Panama and bigger international business centres, such as Dubai. A specially created government agency will provide residents with streamlined regulation and there will be tax incentives for selected industries. London & Regional, the UK-based company that will develop the site, said the project, on the former Howard US air force base, would reinforce Panama's attractions as a centre of international business. Ian Livingstone, of London & Regional, said it would combine industrial, retail and residential properties and its value could be worth up to $10bn. (more)

Editor's Comments: Add $10 billion for the development of Howard. If forgot about this one. Man, who can keep track of all of the money that's going to be pouring in...

Mr Torrijos's administration, which took office in 2004, is poised to award the first contract for breaking ground in an ambitious $5.25bn plan to expand the canal, which connects the Atlantic and Pacific oceans and is one of the world's most important waterways.
Panama took full control of the canal in 1999 and the investment in three new locks and physical widening will facilitate the passage of huge cargo ships, known as post-Panamax vessels.
International and local companies are pouring billions of dollars into Panamanian residential property developments, in large part to capitalise on the peak of interest shown by US and Canadian retired people and second-home buyers. In addition, deals worth $14.5bn have been agreed recently to build two oil refineries and the US Congress is expected to approve a trade agreement soon between the two countries.

Mr Torrijos said recently that the refineries, canal expansion and trade pact are the three motors that could propel Panama towards developed country status. Panama's economy, which is fully dollarised, grew 8.1 per cent in 2006, and economists believe it could grow more than 10 per cent this year. Inflation, meanwhile, is subdued and lending rates are among the most competitive in the western hemisphere. However, some analysts suggest that the government must do more to reduce poverty, especially in rural areas, if development goals are to be achieved.

"Wealth is being concentrated more and more. This is very bad news," said Guillermo Chapman, an analyst at the Indesa consultancy in Panama City.
The London & Regional project hopes to attract businesses from neighbouring countries that do not enjoy the sort of stability that Panama offers. Panama has begun to attract higher numbers of investors from Colombia and Venezuela than in previous years, and analysts expect that trend to continue.

Although London & Regional has yet to present the government with a master plan of the 1,800-hectare site, the plans are known to include a golf course, flats, schools and a hospital.
"It will have an urban feel, with town-centre-type shops, public open spaces, condominiums ... We are going to build a sustainable community," said Mr Livingstone. "In terms of logistics, it's a no-brainer,'' he said.

In addition to an initial $405m minimum investment over the next eight years by London & Regional and local partners, Mr Livingstone has committed another $300m over the remainder of the 40-year concession.

(contrubited by Don Winner of http://www.panama-guide.com/)

Check out The

ABC Video on The Retirement Boom hitting Panama's real Estate Market!

A Booming Panama City - Wall Street Journal

Good times are expected to keep rolling: The country's famous canal is about to get a multibillion-dollar makeover, and a chunk of its down-and-out colonial city center is getting a facelift.

read the entire article here