You work hard for your money, so why not enjoy your time off enjoying an endless summer at your very own vacation residence?
We talk about second homes here on CandysDirt and of course SecondShelters, because that’s what we are all about. I know, we just finished Vacation Home Week, but with Labor Day and September looming before us, we are kind of sad and missing summer already. How to make it endless?
A beach home in the Caribbean!
Bella Verde, Grand Cayman Islands: not only beautiful and beach-y, but an environmentally sensitive beach front luxury property in an upscale neighborhood in Grand Cayman’s prestigious Salt Creek enclave. Built in collaboration with Dart Realty, this “state of the green art” five-bedroom home offers cutting-edge technology and luxury beyond compare.
And look at that turquoise water!
It is more important than most places on earth for a Caribbean island home to foster energy efficiency, water conservation, waste management and superior home indoor air quality. After all, that’s like an investment in the home itself, and an investment that your grandchildren will be enjoying years down the road. Dart Realty and GreenTech have created a legacy property, a high-end dwelling that is the first LEED Gold certified residential property in the Caribbean. Bella Verde will utilize site-specific and climate-driven solutions for solving green building challenges, marrying the latest technologies with ages-old Caribbean wisdom on shading and cooling.
How will this happen in a beautiful spec home?
Meet James Whittaker, Founder and Managing Director of the GreenTech Group. Whittaker is leading a huge green building movement in Cayman. Bellas verde is a joint venture of Dart Realty and GreenTech, and demonstrates that elegant Caribbean design and advanced energy efficiency need not be mutually exclusive. Not ever.
“Bella Verde epitomizes the commitment to innovation that drives all of Ken Dart’s developments regardless of size,” said Jackie Doak, Chief Operating Officer of Dart Realty. “The home’s ecologically sensitive architecture and design incorporates the latest technologies, while assuring its residents of a healthy environment and enhanced quality of life.”
Bella Verde is designed to complement the classic Georgian Caribbean architectural aesthetic of Salt Creek. The home camouflages green technologies such as SunPower solar panels, which are hidden in recessed custom trellis work. OGIX and SunPower solar panels will contribute to energy savings of 70% compared to traditional luxury homes in Grand Cayman.
The nearly 7,000 square foot spec home (6,920 ) will offer five bedrooms including two full master suites, four full and one-half baths, a flexible two–level floor plan and an attached two-car garage. The home will accommodate the largest and most bustling of vacation families, including two sets of parents.
Capitalizing on Cayman’s tropical climate, you will see a myriad of indoor/outdoor living spaces, all totaling more than 1,800 square feet. There will be seamless integration of exterior materials to interior, through a covered patio, deck and veranda space with a kitchen. It goes without saying there is an indoor/outdoor shower. A saline pool overlooking the gorgeous Salt Creek lagoon will seat up to 25 on a shelf with both a spacious lap area and shallow entry for small children. When it’s time for a little boating, the dock is connected to the seawall by a short walkway to preserve the natural mangrove buffer.
Overlooking the the conservation efforts of the Cayman Islands Turtle Farm, Salt Creek is lushly landscaped with native and endemic plants and trees from the Dart Realty nursery. This intimate community is currently home to eight families. Eleven lots have sold or are under contract, and only four sites are available, including that Bella Verde.
Here are other specifics of the home’s ecologically sensitive nature:
- Energy Efficiency: Bella Verde will cool itself through its climate-driven site-specific architecture coupled with an ultra-high efficiency mechanical system, a highly insulated envelope utilizing LOGIX Platinum ICF Blocks, Energy Recovery Unit (ERV) and a dehumidification system. Combined with the world’s most powerful photovoltaic panels from SunPower supplied by GreenTech Solar, advanced home automation and Lutron LED lighting, these measures will generate energy savings resulting in power bills 70% lower than those of similarly sized homes built with conventional methods and materials.
- Water Efficiency: Bella Verde will include low flow fixtures, dual-flush toilets, and a hot water recirculation loop. The house also will harvest and filter roof water into an on-site cistern underneath the garage, which will be the primary source for irrigating the landscape, flushing toilets and general use.
- Resource Use: All materials specified for Bella Verde have been carefully chosen based on their natural beauty and sustainable characteristics such as non-toxicity, recycled content, and rapidly renewable or reclaimed content. They include recycled glass tile in the pool and bathrooms and porcelain floor tiles with the richness and character of hardwood.
- Indoor Environment Quality: Indoor environmental quality has been addressed to reduce interior toxins and allergens and improve the general well-being of the inhabitants. This will be achieved through system and material choices such as continuous venting of interior space, carbon dioxide and humidity absorbing clay wall plaster and low volatile organic compound (VOC) finishes.
- Durability: A home that lasts longer requires less maintenance and has surfaces that can be cleaned easily with non-toxic products, thereby adding value to the owner and reducing the environmental impact.
For more information about the sustainable luxury promised by Bella Verde, please contact Sloane Rhulen, Vice President of Sales and Leasing, at [email protected]or 345-323-0633.
How much? Knew you’d ask. My guess: priceless
