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More Airlift Records and the Final Phase 1 Developer Homesite
Community and Customer Advocacy | Welcome to Senderos
Architecture Insights | The Beauty of Renewed Materials
Red Door Tamarindo | We ? Tama
Bicentennial Bonus: TIME’s Greatest Places on Earth
More Airlift Records and the Final Phase 1 Developer Homesite
We’re very excited to share today that the final Phase 1 developer homesite, 5-C, went into contract this month! Looking down over Phase 1, there’s still much to be done as these beautiful homes come together, but it’s great to see real progress every single day.
Our Senderos Homebuilding client’s home over on 5-A is coming along nicely, and it’s always great to watch a beautiful home begin to take shape. The architect Scott Woods from Tropical Studios designed a gorgeous Bali-inspired ocean view home.
Here, below, we can really see the pool and upper levels coming to life. The first indication of a quality homebuilder is how orderly and well-maintained a jobsite looks. While construction is never easy or pretty, this (believe it or not!) is looking pretty good. Nice job guys!
Elsewhere around the project, homes 3-E (“Sunset Sanctuary”) and 24-E — which were previously under contract — closed successfully and are now in pre-construction.
And for the final piece of home closings for this month, “The 290 House” is under contract!
Designed by Richard Müller Architects, this six-bedroom, six-and-a-half-bath ocean view villa is carefully built to embrace and emphasize the beauty of Guanacaste sunsets in every room and common area.
Looking forward to seeing these homes coming together as Phase 2 rolls on, with the infrastructure team continuing their improvements in a new neighborhood.
Phase 2 Infrastructure Pre-Construction has begun!
And speaking of infrastructure improvements, the Senderos construction and infrastructure team has begun setting up the field construction Head Quarters in phase 2!
Before we get going grading and trenching roads, we are installing a construction office and parking area for all the construction vehicles and workers. In order to avoid additional construction traffic and noise for residents and their guests in Phase 1, we are routing all construction traffic through a new secure construction entrance located in Phase 2.
Once we get this centralized field office set up, the first step in construction — grading — includes reducing steep areas of the roads to make it easier to walk, drive, and lay down paving, along with expanding the widths of the roads to make them easily drivable.
The final part of grading includes trenching for utilities, which will give the team a solid, well-planned foundation for utilities, roads, guardrails, and lighting.
The first step of turning the still-rugged mountainside road through phase 2 into the beautiful, welcoming drive we know from phase 1 has begun!
And More Airlift Records for Costa Rica!
Last month was another record-setter for airlift arrivals to Guanacaste, with 2021 surpassing the pre-pandemic level for the second month in a row.
These numbers are promising for two reasons — first, it shows that interest in Costa Rica continues to grow, even in a time when worldwide tourism continues to show an almost 80% decline.
And second, it speaks to a continued bounce-back of Costa Rica’s heavily tourism-based economy, which is good for Tamarindo, for Guanacaste, and for the whole of the country.
Throughout the beginning of 2021, Costa Rica shattered real estate records, and now that travel is starting to get back on track, the future looks bright for Costa Rica.
Despite the incredible surge in Costa Rican real-estate, the numbers show that this may just be the beginning if you’re looking to buy in this beautiful Central American country. If you’d like to learn more, visit, and get in at the start of this rising trend, you can reach out to our team at info@senderos-cr.com.
Community and Customer Advocacy | Welcome to Senderos
We know that when you set out to build a community, you’re building something more than just homes. You’re building a place for people to gather and live. A place for people to visit, and explore. You’re building a contribution to the community around you.
Our homeowners, the surrounding town of Tamarindo, and the natural world that surrounds us are all connected to the Senderos community, and we’re dedicated to making sure that we’re diligently supporting each aspect of this community.
And to take that initiative to even greater heights, we’re excited to welcome Carlos Madrigal, our new Community Coordinator, and Massiel Barcia, our new Customer Advocate.
Managing a Connected Community
At Senderos, we’re aware that we’re stewards not just of the land upon which the project will come together, and of the materials that make up our homes, but to a small, growing community that’s an integrated part of Tamarindo as a whole.
We work to support and communicate with our homeowners, who are the lifeblood of this project and build a place that they’ll be proud to call home for the years to come.
We work with the surrounding community of Tamarindo, to support local businesses, organizations like the Tamarindo ADI, and the creation of a place that can be welcoming to everyone.
And finally, we work to protect the natural world around Tamarindo that makes this area so beautiful, by supporting cleanup initiatives, beach protection, and most importantly Las Baulas National Marine Park (the subject of last month’s We <3 Tama).
Where Carlos Comes In
Carlos takes all of these initiatives head-on.
From now on, he’ll be a direct contact and resource for the Senderos Home Owners Association (HOA) and our community, helping make sure that there’s always a clear line of communication between our team and both the residents and the town.
Externally, Carlos will be the frontman dealing with Tamarindo-, regional-, and national- scale organizations, helping make Senderos the best community it can be and giving back to local businesses, groups, and initiatives whenever possible.
And finally, Carlos will be spearheading a number of initiatives with our next-door neighbor, Las Baulas National Marine Park, to help ensure that as our community grows, the natural beauty that drew so many of us here will remain.
Where Massiel Comes In
Massiel is another welcome addition to the Senderos Homebuilding team, who represent a more on-the-ground approach to working with our newest owners that’s no less important.
Here at Senderos, we take a lot of pride as a design-builder in making sure that your home selection, design, and building process is simple, straightforward, and fun.
That includes a lot of moving parts, including the project management team, design team, build team, engineering team, and legal/approvals team — all of whom work on interwoven timelines and with a number of outside agencies.
Our Customer Advocates, like Massiel, serve as our clients’ link to this process, helping them understand exactly what’s going on in the project, ensuring that their voice, opinions and feedback are heard throughout, and all-in-all removing the stress and confusion of the homebuilding process.
Getting to Know Carlos and Massiel
Carlos was born and raised in San Jose, Costa Rica, where his focus on fine details and sense for understanding his clients’ needs led to years of work as both a project manager and end-client relations expert.
Carlos applied these skills to a number of different industries, and as he joins the team at Senderos he brings a knack for problem-solving, a love for a challenge, and a tendency to come up with creative, effective solutions.
“One of the most exciting feelings for me is the search for solutions, and making things happen. That’s what makes me extremely excited to be part of Senderos — we have an amazing community around us, and I’m excited to collaborate with that community and bring some exciting plans to life!”
In his spare time, you can find Carlos out exploring with his two dogs — whether it’s the beach, the trail, or the mountains, Carlos and co love to find new paths to venture down!
Massiel is another Central Valley native, whose work experience covers the gamut of Real Estate, including years of experience in project development, project management, and customer advocacy.
Throughout, her expertise has been in customer service, where her easy going nature and dedication to her clients have made her a valuable member of any team. It’s easy to see how she’ll fit right in at Senderos!
“I am very happy to be part of such a great team. We’re working to realize dream houses and make them a reality, and to do so in a place that you can enjoy nature, the ocean, and the outdoors? It’s a bit of a dream to me too!”
In her spare time, you can find Massiel either out swimming and hiking with her dogs, or enjoying a different type of adventure thanks to her love of reading and the movies.
Improving on All Fronts
As Senderos continues to grow and evolve, so too does our team, and we take pride in improving every aspect of this growing family.
From the people that fall in love with this vision to the dream homes they bring to life, from the ground up homes to the beautiful walkways and parks, and out into town, the ocean, and the forests all around us, we know that building a community is more than just laying down bricks.
That’s why we’re dedicated to every piece of it.
You can reach out to us at info@senderos-cr.com if you’re interested in exploring what’s to come, and seeing how you can become a part of this Senderos Community.
Architecture Insights | The Beauty of Renewed Materials
As we continue to grow, we’ve begun construction and design on a new office in the garden plaza. And to add a unique touch to the space, Guild Architect Abraham Valenzuela has been directing a Costa Rican designer to reuse pieces of wood and material from our job sites to create art that will adorn one of the office’s walls (shown in close up above).
It’s a beautiful addition that combines a few key principles of Senderos, like our love for design and our inclination towards unique inspirations that bring emotion and artistic merit to our growing community.
But most importantly, it echoes an idea of reuse and renewal that has long been a part of Costa Rican, and Senderos, DNA.
The Beauty of Renewal
Costa Rica has an incredibly diverse, rugged terrain, something that you need only look out the window from a home in Senderos to realize. This is partially thanks to Costa Rica’s volcanic origins, as well as its location between two major oceans, and is one of the many reasons for Costa Rica’s stunning biodiversity.
But up until very recently (read, the last 30-40 years), that diverse and rugged terrain meant that it was exceptionally expensive and difficult to transport materials around the country. In fact, up until 1970 the only road into Tamarindo was a narrow oxcart path only accessible at low tide!
This meant that when it came to any form of construction — and really, to any aspect of life in general — you had to make use of what was available. That meant finding a use and a place for every tree trunk, every stone, and especially every extra scrap of wood.
Even though Costa Rica’s transportation and supply chain has vastly modernized in the past few decades, this design philosophy remains in local restaurants, shops, homes, and artwork.
“This is nothing new to us in Costa Rica. Being resourceful is in our DNA, and it leads to a sense of personality and incredible beauty. We are glad the rest of the world is catching up.”
— Abraham Valanzuela, Architect
In a way, it matches Costa Rica’s ongoing focus on conservation, nature, and sustainability (the same focus that TIME touched on as they called Costa Rica one of the best places in the world).
After all, we know now that this idea of reuse and renewal reduces your footprint, and provides materials that are naturally suited to survive in a particular environment.
But maybe, more importantly, this idea of renewal also ties a home irreversibly to a sense of place. Building with local materials, using every scrap and stump and stone… it’s a tangible way to say that this home or art piece was meant to be here, and nowhere else.
And anyone who has felt the connection of a walk along the beach at sunset, a morning stroll through town, or the first paddle at dawn out to catch a wave can tell you — that’s something worth doing.
Some Examples from Around Senderos
As we explained in last month’s article on biomimicry, we build homes in Senderos that do require specialized techniques and materials. But, we find an incredible beauty in renewing and reusing whatever we can throughout the project.
For example, we always clear as few trees as possible on homesites. But when we cleared trees on an owner’s lot in Phase 1 to make way for their new home, we saved the hardwood and gave them the option of using the wood to fabricate doors and built-ins using the same wood. If they decide on a different finish we will save the material and use it in future projects.
Another is on our roads. Grading roads produces an incredible amount of lastre (gravel). Transporting this material off the property is expensive and has a huge carbon footprint, neither of which are ideal.
So instead, we save all the lastre and use it for fill throughout the project, which reduces costs, is more sustainable, and increases safety and stability of our infrastructure.
And, of course, the art on the wall coming together in the new office.
It’s just another way that we can ensure that the dream homes you build with us in Tamarindo are as special and inspired as the memories you’ll make here.
Embrace This Place With Us
It’s no secret that we’re bullish on Costa Rica, and with good reason. The world knows us for our sustainability and our natural beauty, but if you look closer, there is a thriving region whose services, entertainment, and community are primed to take off.
If you’re interested in learning more, and getting in before Costa Rica stops being a best-kept secret, you can reach out to us at info@senderos-cr.com.
Red Door Tamarindo | We ? Tama
For this month’s edition of We ? Tama, we’re taking a look at Red Door, a new restaurant just down the road in Tamarindo.
Located just up the beach from the estuary (near Pangas, a longtime favorite in the area), Red Door brings an upscale twist on the open-air, beachfront dining that Tamarindo has long been known for.
In the past ten years, the iconic sodas, beachfront bites, and casual surfer-inspired bars along the strips have been augmented by the arrival of a strong, fine-casual dining presence in the food scene.
Keeping the welcoming, colorful style that Tamarindo is known for, this new wave of restaurants (like Agua Salada, which we covered in a past project update) are also bringing a more refined, classic touch to the strip, and Red Door is no different.
Their innovative menu brings a creative culinary twist to classic Costa Rican cuisine, in addition to an extensive wine list and cocktail bar that makes it a great evening option.
In the short time that they’ve been around, they’ve made quite a splash, and they’re incredibly active with live music, events and occasions, and special menus, all of which you can find on their Facebook page.
Glad to welcome Red Door to town — they’ll definitely be a lively spot to keep an eye on in the coming months!
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Bicentennial Bonus: TIME’s Greatest Places on Earth
Costa Rica’s bicentennial is next month, and as our beautiful Central American nation nears 200 years, we’re not the only ones celebrating. In fact, TIME just named Costa Rica one of the greatest places on earth for 2021. High praise!
Over the past 30 years, Costa Rica has become known for its incredible conservation efforts, adding to its reputation as one of the happiest, most peaceful, and most beautiful nations on the planet.
TIME (and others) have been paying attention, and spotlight Costa Rica’s massive decarbonization push, renewable grid, and a number of projects that are bringing luxury to this beautiful land without deforestation.
>> You can click here to explore TIME’s article
As we continue to round the corner in Costa Rica, it’s important to acknowledge how hard this past year and a half has been for the country. But it’s with great pride that we can say that the future looks brighter than ever, and we hope you can be a part of it.
If you’d like to learn more about coming to visit Costa Rica, and how you can make a piece of this beautiful country your own, you can reach out to us at info@senderos-cr.com.
