More than 170 apartments and lots sold in Karibao give way to a new stage of marketing and construction of this resort that is being built in Playas

Nobis Holding de Inversiones seeks to make the complex located in Engabao the first home of the Guayaquil resident and the second home of the Ecuadorian.

The first tower of Karibao - the resort it managesOur Holding of Investmentson the Playas-Engabao road—is already in operation, and with restaurants, courts, a swimming pool and the artificial lagoon inaugurated this weekend, they are beginning to give shape and movement to the project, which includes 50 hectares that were previously shrimp farms and are now open tourism, which represents 34% of the income from economic production in that canton of the province of Guayas and is the activity to which 14% of its population is dedicated.

The first three floors of Arawá – the first tower – are destined for hotel rooms, and 70 apartments above them are delivered or waiting for their buyers to finish paying for them. The second tower, with 28 apartments, has been sold in plans and construction will begin in September. With this, the employment positions, which now total 120 due to the hotel and club, will increase to 600 between the construction and services area.

The first 78 lots are also sold. For this reason, the marketing of the third building began, with 86 apartments, which are between $110,000 and $250,000 each (from 56 m²); and the second stage of lots, with 100 more plots of land.

Is there demand for all this?The general manager of Pronobis, Felipe Bernal, comments: “In the country, real estate investment was held back by several factors: the capital gains law kept investors restrained for about two years; The pandemic is coming, who, without knowing whether or not they were going to have a job, gets into a real estate investment? Nobody. Due to the sum of these two factors, in Ecuador between four and five years passed in which real estate investment was stopped; households and demand continue to grow, and it was accumulated. And what is happening is an explosion: all those families, who did not buy for four or five years, are now going out to buy. Yes there is an important demand; Furthermore, it is the time to invest: until this year, Ecuadorian inflation was at a very low level.”

Nobis Holding de Inversiones seeks to make this the destination of Guayaquil's first home and the Ecuadorian's second home.

Live on beaches?Nobis executive vice president-CEO, José Antonio Ponce, says yes. “The pandemic left us many lessons; one of those is that we don't need to be or live next to the office. It is a good place to have a permanent home: there are all the services; It is seven minutes from the beaches. Allows you to dohome officeor being able to come and go daily: it is an hour and a quarter (distance to Guayaquil), or arriving on a Friday and leaving on Monday,” he explains.

The idea is to attract tourists, not just owners. For this reason, they launch memberships: to access the facilities 365 days for 10 years, the cost is $8,000, and they venture locally with the time-sharing system with memberships to use an apartment,suiteor hotel room 15 days a year for 40 years for $25,000, or 30 days a year for 40 years for $40,000, and all options with financing.

This is a megaproject designed for 1,800 apartments until 2030, with a projected investment of $400 million. So far, between $40 million and $60 million have been invested in 20 of the 50 hectares.

Pronobis has more land for future projects, such as a hotel.