BY MAUREEN N. MARATITA
Journal Staff

Swavely

A consortium of investors is moving ahead with a project that will add resort and residential facilities to Guam’s inventory, at an estimated development cost of $590 million.

Vista del Mar International LLC is comprised of five principals. Richard S. Chi, president and general manager of Future World Corp., is the principal member.

The consortium will develop more than 53.1 acres comprised of seven undeveloped land lots on the Harmon cliff line close to Two Lovers Point – much of which was federal land returned to original landowners.

The Dos Amantes Planning Area was hotel-zoned in 2009, with residential development allowed, as a result of master planning first adopted by the Ancestral Lands Commission and later by the Guam Land Use Commission.

Vista del Mar will be the first hotel-resort and multi-family residential and single-family residential development within the Dos Amantes Planning Area.

The property includes a 55,000-square-meter beachfront lot sloping to water level.

Vista del Mar plans a multi-use development with hotel towers and residential units, proposing an increase of 9.6% to Guam’s current inventory of guest rooms, plus condominiums and single-family dwellings.

Phase 1 – the two-level hotel, starts at beach level and ascends to a height of 300 feet, where it connects to a second structure on the plateau. The lower portion of the hotel will have 240 guest rooms, plus amenities, at 31 stories tall; and the upper level of the hotel will have 496 guest rooms, plus amenities, at 33 stories tall. The hotel property will have 796 guest rooms plus amenities, including a beach-level water park.

Daniel D. Swavely, is consultant to Vista del Mar for Guam Land Use Commission matters. He told the Journal, “I’m also working on a supplemental application for a revised master plan.” 

The revised plan would move the hotel towers further away from the cliff crest, for a natural set aside. “The developer is working closely with the Department of Agriculture regarding potential concerns for preservation of the cliff face,” Swavely said.

Phase 2 will constitute two condominium structures, which aim to take advantage of views of Tumon and Tumon Bay. Each structure will offer 144 units within a 26-story tower, with the first three levels reserved for parking and the upper 23 levels for dwelling units. Common amenities will include two tennis courts, a basketball court, a swimming pool and ample landscaping.

The application to the Guam Department of Land Management – which will be heard on Sept. 22 – includes a height variance application for 13 stories for each condominium structure.

Phase 3 of Vista Del Mar will include a 59 single-family dwelling subdivision. Each house will have a garage and spacious yard, and common amenities will include parks, playgrounds and a covered community center with ample dedicated parking.

All utilities will need to be developed also for the property.

Swavely said of the project, “It’s dramatic.” In addition, he said, “It really is evident that Guam is looking ahead.”   

Properties in Tumon Bay for development along the shoreline remain far and few. “There’s only two or three more lots left,” Swavely said. As to Vista del Mar’s choice of location, he said, “It’s playing out like the commission wanted it to happen.”

Tumon Bay development is mixed. Honhui Guam LLC, which is a subsidiary of Hongwell Group Taipei, is developing a hotel, waterpark and parking structure spanning the four-and-a-half-acre lot of the previous Royal Palm Hotel property (See “Tumon tower: Hongwell plans to grace the bay,” in the July 5 issue of the Journal). Honhui will offer a water park but also build upwards, aiming to be the highest structure in Tumon Bay.

Asia Pacific Hotels Inc.’s Crowne Plaza Guam Resort Guam is scheduled to open in early 2022, after a renovation “in the $40 million range.” (See “Polishing the Crowne,” in the Sept. 6 issue of the Journal.)

Evergreen Phoenix Hotel Resort LLC purchased 12.1 acres next to the Hyatt for $34 million in September 2016, and acquired another two lots totaling 8,132 square meters near Hyatt for $6.25 million on Jan. 10, 2018.

Some hoteliers have looked to the North as Vista del Mar is doing.  P.H.R. Ken Micronesia Inc.’s Tsubaki Tower opened in April 2020, adjacent to the Hotel Nikko Guam. mbj