Friday, April 3, 2009

The History of Dos Ceibas, Rincon, Puerto Rico

As I was about to leave my corporate job at Gap, Inc in NYC and move to Rincon I weighed my options about what to do next. Leon and I both have real estate in our family backgrounds so it was a natural course to follow. We also felt that Rincon, Puerto Rico is a special town that lent itself to tourism and we were watching the real estate market grow before our eyes.

The opportunity presented itself when we were introduced to Mama Kahuna. She was the owner of the legendary piece of property formerly owned by her husband, Kahuna. Back in the 60’s when the pioneers of the surfing began to visit the island, Kahuna ran the first guesthouse on the west coast. Kahuna would pick up eager surfers from the San Juan airport and drive them across the island to Rincon and continue to taxi them around daily to all the epic surf spots in town. Kahuna had a knack for deciphering when and where the waves would break. Unfortunately a fire devastated the guesthouse and shortly thereafter Kahuna passed away. That was the end of the first surfing guesthouse in Rincon. In 2004 we were fortunate enough to cross paths with Mama Kahuna. She took a liking to us, or should I say she took a strong liking to my husband Leon in particular. She blessed our future, sold us the property and our dream was born.
We interviewed a number of landscape architects around the island to help us cultivate our vision. Unfortunately we didn’t see eye to eye on some design aspects and we eventually met up with Big Prototype of Brooklyn, NY. Once we teamed up with them it was a match made in heaven. We spent the first 6 months contemplating the site design. We spent many hours day and night walking the site, getting to know the intimacies of the land. I spent three weeks clearing over 2 cuerdas (approx 2 acres) by hand with a team of local professionals in the art of machete swinging to understand what we were working with. Once we cleared the brush and opened up the view we realized we had a true gem on our hands. After months of review we finally landed on a design that felt like the perfect fit for the topography. We decided to place the road on the lower west side of the land where the views were least spectacular and most conducive for the road. That allowed us to save the most spectacular views up on the ridge for the home sites. This also allowed us to preserve the two most magnificent ceiba trees smack dab in the middle of the site, hence the name Dos Ceibas. It turns out Kahuna had planted the trees over 55 years ago. Not only are ceiba trees protected be the law, I felt like the trees represented Kahuna and Mama Kahuna and how they will always be watching out for us. We decided to divide the property into 8 lots, all offering unique ocean views from each site. I’ve tried capturing the view through photos but it never does it justice. It’s one of those things you need to experience for yourself. We’ve sold two out of the eight lots and the first home we like to call Little Malibu is nearing completion. It’s been a wonderful learning experience and I look forward to doing it seven more times.

1 comment:

  1. Kahuna picked up my friends and I in 1972 and 73 on surf trips. I will always remember what a classic dude Kahuna was. r.i.p Kahuna

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