Dealmaker § Retreats: Dilution Protection

FRIDAY JULY 18
Retreats: Dilution Protection

How 'Temenos' aspires to keep its little corner of Anguilla immaculate.

July 2008

By: Nick Kolakowski June/July 2008 If there's one omnipresent risk for the boardroom maven looking for a boardroom haven, it's spending $2.4 million on a four-bedroom villa with the billion-dollar view, only to fly in one day and find that view blocked by a neighboring development or garish hotel/casino combo. It's enough to make even a billionaire resort to a driftwood-and-palm-frond shack on a never-explored cay, if only that could offer some calm and quiet.

Such is not the worry at Temenos Anguilla Resort and Residences. Upon its completion this winter, the resort will reside along a particularly sedate stretch of Anguilla coastline. And fear not that your hideaway will be overrun by the forces of Progress: your home-away-from-home will invariably face either the pristine blue waters of the Caribbean (on which no developer, however zealous, has yet figured out a way to build), or the Greg Norman–designed golf course, where any attempt to intrude upon its 18 greens will incur the wrath of a well-heeled mob armed with 2-irons.

Anguilla itself, tiny at 16 miles long and three miles wide, has long been known for its relative tranquility, in contrast to such bustling islands as St. Barts and neighboring St. Maarten. This is partly due to the lack of a major airport; the narrow 5,462-foot landing strip here will accommodate your Gulfstream 200 with ease, but at least for the moment, waves of tourist-laden 747s are a nonstarter. (The easiest way to reach the island has traditionally been to fly into St. Maarten, then zoom across the strait in a speedboat.)

"Direct private-jet access to Anguilla Wallblake ¬Airport ¬enhances the convenience," says Paul Kanavos, the founder and CEO of developer Flag Luxury Properties. "Anguilla offers a serene island setting with a burgeoning culinary scene and a friendly local community."