A Warm Greeting from our family to yours:
During 2015 Mar Vista blossomed into a vibrant and growing community. We now have twenty homes with five additional homes currently under construction and several more scheduled to break ground within the year. The excitement and positive energy is palpable. We are very pleased to welcome many great new families who have chosen to make Mar Vista their home. A “Pura Vida Bienvenido” to the Zielinsky, Udell, Jenkins, Ferrone, Lewis, Kotlyar, Goodman, Clower, Pisani, Hays, Bagley & Haskin families who have recently made Mar Vista their home.
This year one of our goals was to add to the sustainability quotient of our community. To that end we have planted an additional 150 organic fruit trees along our entrance going up towards the tennis courts. We have planted a special nitrogen-fixing grass, “stylosanthes” which is quite high in protein & well-suited to our climate. The grass cuttings will be used to feed our organic Tilapia which will arrive any day. The water which drains off of our Tilapia ponds will be recycled for watering our vegetable gardens.
We are very excited about the newest additions to Mar Vista, Colleen Bagley & Bill Haskins. After a successful careers as an entrepreneurs, they have turned their focus to “permaculture”. Colleen will be the one our main consultants for the creation of the permaculture and aquaculture gardens within Mar Vista.
We would also like to welcome Javier Segura as our new landscaping supervisor. Javier was responsible for the creation and maintenance of the gorgeous landscaping in and around Cala Luna in Playa Langosta. You can see and feel the beautiful changes around our community since Javier has joined us.
Plans for the short-term future: We will be building a recycling center just past our main entrance, before the La Paz School parking lot. There will be barrels in enclosed alcoves for each category of recycling: glass, cans, & plastic. Kindly remember to wash your recyclables and bag them in 30 gallon sized bags.
It is indeed our honor to be part of such a unique and growing community.
A heart-felt “Pura Vida”
Alejandro Berkowitz
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What’s Up at The Club?
by Tony and Dana Monticello
The Club has been having great activity with people from all over the world! We have added chefs Ernesto and Carlos to the team, and our special dishes as well as regular menu have been getting rave reviews. Our TripAdvisor rating puts us in the top 2 restaurants in the zone as of writing, and increasing, and we have just celebrated our 4,000 fan on Facebook! While it is so nice to meet travelers from around the globe who love coming up and checking out the best sunsets in the area offered from Mar Vista, it is always a pleasure just hanging out with Mar Vista folks and spending time with the owners and residents of this great neighborhood!
For the community of residents in Mar Vista, we encourage neighbor night on Friday evenings, when we currently have Reggae Night, firing up the fire-pit to relax around and getting to know one another, perhaps over a bottle of wine… At the end of January we are working with Abriendo Mentes to host the Laughter on The Beach Comedy Tour. We will be the only venue in the Flamingo-Potrero-Brasilito area to host this event of 4 comedians from Canada. We’re excited to have the opportunity to bring some different entertainment to the area. You can get your tickets at The Club, or online at abriendomentes.org/comedy. We also host the best personal events for your birthday parties, or other special occasions – just ask! Keep up with us at www.ClubMarVista.com. See you soon!
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Excuse the dust:
With 5 houses under construction and 3 more under contract, the construction of stunning houses with breathtaking views in the hills of the Bella Vista communities continues to move at a torrid pace. We continue to make infrastructural improvements including significant investments in drainage and sidewalks from the Club all the way to the entrance. In preparation for the fire season we also have made significant preventative fire cuts throughout the entire project so that we will no longer be victims of the careless and uneducated behavior of our neighbors “upwind”.
We recently re-paved the entrance road. I am sure you noticed the new organic Orchard we are creating as well as the Permaculture Gardens with the growing of Organic Tilapia fish and vegetables for the community. We just meticulously planted several acres of “Stylosanthes” grass which is a very high nitrogen fixing legume for our organic orchard as well as a very high protein leaf cutting which will be used to feed our Tilapia.
By Aaron Berkowitz: Mar Vista Project Manager
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Welcome to the Neighborhood!
It is difficult to keep up with the many new faces who are arriving in our community. Recently the famed writer of the book Happier than a Billionaire, Nadine Hays Pisani, invested in a future homesite with her husband Rob and are currently building their home! Nadine’s life vision to move out of her hectic life in the United States and into the peaceful and inspiring life offered to her in Costa Rica is symbolic of the “Pura Vida” lifestyle and the Mar Vista philosophy.
We would also like to welcome the Lewis family who broke ground recently on their home next door to Rob and Nadine as well as Rich Ferrone and his family building their wonderful home.
Dos Rios de La Paz:
In an effort to accommodate more moderate sized homesites in a refreshingly beautiful area of (x) hectares nestled between two seasonal rivers, the Mar Vista community is proud to announce the development of the 70 lots at the Dos Rios de La Paz community. With 5 houses already occupied by La Paz families, all of whom actually work or volunteer at the school as well as send their children, Dos Rios is an idyllic sustainable community where members can allow their children to freely ride their bikes and play outside with friendly neighbors until dinner time, just like we all did when we were kids. Lots ranging in size from 500m2-800m2 are available from $79,000 and up in Dos Rios. Great developer financing is also available with as little as $25,000 down!
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A Note from Keller Williams, Costa Rica Beach Properties:
by Becky Clower
It’s been a busy time for us at Keller Williams, Costa Rica Beach Properties as well as myself personally as I built on lot 26 a few months ago! I am super excited to be in my new home and become part of the Mar Vista family. As the new sales manager, Costa Rica beach properties exclusively represents the Mar Vista development and has single family home sites in Miramar and La Jolla sections of the community as well as the home/lot packages in Dos Rios starting at $249,000! As some of you may have seen, we already broke ground on Lot 24 in Dos Rios and look forward to breaking ground on another spec home soon. Lot sales have been doing well. Recently sold lots include #16 and #32, 47, 3 and 4. We had a successful open house a couple months back to introduce the Real Estate community to the ‘new’ Mar Vista. You will notice that the infrastructure has drastically improved within the community to include additional paving between the ridge for lots 26 through lots 40 as well as paving and drainage up to the clubhouse. The main boulevard was recently repaved to give an even better impression when entering Mar Vista!
If you ever have any feedback regarding the community or ideas/suggestions, you can feel free to reach out to me. My email is beckyclower@kwcostarica.com
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Water Anyone???
As I am sure you may know, water is a precious commodity in Costa Rica, but especially Guanacaste, where we can go without rain for up to five months in our dry season. The great news is that Mar Vista has plenty of water-in fact, enough water for 900 homes, although not more than 400 are ever planned for this 750 acre community. What that means, is that you will never have to worry about water in Mar Vista as perhaps other developments have run into water shortages and rationing.
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A community member remarks on the importance of water in Mar Vista and Guanacaste:
Located in a tropical dry forest where rain doesn’t fall for well over half the year, Mar Vista must carefully manage the precious water resource that it is fortunate to have. As one of the only developments in the region with its own formally registered government approved water association (ASADA), Mar Vista has painstakingly taken time consuming steps to protect their invaluable water resource through the efficient and effective distribution of water. As with any community, from time to time there is need for infrastructural maintenance and improvements. When a community pipe broke outside my house at 10:00pm on Costa Rican Independence Day, the response time of the Mar Vista Water Association was better than one would find in a “first world country”. A simple call/email to the Water Association board at 10pm during a national holiday and the leak was contained and fixed within a half hour by a team of four workers thus saving precious water for the community.
-Abel McClennen, Mar Vista Resident since 2013
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Britta is Here!
You asked for a property manager, well we have heard you loud and clear and as a result we now have the famous Britta here from Tropical Homes to help us……..
Please contact her at rentals@tropicalhomesofcostarica.com or 506-2654-5442 if you need anything or have anything to report regarding the community.
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La Paz Community School
It is an honor and a privilege to address you today on behalf of the entire La Paz Community School family population to say thank you for welcoming us warmly into the Mar Vista Community. Our increased presence over the past 3 years along the boulevard has been thanks in large part to the visionary land owners Alejandro Berkowitz and his son Aaron who believed in the benefit o
f a non-profit, International Baccalaureate, bilingual community school as an anchor tenant for the project. Their total contribution of 2.6 hectares of land along with significant donations of lastre and construction support is a testament to their benevolence and a reflection on the community spirit of Mar Vista. The school facilities continue to grow with the addition of a library, art studio, grade 3-6 classrooms, a performing arts stage, a school store, and a mandarina smoothie shop over this past summer! The included master plan really gives a stirring rendition of what the future holds for La Paz and our local
community.
If you are one of the 22 La Paz parents who are Mar Vista Residents/Landowners, then we’ll see you soon around campus and if not, please don’t hesitate to stop on by and we’d be glad to show you around and invite you to a fresh fruit smoothie. I look forward to seeing you soon and feel free to attend the upcoming La Paz Coffeehouse to enjoy the artistic talents of our students and parents at 5:30pm on February 12th on the La Paz stage!
by Abel McClennen – La Paz Director and Mar Vista Community Member
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Keeping us Safe and Sound:
The maintenance and security team at Mar Vista are the most dedicated and trustworthy “equipo” that we could imagine having. They work tirelessly to ensure that the water is on, the lights are on, the residents are safe, and the community is looking great. Juan is one of the pillars of our security and maintenance team and he can be seen working on custom doors for new houses or planting more native species in our outdoor greenhouse. (Include Photo of Juan). When you are driving around the community make sure to give them a wave and a “Buen Día” and you are assured a smile from ear to ear in return!
