Silver Reef’s condominiums feature spacious designs and light, airy rooms.

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Sitting atop a natural rise on a 69-square-mile island in the Caribbean, residents of the Silver Reef Condomini­ums will enjoy many perks, the most obvious of which is the view. “We’re 400 yards from the sea; the low point is 40 feet above the sea and the high point is 90 feet above the sea,” Director Sebastian Mottram stresses. “So every unit has a view of the Atlantic Ocean or the Caribbean Sea, or both.

“In addition, we overlook the stunning manicured greens and fairways of the Royal St. Kitts Golf Club, which affords a deckchair spectator sport and ensures that we will never be obstructed with further construction. “

Located on a 4.7-acre plot on the small island of St. Kitts, Silver Reef will include 62 apartments in 11 residential buildings and 12,000 square feet of commercial space in three blocks. The apartments will be grouped in blocks of six, and they will have one or two bedrooms with private balconies or terraces. “There are a variety of floor plans, and the top floor has cathedral ceilings with exposed rafters, so there’s a range of prices from the garden floor to the top floor,” Mottram says.

Whether in a one- or two-bedroom unit, residents will enjoy spacious designs. “Each one-bedroom apartment offers a flexible living space centered on a spacious open-plan seating and dining area,” Mottram explains. “The attractive Italian lifestyle kitchen combines streamlined design with practical ease. Outside, deep covered verandas and balconies maximize views and create a mix of shade and diffused light.

“The spacious two-bedroom apartments have been designed to offer fully flexible living accommodations,” he adds. “A generous open-plan reception space combines kitchen, dining and relaxation areas and includes space for a built-in entertainment system. The light and airy bedrooms have individual bathrooms and ample storage. Each apartment also has a discrete and cleverly designed utility area. The balconies, which can be personalized, extend the living space outdoors and present stunning ocean views.”

Ample Green
Silver Reef will attract golf enthusiasts with its location on the edge of Royal St. Kitts Golf Club and natural salt ponds teeming with birdlife, Mottram says. In addition to golf greens, the resort will offer green design and energy-efficient features.

Mottram explains a sustainability study was commissioned to ensure environmentally friendly features were incorporated into the campus wherever possible.

The design was green from the get-go, as the buildings are oriented to be cross-ventilated, and all windows are shaded with shutters or balconies to reduce heat gain, he explains. Other green features include:

• Low-flow plumbing and water fixtures;
• Railings and trellises made of recycled plastic;
• Public areas lit by photovoltaic cells;
• “Grasscrete” to reduce runoff from the parking lot;
• Rainwater harvesting to irrigate landscaping; and
• Solar water heating.

“We also made a big feature out of the natural volcanic stone that we found on the site,” Mottram explains. “We excavated for foundations, took that stone and cut it to enhance the outside of the building.”

Altering its Focus
Mottram and a London-based consortium bought the land for Silver Reef in April 2006 and took a year to complete planning, before launching construction of the project in May 2007.

But since that 2006 purchase, the global economy has changed drastically, causing Mottram to adapt to a volatile market. Even in the Caribbean, which is known to be a playground for the wealthy, times have been rough, as evidenced in St. Kitts – which was one of the first Caribbean islands inhabited by British settlers.

“We originally set out to satisfy the people looking for capital growth with a yield,” Mottram states. “That market in the United Kingdom dwindled with the currency fluctuation and the impact of the economic crises.”

Now, Silver Reef is teaming up with the government to promote its citizenship-through-investment program. Mottram explains that investing more than $350,000 in St. Kitts – which is the lowest price for a Silver Reef unit – makes the investor eligible to apply for a Kittitian passport.

The program is a very well-respected and desired passport, Mottram says, because the island has no income, capital gains, wealth or inheritance taxes. It also offers holders visa-free travel to countries listed under the Schengen Agreement.

“This is very attractive to people looking for tax efficiency and ease of travel, such as Russians and those from Hong Kong and South Africa,” he explains. “We also have a very buoyant rental market here fueled by young professionals returning to the island to work, and also we have three universities, which creates a large temporary population of teachers and students all needing housing. An investor here is therefore insulated to a degree from the vagaries of the recession in terms of rental income.”