Gardens of Dreams Costa Rica

In over a year of working on our dream not a single person has ever asked me about fire protection for their personal safety, or that of their guests and that of their investment.
Now I ask you (perspective) investor is this important to you??? Is this a question that should be in your top ten lists prior to making an investment??? I sure hope so and soon you will understand why this is not just an important question but paramount to your decision. Over the last two months this subject has been one of our many fore-fronts of concern as we complete our engineering/design phases A) there is a new fire code for Costa Rica that is still in the process of being implemented B) the fire department has to stamp our permits hence we need to make them happy. This is a bit of a story so please bear with me to explain it fully. About two months ago our architecta Erika came to us and said when she went to the Bomberos (fire department) they came up with a brilliant idea that we needed to put a 5 meter wide road into the center of our project for access of fire trucks since they thought it too far to run hoses. Well I went through the roof at this insane suggestion. Why you might ask. A) A road of this nature going through the middle of our gardens to me was a hideous solution to this problem and would completely destroy the environment we have worked dam hard to design and bring to fruition. It flies in the face of everything of what “Gardens of Dreams" means and of which there most certainly is no place for ugly asphalted roads for any reason what so ever!!! B) Then I asked to her, "What fire truck??? We need to put a road in for something that does not exist!!! How incredibly stupid!!!"

You know as always if you don't like the message you shoot the messenger. Yes I can just see the mouths drop open of many people reading this newsletter. Yes it may sound incredulous but Jaco does not have a fire truck or a fire department of any kind! This is a classic example of what happens when people look at investing in less developed countries, they take certain things for granted and assume that what would be normal at home is the same here. Such is indeed not necessarily the case. Granted when you build out of concrete you do indeed lower the fire factor in comparison to most places up north using wood frame construction but just the same do you want your safety of person and investment risked in such a scenario? At any rate I assume the vast majority would say absolutely not. Needless to say we regrouped and came up with another solution to both the problem and the insane requirements being dictated to us. Hence we countered with, "So how about we sprinkler all our units, will that make you happy." Well once the bombero that was delivering the message pulled himself off the floor in shock to our response the immediate come back was of course with a sprinkler system you will never need a fire truck hence no need for a driveway for a truck that isn't there to come in the first place. Now we get to the realllllly interesting part. There is a good dozen of our competitors building very expensive high rise buildings in Jaco none of which have taken a plan to the Bomberos of sprinklering their buildings. NOT ONE!!!! You see unlike Canada where we require sprinklers on anything over three stories there is not such requirement here even in the new code. Well folks I find this INSANE, RIDICULOUS, STUPID AND A CALOUS DISREGARD for safety of the owners and guests. In all the cases the prices being charged for these condos more than affords the developer to install a fire sprinkler system which by the way is the international carte blanche standard in fire protection everywhere. The proof of this safety standard is overwhelming to say the least. Now as they say a picture is worth a thousand words. The nearest fire truck is a 30 minute drive to the south in Parrita plus lets add the time it takes to get the volunteer brigade out of the Palm plantations or where ever to the truck before they rush off to Jaco so the time could well be an hour. Now lets look at what is going to rescue you off the 7th floor of Acqua, Cocal. Daystar, One Jaco Place, Ramada or ConCasa.

So once you pull yourself up off of the floor laughing lets get serious. Now I did not actually measure that two section ladder on the side of the truck, which I hope is running don't know what the hood up signifies, but somehow my guess is if you are over two stories up in a building you got a big problem and I hope you have lots of insurance. Now with this proliferation of high rise developments coming on board in Jaco I have but only one stupid question, how the hell are people going to be rescued if the fire system does not work to the standard of a fire sprinkler system??? The nearest ladder truck is in San Jose and is too long of a vehicle to go the route through Atenas hence it would have to take the long way around through Puntarenas to get to Jaco so you might see it in three hours. Heck we can have the funerals started prior to the rescuers getting there. I call this insane to construct such buildings without anything but the best in fire safety systems when everyone knows very well there is not an outside infrastructure to protect you and your investment. The really sad thing is that the cost of such systems is not a really significant issue especially when you are paying $300,000+++ for a condo. In fact we have assessed it at no more than $1,000 a unit in our project however we don't need as big of a pump as a high rise does. I would think this should give anyone food for thought that is considering such an investment assuming of course their intelligence goes somewhat higher than the ladder on that truck?

So once again we have brought an issue forward to our investors and future guests on how we have designed and engineered our project well ahead of the pack and average thinker.

1. first for Safety of Person and Property
2. first in black water treatment with bio-filter
3. first in Eco-friendly design
4. first in energy conservation
5. first in low density construction
6. first in world class communications
7. first in community responsibility
7. first Condo-tel in Costa Rica

The list keeps on growing but as I tell everyone we look for our competition in the rear view mirror and trust that those that like being ahead of the pack will appreciate what we bring to the market here and to the investors that get our "UNIQUE CONCEPT FOR UNIQUE PEOPLE".