Guanacaste’s changing landscape is highlighted by the addition of Solarium.

As one of the fastest-growing real estate markets in the nation and a favorite of many national and international vacationers, the Guanacaste region is a hot area, and not just as measured by the mercury. Indeed, Guanacaste is a growing area for recreational tourism, and has grown so quickly in the past years that many local workers are relocating to the area for its available jobs. In the wake of such development, Edica’s Solarium Project was conceived.

Solarium will spread out over 104 hectares (257 acres), and will include warehouses, a hospital, a gas station, 800 condominiums, and Guanacaste’s very own zona franca, or free-trade zone. The project is being developed to help bring business and health services to a region whose tourism industry will soon demand these amenities.

The Solarium project will be developed over seven or eight years, in six different phases, each catering to a different niche. In addition, Solarium’s director believes that the project will bring about 15,000 permanent, stable jobs to the market, stimulating a micro-economy that currently wanes and waxes with the demand of the area’s tourists.

Solarium is the first project of its kind in the region, and enjoys a prime location directly in front of the Daniel Oduber Quirós International Airport. The goal of the project’s developers is to create a self-sustaining community of commercial and residential users that will create their own economy and benefit not only Liberia and the Guanacaste province, but the entire country. In addition, Solarium is working to preserve nature and help maintain Costa Rica’s image of green living: 50% of the project’s 104 hectares will be devoted to landscaping, keeping the lands fertile and beautiful.

The first phase of the project is already completed, bringing 189 warehouses and commercial storage buildings to Liberia. Phase 2, already underway, will deliver a luxury hotel, helping accommodate the more than 500% increase of inbound passengers that the airport has experienced over the last few years. Phase 3 is purely commercial, with banks, a gas station, open-air mall, car rental, and more in the works. Phase 5 will offer offices to the growing city of Liberia, and the final Phase 6 will deliver Guanacaste’s first free-trade area.

Currently, the country’s only free-trade zone is located in southern Costa Rica, in Puntarenas‘ Golfito. A long bus or car ride await most shoppers, with a one-night stopover in Golfito. Solarium’s prime location across the road from Liberia’s international airport will allow bargain-hunters to hop a flight in the morning, shop all afternoon, and head back home on the same day (if no layover rules are established). Certainly, Liberia will be a more accessible location for most of the country’s population looking for a great deal.

The Solarium Project brings not just commerce, but new services to the area, and imagines the Guanacaste of the future: well-developed, rich with services, and catering to both tourists and ticos alike. Surely, Edica’s project will pave the way for future developments and services, helping create the infrastructure needed for the region’s growing tourism and traffic.

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Filed under: Business on March 19th, 2008