1. The Panama Government is investing $5.25 Billion to double the capacity of the Panama Canal
2. Ocean Embassy are constructiing a new Sea World style resort on 738 acres at San Carlos at a cost of $300 million
3. Donald Trump, the Real Estate Mogul, is building the Trump Ocean Club - a 65 story international hotel and tower. It will feature 800 Hotel and Condominium Units overlooking the beach, a casino, and a 24 hour yacht club in Panama City.
4. Wyndham Hotels and Resorts has opened a 300 room hotel with four restaurants, a full-service spa and fitness center, rooftop pool, business center, 15,000 square feet of meeting space and a Las Vegas-style casino with more than 40,000 square feet of gaming area, making it one of the largest casinos in Latin America.
5. The Hard Rock Hotel Group has announced plans to open a 455 room hotel with rooms ranging from 500 square feet to 1,900 square feet – they will be dubbed “rock star suites”.
6. The Nikki Beach Lifestyle & Entertainment Organisation renowned internationally for it’s operations in seven countries including locations in Sardinia, Marrakech, St Barts, and St Tropez, is now constructing Nikki Beach Resort & Residences in Panama including a 5 star hotel resort with 140 rooms, and 130 apartments.
7. Gates-Cocige is working on four projects:- a 24-story hotel in downtown Panama City, a 1,500 acre resort community on a remote island, a 150 acre marina and resort and a 400,000 square feet office building and hotel in downtown Panama City.
8. Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. has announced plans to open their first Le Méridien hotel in Central America in Panama. The company signed a franchise agreement with Bern Hotels & Resorts Panama for the operation of the first Le Méridien hotel in Panama. Scheduled to open in mid-2009, the brand's European cache and unique point of view make it attractive to Starwood customers looking for alternatives to other American brands. Le Méridien Panama will features 118 guestrooms, including 25 suites with most rooms facing the Panama Canal with dramatic bay views and downtown areas, and a restaurant with a bar, and 4,000 square feet of meeting space. In addition, the hotel will feature an outdoor swimming pool, a fitness facility and an exclusive spa.
9. Spanish developers, Grupo Mall, have a $450 million project to be completed by 2010, called Los Faros de Panama comprising of three skyscapers, the tallest reaching 266 metres - the tallest building in the Americas.
10. The Hilton Group have committed substantial budgets to building hotel complexes in Panama.
11. U.K. based London & Regional Properties has been awarded a £380 million contract to convert a former U.S. military base into a 7.7 square mile high-tech business park as Panama bids to transform itself into the "Singapore of the Americas".
12. John Hitchcox has chosen Panama to build the 56-storey Yoo Panama apartments with prices starting at £300,000.
13. Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, chairman of DP World with a project for a £1.5bn container port on the Thames. has been quoted in the Dubai press as saying that DP World is interested in investing in the planned $5.25 Billion expansion of the Panama Canal, and would explore opportunities for developing new ports, industrial zones, a shipyard facilities, real estate projects and a commodities exchange in the Central American country.
14. Companies using Panama as their Regional Operational Centre are now being joined by Proctor & Gamble, Dell, DHL, Hewlett & Packard, and Caterpillar.
15. Royal Caribbean have announced that, with effect from December 2008, they will be using Panama as a base for their cruise ship operations.
16. Second homes in Panama are being purchased by celebrities and Hollywood film stars
17. Hollywood film production studios looking to re-locate to Panama, and the next James Bond film, Quartum of Solace, was filmed in Panama and will be released in November 2008.
18. Panama now being a major destination for retirees – the Wall Street Journal reports “Panama offers what is probably the best package of benefits for seniors on the planet”.
19. Ernesto Lara de Barboza at Arias & Arias Consulting in Panama City states “Rentals of condo units in the Pacific coastal regions are set to increase tenfold within the next few years”.
In conclusion, Panama offers an existing infrastructure providing a combination of the best of the U.S.A., the Caribbean, and Latin America with the potential of tremendous capital growth linked to a high rental return and a low cost of living in a beautiful location.
Why not join the investors?
