The Club House Advances, Wow!

Welcome! Our last view of the Club House left us waiting to see and wanting to see more. The shear structure, while impressive, still left room for imagination and, of course, finishing of construction. Pictured here are some time stamped photos of the Club House so you can appreciate the monumental task that has been undertaken to complete this incredible amenity at Plaza del Mar Beachfront!

June, 2007

August, 2007

February, 2008

August, 2008

The above are views of the drastic cosmetic changes made to the Club House up until August of 2008. The below picture shows the pool deck in November of 2008. The sunset is included and presented on a daily basis with varying tones and cloud formations! Now lets spring forward to January of 2009! Happy New Year..! No, the following photo is not an artist rendition, it's an actual photo taken on January 31, 2009; I should know, I took it.

Hey, I was impressed at the quality of the picture, not to mention the construction that struts out amongst the back drop of the mountains. If you like that take a look at the following set of pictures of the pool deck:

Of course, what's a pool deck without a proper barbeque area. The best kept secret to date has been the advancement of the squash/racquetball courts. Take a look at the quality of this work! If you don't play already this will make you want to go out and buy a racket!

Complete with a viewing area! So if you're a player or a spectator come on by and get a private tour of the entire facility. Afterwards, stick around and enjoy the fantastic sandy beach and beautiful sunsets. SALUD!

Picnic Lunch

Ocean View Picnic Area

Bring your lunch!

The developers at Plaza del Mar have constructed two picnic benches in the federal zone of lots 19 and 20 on the oceanfront. These tables are there for the use of all our great owners and their guest. So bring your picnic basket, a bottle of your favorite wine and come enjoy a gorgeous Baja sunset in the comfort of these benches!

Green Areas in Bloom

As time passes the planted green areas at Plaza del Mar Beachfront have begun to bloom. There is still more to come but what has been put in place is adding charm and beauty to our favorite development. Next time you're in the area come take a walk around the development and enjoy the growing bloom.

Home Construction Well Under Way

At Plaza del Mar Beachfront the infrastructure has been complete since November of 2007. With the infrastructure done, which includes, water, electric, sewage and telephone, the door was opened for property owners to begin construction of their Baja retreats on one of the most exclusive beach front properties in the Rosarito Ensenada corridor!

With approval to proceed a hand full of owners have started with the design of their homes. For quite sometime it was thought that the design of the home featured on this BLOG (Lot 56, Block IVB) would be the first construction. However, some desired design changes have delayed the start of construction.

The developer at Plaza del Mar had always planned on constructing some homes to sell. And it is them whom broke ground in June on a two story home on Lot 59 of block IVB indicated below.

This particular lot offers a 2nd row oceanview home to be build. The rise from Privada de la Playa to Avenidad de la Playa is about 15 feet. The architects elected to construct a 3,000 SqFt Mediterranean design featuring 3 BR, 2.5 baths and magnificent ocean view terraces from the Living Room, Master Bedroom and rooftop terrace.

A beautiful Copula has been placed over the dining room giving the home a more open and bright appearance.

Stop by next time you're in the area and take a tour of the first home in Plaza del Mar! It is for sale for so ask about pricing and financing options!

The developer has also broken ground on still a second home. This home is located on lot 20 IVF, on the beachfront adjacent to the beach access stairs. Plans have not yet been delivered, but the foundation is in process as shown in the photo below. Stay tuned for more details as they become available. Who will be next?

A bit of History

The following is an excerpt from the book titled Baja Legends by Greg Niemenn published in 2002. It’s just a bit of historical information that may serve you to impress friends! For more information on the book and where to acquire it visit the web site:

http://books.google.com.mx/books?id=35WQOduN1F4C
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~~~~~~~~R O S A R I T O A N D T H E G O L D C O A S T ~~~~~~ ~~

PLAZA DEL MAR
Steve McQueen Sought Cancer Cure
On the bluff a mile or so north of La Fonda Restaurant are what appear to be pre-Columbian statues and a pyramid resembling a Mayan temple. The replicas, on a slight hill next to the Plaza del Mar Resort, were constructed not a millennium ago, but in 1975.
The place was originally a clinic, more specifically a laetrile clinic, where cancer patients could make one final attempt to find a cure after all other avenues had been exhausted. Not legal in the United States, the controversial treatment still attracted those but with a few strands of hope remaining.
One early patient was the popular actor Steve McQueen. Born in Indiana in 1930, McQueen starred in Great Escape, The Sand Pebbles (for which he received and Academy Award nomination), Bullitt (in which he met his wife Ali McGraw), Papillon, and others.
From a troubled youth, McQueen served in the U.S. Marines and always enjoyed living life to the fullest, riding motorcycles and racing cars. He became the highest paid and most popular star of the ‘60s and ‘70s.
By 1980, McQueen had contracted mesothelioma, a rare and painful form of lung cancer. One of the main causes is asbestos, a substance the actor had been around much of his life.
In fact, while in the Aleutian Islands with the Marine Corps, McQueen had been sentenced to six weeks in the brig, where he was assigned a work detail in the engine room of a ship. He had to rip out and replace the asbestos lining on the pipes. He later complained that at times the air was so thick with asbestos particles that the men could hardly breathe.
By the time the cancer is detectable, the patient usually has just months to live. After being told his condition was inoperable, he went to Baja and underwent a three-month crash program at what was then called the American Biologics-Mexico SA Medical Center. At Plaza del Mar, McQueen was housed in a double wide trailer near the bluff top. Some of the old-timers there can show visitors the exact trailer.
His treatment included the powerful B-17, or laetrile, animal cell injections, over 100 vitamin pills a day, diet and exercise. Unfortunately, it did him little good. While laetrile clinics have had some anecdotal successes reported, there has been little documented evidence to those claims.
McQueen’s condition deteriorated and he left the Plaza del Mar to another part of Mexico. There he died on Nov. 7, 1980 at age 50 after undergoing surgery to remove a tumor. He was cremated, and his ashes were scattered in the Pacific Ocean.
The Plaza del mar has been a hotel with tennis courts, swimming pool, restaurant, and bar. Twice it has been a clinic. The statues out front look hundreds of years old, and the temple, which has been recently repainted, looks like the Mayan Chichén Itzá.
The Plaza del Mar doesn’t contain the history the artifacts suggest it might. But it was the place where actor Steve McQueen tried to save his life.

Spring Arrives

As the chill of winter leaves the air the color and warmth of spring starts to show it's splendor. Advancements at Plaza del Mar are more subtle, not because they're not occuring, but because the services infrastucture is complete. Water, sewage, electric and telephone are all in place to the curb of each lot, the flagstone streets are complete and sidewalks are in process. The sidewalks are being decorated with beach rock accents that gives them a touch of class.

The Club House has progressed along and is looking like the finished product. Painting has started, and we hope to show a more completed exterior in the next blog report.
In the news area the first project has been submitted to the architectural committee for review. It will be delayed a bit due to required changes in the design; they overshot the height limitation by almost 3 meters!

The completion of the infrastruction was officially announced in November of 2007. Since that date all owners have the freedom to start construction of their homes. Three projects are currently in process and as time passes more and more will start. I'm certain that before long we'll have several homes on site.

The beauty of the Plaza del Mar beach, it's rustic landscape and incredible sunsets continues to astonish us. There are so many different view points, colors and skies that each sunset, sunrise or night moon is unique. Come and enjoy one...!

Plaza del Mar on Google Earth

For quite some time now local real estate sales and business people have used, or tried to use Google Earth to pin point locations throughout the Northern Baja coastline. Unfortunately, the satellite pictures of the area south of Popotla (Fox Studios area) down to Ensenada were of poor quality and for the most part useless for assisting in locating condo, lot or home developments along the corridor. That is, until now!!!

Google Earth has upgraded the pictures of the area and you can now zoom in close enough to see the coastline, developments, homes and even residential lots. While the satellite view is a great tool the photos are 2-3 years old. BUT WOW! Below is the view of Plaza del Mar Beachfront.

If you go to Google Earth you can use their tools to zoom in even closer!

Winter Time!

We were asked recently for some pictures that depict the holiday season or Winter in Baja. Clicking through the multitudes of pictures we have taken I couldn't really see one that exemplified the holiday, not one; so I sat down and thought about it, "is there a picture I can take at Plaza del Mar that exemplifies the holiday season?" Without decorating a palm or hiring a Santa, the answer was an emphatic "no".

That determined, I set out on a quest to depict winter at Plaza del Mar. Looking through many more photos and taking still more I found some that are winter photos but could be mistaken otherwise. Nonetheless, with a bit of an intro they are Winter photos.

In December we had some strong Santa Ana winds (Santa Ana winds are strong winds, typically in Southern California, that blow on shore from the desert mountains) that created a spectacle of dust, an ocassional tumbleweed and a high surf capped with even higher sprays of white water. Could this be a Baja winter photo?

Creating the feel of a cold dark night is a challenge in Baja. However, the recent completion of the streetlights afforded us the opportunity to demonstrate Winter in just that fashion. The mist skewing the light on a cool December evening,
..............can you feel it!

A Plaza del Mar Winter can also be potentially demonstrated by the Winter sunsets. They vary in color and, most importantly, will almost always include a winter moon in the southwest sky.

While the cold of a winter night can be seen in the dark colors of a sunset and demonstrated by the Winter moon this last picture showed more than expected. Taken on December 24th while showing the property to some clients this picture captured a colorful moon lit evening and........can it be that we captured the spirit of the holiday amongt the palm trees.....well, that's for each of us to decide.


Wishing everyone had a pleasant Holiday season and all a GREAT 2008!