The Dominical Project is a proposed $700 million mega project, planned to be built in and around Dominical.

Developers, like realtors, have cliches that they like to fall back on in their promotional material. In the southern zone of Costa Rica, near 100% of proposed developments are described as being “sustainable”, in harmony with nature, and “eco” of some kind or another. Most of them boast about the area’s rich biodiversity, all the while proposing to cut into the ecosystems that host this biodiversity in order to replace them with villas and pools. Wild ecosystems are not sustained by converting them into luxury housing.

The developers of The Dominical Project go a little further than most, and we thought it worth highlighting some of the quotes from their investor materials.

The Dominical Project offers a unique opportunity to create a world-class tourism destination, a master-planned beachfront community, and a global model for sustainable development in one of the most spectacular, bourgeoning and underserved regions of Costa Rica

A slice of Escazu transported to the beach doesn’t “create” Dominical as a world-class tourism destination. And there is very little in the plans that suggests that the proposed project even approaches being a “global model for sustainable development”.

Demand from regional and foreign and markets is growing while top tier hotels, homes and services remain in limited supply. Seizing the opportunity to cater to this growing market, Osa Development launched a comprehensive strategy to activate the Southern Zone through the acquisition and thoughtful development of the region’s most prime parcels.

Osa Development have been trying to get this project off the ground for years. When they started, it’s certainly possible that there was limited supply. That is no longer the case. In any event, the Southern Zone does not need to be “activated” – if anything, the unique charms (and biodiversity) of the Southern Zone are more at risk than ever of being obliterated by thoughtless and generic development.

The area presents numerous tourism attractions that offer a compelling alternative to the country’s less lush and more developed Northern Zone. More than twelve national parks are easily accessible from The Dominical Project, including the Osa Peninsula, named “the most biologically-intense place on earth” by National Geographic. With the help of The Dominical Project, the Southern Zone and the town of Dominical have the potential to become one of the most desirable destinations in Costa Rica.

A double dose of irony in this paragraph. First, the developers praise the Southern Zone for being less (over) developed than Guanacaste, all the while planning a Tamarindo style development for the area. Secondly, they sing about the Osa Peninsula’s rich biodiversity, and then turn around and propose a master-plan that would add anywhere from 60-90 new luxury housing and hotel buildings throughout a 65 acre parcel of rainforest, effectively neutralizing its ecosystem.

In order to establish Dominical and the Southern Zone as a highly desirable destination and globally recognized model for sustainable living, the Team has implemented a multi-phased strategy for activating the region, beginning with a carefully conceived beachfront town and anchor hotel that preserves the natural heritage and integrity of the area, while celebrating the local surf and music culture.

Again with “activating”, and newly with “establishing” the area as desirable. We’re pretty sure it already is! We’ve already called attention to the sustainability claims. And while we’re sure that the capital T Team’s strategy has been well considered, all indications are that it starts with clearing forest and ends with selling houses – not a whole lot of “preserving” to be found in the pages of their investor materials.

The Dominical Project is poised to fill the market’s unmet demand for meaningful experiences and comfortable lodging in the Southern Zone. Currently, the limited number of hotels that exist are “Mom and Pop” operations…

There are hundreds of rental villas in the area between Dominical and Uvita. While it may be true that during Christmas and New Year’s that everything is booked up, for much of the year a sizable proportion of that inventory sits empty for much of the time. Nothing in the investor portfolio speaks to the project creating “meaningful experiences”, other than perhaps the proposal for a $27 million museum. And by “Mom and Pop operations”, we understand the developers to be critiquing owner operated hotels – which, again, are part of the charm of the area, which apparently the developers fail to understand.

The Southern Zone’s mountainous topography, lack of significant remaining beachfront parcels, and prior limited access, allow The Dominical Project’s portfolio of properties the ability to capture and define the premium hospitality market.

Capture and define.

The Team’s initial focus will be the development of three branded beachfront hotels that create a strong sense of destination for Dominical…Once the anchor destination for Playa Dominical and the new town center has been launched with the first boutique hotel, the Team will begin the buildout of the elements of a livable year-round community built on a strong tourism base.

Leaving aside the question of how the addition of three chain hotels will “create” a sense of destination, the developers aren’t shy about imagining their project as becoming the “center” of Dominical. What would that mean for existing businesses, no longer part of the “center”?

The developers plan to build 450 new houses and 500 hotel rooms in a town with a population of just 400. While their claims of “sustainability” appear to be just empty marketing fluff, they have been very clear about one thing: they fully intend to own the economy of Dominical. Existing hotels will be in trouble. Any tourism businesses outside of the new “center” will have to scramble to keep up. An even higher percentage of existing vacasas and airbnbs will sit empty, for more of the year.

Dominical has historically attracted many such would-be empire builders, and has fiercely rebuffed their advances time after time. It has not earned the moniker “graveyard of developers’ dreams” for nothing. The scale and ambition of The Dominical Project have doomed it to community opposition from the get-go.