LA BOQUILLA, COLOMBIA — A few years ago, impoverished fisherman Marcial Ortega could barely afford to feed his 14 children, much less buy them shoes. But now his worries are over. A beneficiary of this region's building boom, he is selling his half-acre beachfront lot and cabanas this month for a cool $1 million.
The 63-year-old Ortega held out for years, impassively listening to fast-talking developers bid up the price of his seaside plot. But declining fish stocks, rising taxes and nonstop harassment by developers finally convinced him it was time to leave this tiny fishing community a few miles up the coast from the Spanish colonial city of Cartagena. He sold to Spanish developers who plan to build a high-rise apartment building.
"I had to find a way out of here," said Ortega, the concrete-block house he soon will vacate nearly overtaken by encroaching high-rises.
"Now I'll have peace of mind, buy my wife a nice house and give my children things I didn't have, like an education."
The price fetched by Ortega's property reflects the frenzied real estate market in Cartagena, an increasingly popular destination for foreign tourists and retirees. A decade ago, the charms of this fortress city were the well-kept secret of wealthy Colombians and venturesome foreigners who knew that Cartagena was relatively immune to the killings and kidnappings that elsewhere marked Colombia's civil war.
Construction frenzy
Colombia's security and economy have improved significantly since President Alvaro Uribe took office in 2002, and that has helped ignite a construction boom. Twenty luxury residential towers were built last year and more than 60 are on the drawing board, including what would be Colombia's tallest building. Seventeen projects are to be situated along the four-mile stretch of beach between the walled city and La Boquilla.
Two-thirds of the units being built or planned are marketed to foreign retirees and investors, who have begun to take up residence in this breezy Caribbean city. Long anathema to U.S. hotel chains because of Colombia's notorious violence, Cartagena is slated for new resort hotels bearing the Marriott and Donald Trump brands.
Fueling the construction is the increasing flow of tourists, who are feeding the pool of potential buyers. The number of international visitors to Colombia grew 12% last year over 2005, and Cartagena was their top destination.
