Morocco Travel Information

Le Jardin de Fleur is the name behind 11 of the most prestigious property developments in the Moroccan coastal destination of Saïdia
Here are three entrepreneurs who think Morocco has become the new Dubai, says Mary Gostelow...
- from left, Joop Huisman, Sean Cusack and David Woodward, just in front of the border, the green and white flags of Algeria behind them.

The King of Morocco, His Majesty King Mohamed VI, thinks Morocco will definitely grow and grow, www.visitmorocco.com. He has set up a $61 billion Vision 2010 concept. This will create 600,000 much-needed jobs, thanks to upping annual incoming tourism from 4.5 million in the year 2000 to an anticipated 10 million by 2010. To accommodate all these extra visitors will required increasing available beds from 70,000 to 230,000, thus necessitating a spend of many billions of dollars on hotel constructions.

Plan Azur, part of His Majesty's vision, will create six new mega coastal destinations. Five are on the Atlantic coast, with the sixth, Mediterrania-Saïdia, on the northern, Mediterranean coast. It is conveniently three miles west of Saïdia town, where His Majesty likes to spend his summers: it is within vision of Algeria, and many are hoping that the Algeria-Morocco border will be opened (already, Moroccans buy jerry cans of Algerian oil for a song).

The Mediterrania-Saïdia complex is a total 1,800 acres, with a fabulous wide corniche and running-jogging track, already completed, along its four miles of perfect white sandy beach. Its marina - the third largest in the Mediterranean - and three Grupo Segales golf courses are nearly complete, with hospital, utilities and mammoth shopping and sports facilities to come. The organizers have already set up a hotel school to train employees, who of course need somewhere to live, so they are building 3,000 low-cost housing units for those who will be needed to work in the development's 21 (sic) resorts. Gaming, by the way, is allowed in Morocco, which will definitely increase activity at the project.

The resorts include ten standard resorts, not yet allocated to any one brand. A company called Property Logic, based in Marbella, is developing the other 11 slots, which they are branding together as Le Jardin de Fleur - and WOW.travel went to visit.

Our escorts were Sean Cusack, a Brit, and Dutchman Joop Huisman. We flew across to Oujda airport in Morocco, and then took a 25-minute drive north to the Mediterranean coast. At Le Jardin de Fleur, we found utilities are already in place, with electricity coming from Algeria, but the area - as of September 2008 - was a construction site, with activity at a leisurely pace.

Cusack and Huisman, who invariably speak with one voice, are not worried. Their schedule is being kept. Their 11 resorts are still known as RT-7 or WT-7, or whatever. Two are already signed to Radisson, on a 20-year contract, and one to former tennis star David Lloyd for a fitness resort.

Each of the 11 Le Jardin de Fleur resorts has its own Clubhouse, which houses all front office and back-of-house necessities, plus restaurants, gym and spa. Blocks around contain not so much hotel rooms or suites but fully furnished apartments and villas.

Every single one of the 1,340 units that make up the 11 Le Jardin de Fleur resorts is indeed being sold, to canny prospectors who like the sound of their eight weeks' free stay in the Mediterranean sun every year - and the rest of the time they are getting a good percentage of rental income.

Purchasers already include such football names as Rio Ferdinand and John Terry (typical owner profile throughout Le Jardin de Fleur is 30-45 age group). They pay 20 percent immediately, 20 percent at construction start and 60 percent on completion. As we said, the units are really attractive, with Siemens kitchens and attractive modern art. Some units have highly desirable roof terraces, where a few even have outside plunge pools.

The Cusak and Huisman team has already sold nearly all units, thanks to the hundreds of selling trips Cusak, who formerly ran a top-notch real-estate operation in London, has led. Possible purchasers are flown to Malaga, overnight there, flown by private jet south to Oujda airport for a site inspection and lunch before being flown back again.

I was interested to know how entrepreneurs like this start. Sean Cusack and Joop Huisman, who had been running an art gallery in Malaga, met through their kids' school in Marbella, where another parent was an Estonian businessman, Margus Reinsalu, who has joined as a more silent partner. From the start, Property Logic decided to add one project a year, with no more than three projects in the pipeline at any one time. They are already working in Brazil, where they bought the 2,400-acre Ilha de Cajaíba, in the mouth of the River Seriji, near Salvador, in 2006. This development will have seven resorts, some possibly literally built in and around three-story high trees and others over-water, plus two Robert Trent Jones golf courses - the Governor General's 1714-era mansion will be the development's administration block.

The company does all its own concepts, architecture, interiors and procurement, though they contract out construction. The head office team of 20 includes a highly experienced hotelier, David Woodward, the British lead architect and the French interior designer. There are six employees onsite in a Saïdia office, and two in Salvador.

Now they are looking for something else in North Africa, and they have been seriously approached about a Caribbean island. Has anyone any projects to sell on, at this time?
If so, contact Property Logic.
By: Mary Gostelow

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