These Residential Developments Don’t Just Preserve the Environment, They Want to Improve It

When Mario Ramirez purchased a vacation home at Mayakoba, a luxury resort and residential community on the Riviera Maya in Mexico last year, part of his motivation was the developer’s commitment to conservation.

“The sustainability and environmental programs probably influenced my decision to buy at Mayakoba too much,” said Ramirez, a business owner and engineer from Queretaro, Mexico, who’s traveled to Mayakoba annually since 2007. 

“I’ve been working in animal nutrition for the last 40 years, with the last two in biotech solutions using natural technology to solve the pollution problems of the food industry,” he said. “I’m a strong believer in the natural circular economy to return to the earth what is from the earth, creating natural wealth.”

Since the 600-acre Mayakoba community opened in 2006, the resort’s Environmental Resource Management programs have helped the wildlife population increase from 120 species to more than 330 species; more than 2,000 coral colonies have been transplanted in the ocean; and 1,656 turtles have been hatched and released, according to the developer. The Mexican resort is just one example of a growing number of luxury residential developments taking on conservation and environmental restoration in many locations.

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“Our intention as developers is to demonstrate the value of preserving nature, which is important for our moral compass,” said Kappner Clark, chief marketing officer of RLH Properties, developer of Mayakoba.

For instance, Mayakoba has a 133-acre mangrove conservation area that’s home to 173 animal species, said Hugo Rivas, lead biologist and one of 10 full-time staff members devoted to the environmental resource programs at the resort. 

“A lagoon system was constructed, creating a new habitat that didn’t exist in the area before,” Rivas said. This aquatic habitat consists of a network of interconnected freshwater lagoons and channels linked underground to the sea, covering 92 acres.”

A 4-mile nature trail in the community includes signs that provide the names of flora and fauna in the resort, Clark said.

“The minute you open a door you can hear the chirping of some of the more than 100 bird species here and you can see monkeys, deer and other animals when you walk or bike around the community,” Clark said. “Residents and visitors can take guided tours daily on electric boats along the canals or they can kayak to see baby crocodiles.”

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Clark estimates that RLH Properties has invested millions in its conservation programs and partners with local government agencies, nonprofits and universities on research projects.

“The implementation of these programs is crucial to minimize interaction between animals and residents, allowing each to inhabit their respective spaces,” said Rivas. “Proper management of the habitats—jungle, mangrove, aquatic, sea, dune and beach—utilized by animals is essential, as it is in these areas that animals obtain their food resources and find sites for sleeping, shelter, rest, etc.”

A variety of homes are available within the resort, with villas priced from $4.9 million in the Rosewood Residences Mayakoba and condos in the Fairmont Residences Mayakoba priced from $2.19 million and up. Co-ownership options are also available.

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Improving on Paradise

Like most homeowners at Hualālai Resort on the Big Island in Hawaii, Ed Mueller came as a tourist and decided to stay. Mueller, a retired phone company executive who splits his time between Hawaii and Arizona, said the commitment to sustainability at the resort honors the island culture.

“In Hawaii we primarily live outside with the water and the land, and it’s part of the Hawaiian culture to maintain and nurture the natural resources that surround us, including people,” Mueller said. He is active in the Hualālai ‘Ohana Foundation, a resident-driven nonprofit that provides funding for education and healthcare for resort employees and their families.

The resort opened in 1994 and property sales began in 1996. Single-family homes are priced from $7 million to $30 million but are rarely available. Condos range from $2.5 million to more than $10 million. The sustainability programs at Hualālai include a 10-year fish “resting period” for a 3.5-mile stretch in front of the resort to allow the fish population to rebuild itself; the creation of Lake Pūnāwai, a self-sustaining pond stocked with multiple species of marine life; and King’s Pond, a 1.8-million-gallon swimmable aquarium that is home to more than 1,000 tropical fish. The marine center at King’s Pond provides educational programs led by the Natural Resources Department at Hualālai, which employs five marine biologists.

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“We also have a ‘Green Team’ that focuses on a range of sustainability efforts for the community such as using recycled water for the golf courses,” said Nicole Tachibana, supervisor of natural resources for Hualālai. “A key element of our natural resources work is involving the community. We visit schools and senior centers, and they visit us, plus we work with universities and researchers.”

The natural resources department surveys multiple sites and has seen increases in the fish population within the reserve areas and outside them, Tachibana said.

“Residents and students participate in our turtle program to tag and store data on the turtle population,” Tachibana said. “Our next project will be to take residents on a boat trip to see the coral planting we’re doing.”

The resort has also donated more than 50,000 koa trees in partnership with the Hawaiian Legacy Reforestation Initiative.

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Maintaining Biodiversity on a Barrier Island

Windsor, a 472-acre residential community founded by W. Galen and Hilary M. Weston of Toronto in the 1990s, rests on a former citrus plantation on a barrier island between the Indian River and the Atlantic Ocean near Vero Beach, Florida. The final section of the planned community—the North Village—will have 34 homesites and six rowhouses, along with a focus on sustainability.

“This area around the Indian River Lagoon is one of the largest and most biodiverse ecosystems. This phase at Windsor is about stewardship of the land rather than development as a profit driver,” said architect Maggie Tsang, co-founder and managing principal of Houston-based Dept. LLC, which has designed the new section of Windsor. The former citrus grove was intensely farmed, and numerous invasive plants were introduced to the area, so the plan is to control them and reintroduce endemic plants, Tsang said.

“The North Village is adjacent to the Pelican Island Wildlife Refuge, which is the first wildlife refuge in the country and was established by Teddy Roosevelt,” said Isaac Stein, a landscape architect and co-founder and design principal at Dept. LLC. “It’s a natural fit to create a sustainable community here. This 50-acre section will have about 36 acres of open and landscaped space.”

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All homes in the North Village will be required to achieve a high degree of energy efficiency and certification by the Passive House Institute US. The homesites will be 10 to 11 feet above potential storm surge heights for resilience, Stein said.

Stein and Tsang are developing a plan with a set of benchmarks so they can quantify their success in the future with preserving native plants and planting 500 cabbage palms and 1,000 live oaks, as well as creating water features to enhance the natural surroundings of the community.

“The landscape is a living system, so we have to think about how our design will be managed for the long-term,” Tsang said. “Our plan will include maintenance without the use of toxic chemicals that affect people, pets, insects and wildlife, and uses nature-based solutions on a large scale.”

Over the long-term, the developers will spend less on irrigation, chemicals, pesticides and herbicides because of the thoughtful planning of the North Village, Tsang said.