4/11/2015

Leonardo DiCaprio Builds an Eco-Resort - NYTimes.com

http://nyti.ms/1FpxCeL

REAL ESTATE

Leonardo DiCaprio uild an coRe ort

JULI SATOW

APRIL 3, 2015

In what may be his highest-impact leading role yet, the actor Leonardo
DiCaprio, the Oscar-nominated Wolf of Wall Street, is planning to heal an
island.
A well-known environmental activist, Mr. DiCaprio bought Blackadore
Caye, 104 acres of wild, unpopulated land off the coast of Belize, with a partner
soon after he set foot in the country a decade ago. It was like heaven on
earth, he said, speaking by telephone from Los Angeles. And almost
immediately, I found this opportunity to purchase an island there.
Now Mr. DiCaprio has joined with Paul Scialla, the chief executive of
Delos, a New York City-based developer, to create an eco-conscious resort
there. When it opens to guests in 2018, Blackadore Caye, a Restorative
Island will feature the trappings of many luxury resorts, with sprawling villas,
infinity pools and stunning sunset views.
But the Restorative in the title refers not just to the impact the island
might have on visitors, but to the island itself. Blackadore Caye has suffered
from overfishing, an eroding coastline and the deforestation of its mangrove
trees, and the partners mean to put it back to rights.
Blackadore Caye is a 45-minute boat ride from Philip S. W. Goldson
International Airport in Belize City and a 15-minute boat ride from San Pedro,
the nearest big town. The island has been used for hundreds of years,
according to Juan Rovalo, a biologist who leads a team of scientists studying

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/05/realestate/an-idea-hits-the-beach.html?_r=0

1/6

4/11/2015

Leonardo DiCaprio Builds an Eco-Resort - NYTimes.com

the caye.
It was a popular spot for fishermen, who would stop on their way to
markets in Mexico and cut mangrove, using the wood for fires to smoke their
catch and the conch that they took from the reef, littering the island with
thousands of empty shells. More recently, he said, the islands once plentiful
palm trees have been uprooted and used to landscape the grounds of hotels in
San Pedro.
The villas for guests on Blackadore Caye will be built atop a massive
platform that stretches in an arc over the water, with artificial reefs and fish
shelters underneath. A nursery on the island will grow indigenous marine
grass to support a manatee conservation area, and mangrove trees will be
replanted, replacing invasive species. A team of designers, scientists, engineers
and landscape architects, some of whom have spent more than 18 months
studying Blackadore Caye, will monitor the resorts impact on its
surroundings.
The main focus is to do something that will change the world, Mr.
DiCaprio said. I couldnt have gone to Belize and built on an island and done
something like this, if it werent for the idea that it could be groundbreaking in
the environmental movement.
An avid scuba diver, Mr. DiCaprio first visited Belize in 2005 to swim its
barrier reef. As soon as I got there, I fell in love, Mr. DiCaprio said. Belize is
truly unique. It has the second largest coral reef system in the world, and it has
some of the most biodiverse marine life, like the manatee population and
almost every species of fish you can imagine. Then there are the Mayan
temples and the culture.
He soon purchased Blackadore Caye for $1.75 million with Jeff Gram, the
owner of Cayo Espanto Island Resort, a luxury vacation spot on another
private island in Belize, where prices in April for two guests ranged from about
$1,695 to $2,295 a night, according to its website. Mr. Gram said he would
bring his experience in owning and operating island resorts to the new
venture. As for Blackadore, he said, I believe that it will be an incredible
private island that will set the mark for all future island developments.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/05/realestate/an-idea-hits-the-beach.html?_r=0

2/6

4/11/2015

Leonardo DiCaprio Builds an Eco-Resort - NYTimes.com

Mr. DiCaprio said it had taken him 10 years to find the right development
partner; a deal with Four Seasons Hotels fell through. My goal was always the
fact that I wanted to create something not just environmental, but restorative,
he said. A showcase for what is possible.
Restorative Islands L.L.C., which is owned by Mr. Scialla, will build the
resort at Blackadore Caye, and Restorative Hospitality, a division of Delos, will
be its operator.
Founded by Mr. Scialla when he was a partner at Goldman Sachs, Delos is
best known for its health-centric development at 66 East 11th Street. The fiveunit condominium, where a penthouse is on the market for $39.8 million, has
several features designed to encourage good health, including vitamin Cinfused showers, kitchens outfitted with juicing stations and lighting designed
to promote sound sleep.
Mr. DiCaprio serves on the Delos advisory board, along with Deepak
Chopra, the self-improvement guru; Richard A. Gephardt, the former United
States representative from Missouri; and doctors at the Mayo Clinic and the
Cleveland Clinic.
The idea at Blackadore Caye is to push the envelope for what
sustainability means moving the idea beyond environmental awareness into
restoration, Mr. Scialla said. We dont want to just do less harm or even have
zero impact, but to actually help heal the island, to make it better than before.
Mr. DiCaprio, who sits on the boards of several nonprofits, including the
World Wildlife Fund, was an early investor in Delos. He also owns an
apartment at 66 East 11th Street, which he rents out.
We are pushing each other the whole way to test the boundaries of what
is possible, said Mr. DiCaprio of his partnership with Mr. Scialla and the lead
architect and designer, Jason F. McLennan. With the onset of climate change,
there are huge challenges, so we want the structure to not only enhance and
improve the environment, but to be a model for the future. That includes
restoring the island, creating conservation areas where we can hold research
conferences, and regenerating the entire ecosystem to bring it back to its
original form and beyond.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/05/realestate/an-idea-hits-the-beach.html?_r=0

3/6

4/11/2015

Leonardo DiCaprio Builds an Eco-Resort - NYTimes.com

The ecotourism market is large and growing, with eight billion ecotourist
visits a year worldwide, according to the Center for Responsible Travel.
Ecotourism is travel that minimizes negative impact on a location and seeks to
preserve its natural resources.
Belize, which is slightly smaller than Massachusetts and has just 341,000
people, according to the World Factbook, a website and publication of the
Central Intelligence Agency, is highly dependent on eco-tourism. Coral reef
and mangrove-associated tourism contributed as much as $196 million to its
national economy, or roughly 15 percent of its gross domestic product in 2007,
according to a study by the World Resources Institute.
Yet Belize has not enjoyed the same environmental protections as, say,
Costa Rica, which was one of the first countries to capitalize on ecotourism.
I think Belize, in the past, it hasnt been as stringent and we have seen an
adverse impact, especially near the coast, said Nadia Bood, who is the head of
the World Wildlife Funds Belize office. Belize is hoping to reverse this trend
and in 2013, developed a strict zoning plan for its coastline that is under
review and, according to Ms. Bood, should pass into law later this year.
But while ecotourism is a hot topic, it is unclear if it actually works.
No hotel can be truly sustainable because you have to fly to get there,
said Jan H. Katz, a senior lecturer at the Cornell School of Hotel
Administration. If you really care about sustainability, instead of enlarging
your carbon footprint by flying to a remote island and then creating the
garbage that they need to compost, just give money to a conservation
program. What people are buying, Ms. Katz said, is the status of staying at an
exclusive eco-resort.
Mr. DiCaprio and Mr. Scialla look at it another way. Visits to Blackadore
Caye, they say, will help reverse some of the environmental damage the island
has already suffered. While Blackadore Caye is not occupied the scientists
studying there must camp and pack in their own food it has been affected by
human activity.
Between removing the mangrove and the palms and other indigenous
plants, said Mr. Rovalo, the biologist, erosion has taken its toll on the

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/05/realestate/an-idea-hits-the-beach.html?_r=0

4/6

4/11/2015

Leonardo DiCaprio Builds an Eco-Resort - NYTimes.com

coastline and the small dunes that protect the island. Now, he said, a small
wind is all that is needed to create a big wave that goes directly into the
islands soil and starts the erosion process.
Blackadore Caye will adhere to the Living Building Challenge, stringent
environmental requirements including water and energy self-sufficiency
created by Mr. McLennan, the architect, who is a member of the Delos
advisory board. Blackadore Caye will be the first luxury resort to adhere to
these standards, and among the worlds most eco-friendly, Mr. McLennan
said.
Among the design principles that Mr. McLennan is using is the concept of
sacred geometry, in which the proportions of buildings are derived from
mathematical proportions found in nature.
Many of Deloss evidence-based health-wellness amenities and
technologies will be built into the architecture, he said, such as state-of-theart LED circadian lighting and controls that help support optimal sleep at
night and alertness throughout the day, as well as advanced air and water
purification systems to ensure the highest quality air and water. Additionally,
healthy, nontoxic materials and finishes will be used exclusively throughout.
Almost 45 percent of the island will be designated a conservation area.
The resort will be built using as many native materials as possible, and the
developers hope to rely on local laborers, who will be trained in green-building
techniques.
As for the guests, guidelines will dictate what they can take with them to
the resort. Plastic water bottles, for example, will not be allowed on the island.
Once there, guests will go through an ecology orientation program.
Wellness programming will be part of a stay at Blackadore Caye. Mr.
Chopra, founder of the Chopra Foundation for health and well-being, who also
lives at 66 East 11th Street, will spearhead a program focused on health and
anti-aging.
The 68 guest villas will have access to nearly a mile of secluded beach,
grassland and jungle. Prices for a stay at the villas have not been announced.
For those vacationers who prefer their own houses, 48 will be built on the

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/05/realestate/an-idea-hits-the-beach.html?_r=0

5/6

4/11/2015

Leonardo DiCaprio Builds an Eco-Resort - NYTimes.com

island, with price tags ranging from $5 million to $15 million. Some of the
houses will boast both a sunrise and a sunset beach, and homeowners will pay
a monthly fee for housekeeping, meals and other services.
Each building will have several functions, with the platform, for example,
not only sheltering guests on top and coral and fish underneath, but also
harnessing the breeze that comes off the water to keep the villas cool.
The goal was to create something that wasnt contrived a tiki hut or
some image of a Hawaiian getaway but rather the history of the place, the
Mayan culture, with a more modern approach, Mr. McLennan said. We want
to change the outlook of people who visit, on both the environment writ large
and also their personal well-being.
Correction:April3,2015
A version of this article appears in print on April 5, 2015, on page RE1 of the New York edition with
the headline: An Idea Hits the Beach.

2015 The New York Times Company

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/05/realestate/an-idea-hits-the-beach.html?_r=0

6/6