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Paradise Found, Horizons,
May 2010 |
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Unique
Sustainable Eco-Community Breaks Ground In Costa
Rica. January
8, 2009 |
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Locally
sustainable eco-community to break ground in
Costa Rica, December 23, 2008 |
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November 14 , 2007 |
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"Green-Living"
in Costa Rica is Model for Future Communities, Babylon
High School, Student
Newspaper, 2008 |
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The Tico Times, February 15, 2008 |
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Unique
Sustainable Eco-Community Breaks Ground In Costa Rica
—Finca
Las Brisas Features Built-in Social and Economic
Sustainability—
Click to download in pdf format
Contact: Al Benner, 484-213-5345 /
albenner@fincalasbrisas.com
Release Date: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, January 8,
2009
—Finca Las Brisas Features Built-in Social and Economic
Sustainability—
The owners of Finca Las Brisas[www.FincaLasBrisas.org]—an
ecologically focused development in the mountains of
Costa Rica—announce the beginning of Phase II with the
groundbreaking for the project’s community center.
Located near the Pacific beach community of Samara on
the Nicoya Peninsula, Finca Las Brisas has been named as
an eco-project to watch by The Tico Times, Costa Rica’s
national newspaper. Upon completion, community members
will share more than 150 acres of unspoiled forests, a
Pacific Ocean view, year-round rivers with numerous
waterfalls, orchards, a vegetable farm, and community
center buildings and facilities. The landowner’s charter
establishes an eco-community combining co-housing
(single family homes/shared resources) and sustainable
development.
According to Al Benner, majority partner, Finca Las
Brisas is a place where environmentally conscious people
can not only own property, but also live and vacation in
harmony with nature.
“Our model is to integrate, rather than ‘gate,’” he
explains. “By its very design, Finca Las Brisas eschews
the typical model of a planned community, and seeks to
seamlessly incorporate every facet of the project with
the surrounding population and land.”
Benner and his partners have self-funded the
development, avoiding potential issues with real estate
loans. All 150 acres are paid for in full, and ten of
the 24 lots have been sold for both seasonal and
year-round residency. The new community center is being
funded from lot sales.
All roads, trails, vegetable gardens, coffee and fruit
orchard plantings are complete, and a supply of pure,
solar-pumped well water is currently available. Gardens
and fruit trees planted in common areas will provide
fruits and vegetables for the residents, separate from
the farmed areas. A significant percentage of the
property in the river corridor is designated as a
no-build zone, protecting the environment, and the
investment of each owner.
“The success we have experienced to date demonstrates
the viability of the Costa Rican market, even in a
challenging global economic climate,” says Benner.
“However, for buyers who are also looking to simplify,
de-stress, or reduce living costs, our project makes
perfect sense.”
The development, its community gathering places and all
of its low impact homes will rely on self-supporting
energy, farming and community connections with local
people and resources. “Our team is creating a
sustainable economic model by, for example, hiring local
workers for professional and construction needs,
designing and building an infrastructure to support
fully sustainable energy and locally produced food, and
establishing a farmers' market and bi-lingual school
just outside the development,” says Benner. “Crops are
being harvested from the property this season for local
restaurants, and coffee trees planted in 2007 have a
target harvest date of 2011—just in time for the second
wave of lot owners to enjoy from the decks of their new
villas.”
The development’s second phase features construction of
a community center, built as a rancho with 360 degree
views, and a caretaker’s villa. All construction
materials are in line with true eco-building,
incorporating “earth bags”—recycled banana bags filled
with a special mixture of sand and clay soil obtained on
site, stacked on top of one another and finished with
stucco to form the main structure.
The open-air floor plan will include indoor and outdoor
areas to gather, dine and enjoy the dramatic views,
sunsets and the continual morning and evening breezes.
Guest quarters and a community kitchen for all
landowners to use while their homes are being built are
incorporated in the design. The caretaker’s home will be
powered by solar panels and supported by a plant-based
waste water management system.
“Finca Las Brisas is a sea-change model for future
eco-developments worldwide because of its combined
social and economic sustainability,” says Benner. “We
are committed to do the right thing by the land, the
people of Costa Rica, and those who will own part of
this rich and beautiful setting.”
The best time to visit Finca Las Brisas and Costa Rica
is January through March. A full time site manager is
available for tours of the property and falls. For more
information, visit
www.FincaLasBrisas.org or call 484-213-5345.
###
Locally
sustainable eco-community to break ground in
Costa Rica
Marcy Guppy, GoodWorks
Click to download in pdf format
For
immediate release:
Dec. 23, 2008
Contact:
Macy Guppy,
503-892-3178/ macy@goodworkspr.com
Al
Benner,
484-213-5345/ albenner@fincalasbrisas.org
www.fincalasbrisas.org
An alternative economic
model:
Locally sustainable eco-community to break ground in
Costa Rica
The owners of Finca Las Brisas — an eco-community in the
mountains of Costa Rica overlooking the Pacific Ocean —
will break ground in mid-January 2009. Their goal is to
create an eco-community combining co-housing,
sustainable development and a viable economic model in
these troubled financial times.
“For people looking to make a sound investment in the
current global economic climate – while also simplifying
and de-stressing their lives and reducing costs -- our
project makes sense,” says Finca Las Brisas Majority
Partner Al Benner.
“Our 150 acres are paid for in full; our
soon-to-be-built community center is funded from lot
sales; and most everything anyone could ever need or
want will soon be on site, “ he says.
The development’s first phase will feature construction
of a community center, built as a rancho or simple
countryside dwelling. Recycled banana bags, called earth
bags, will be filled with a special mixture of sand and
soil obtained on site, stacked on top of one another and
plastered to form the main structure. The open-air
center will include indoor and outdoor areas to gather,
dine and enjoy the outdoors. Guest quarters and a
community kitchen for all lot owners to use are
incorporated in the design. The first phase, expected to
be complete within six months, will also include a
caretaker’s home, solar panels, and a plant-based waste
management system. Roads, trails, vegetable patches and
fruit gardens – in addition to pure, solar-pumped well
water – are already in place.
Ten of the 24 two-acre plots have already been sold to
build 1,500-square-foot year-round or vacation homes.
The development, its community gathering places and all
of its homes will rely on self-supporting energy,
farming and community connections with local people and
resources. The owners are creating an alternative
sustainable economic model by, for example, hiring
locals for professional and construction needs; creating
an infrastructure to support fully sustainable energy
and locally produced food; and instigating a farmers'
market and bi-lingual school just outside the
development.
“We want to do the right thing by the land, the people
of Costa Rica and those who will live in this beautiful
setting of waterfalls, ocean sands, rivers and rain
forests,” says Benner. “This is a sea-change model for
future developments worldwide because of its built-in
social and economic sustainability,” he says. Benner and
the other Finca Las Brisas partners have completely
self-funded the development, thus avoiding current
liquidity issues with real estate loans.
“The best time to visit Finca Las Brisas and Costa Rica
is January through March,” says Benner. “We encourage
anyone who would like to explore this international,
sustainable living concept to see it for themselves.”
For more information, go
to
www.FincaLasBrisas.org or call
484-213-5345.
"Green-Living"
in Costa Rica is Model for Future Communities
Brendan Cunningham, Babylon High School Student
Newspaper, Long Island
Click
to enlarge photo
Just in Case, We Can Live in
Costa Rica
Creating a Green “Plan B.”
Philadelphia, PA
— Talk to Al Benner about his
“Costa Rica Vacation Property”, and you’ll
get the sense you’re listening to a survivalist,
ecologist, farmer and surfer all rolled into
one. Al is one of many Americans who believe
our economy is going in the toilet
(Global Warming). We’re running out of
fossil fuel, and we’re making our air
unbreathable. He’s convinced he needs a “Plan
B.”
A
successful entrepreneur with twin toddlers,
three businesses and three countries, Al is one
of a growing number of Americans who feel that
they need to think about what they will do when
things get bad. Since 9-11, many believe we
could face - due to terrorists, or a lack of
resources or both, a sort of “Mad Max” future.
Fuel and food will be scarce, violence will be
rampant and people will struggle to feed and
protect their families. And these same people,
Al included, have been born and raised in the
America we know – a land of shopping malls and
two car garages.
Enter Al’s Plan B. “We’ve decided to create a
place where we can grow our own food, live “off
the grid” with sustainable energy, and basically
escape if things get bad here. And, in the
meantime, it’s a nice vacation spot.” Al, his
wife and a few friends purchased 150 acres of
farm land in the mountains overlooking the
Pacific Coast in Guanacaste, Costa Rica.
Each took dibs on a two acre, ocean view lot,
and they are selling 15 or 20 more lots to “like
minded” people who may have the same near-term
Costa Rica vacation or long-term escape plan
instincts. The rest of the rugged, mountainous
“farm” is set aside to reforest, grow food or
explore.
Energy independent,
“Finca Las Brisas” (Farm of the Breezes),
will be an
eco community where people can build a
modest vacation home if they agree to conserve
energy, work with local people and resources,
and avoid the excesses and commercialism that
runs rampant in America, and frankly even in
eco-conscious Costa Rica. Community members
can even work the land and share in the harvest
if they like.
For more information about the Finca Las Brisas
project, visit
www.fincalasbrisas.org or email
darlenecoker@fincalasbrisas.org.
'Sustainable'
Communities Take Foothold in C.R.
San Jose, Costa
Rica - Dave Sherwood, Tico Times Staff
Paradise
Found
Del Val College
Horizons Alumni Magazine, - Jenna Portnoy
Copyright 2006-2009 Arjuna Limitada. All rights
reserved.
