At Home On Heaven’s Mountain
Carlos Nieto is a Colombian American who returned home to his native Medellin about a year ago.
Carlo’s family has a finca, a country estate, less than an hour outside downtown Medellin. Any Medellin family with the money to afford it would have a finca outside the city. There are 26 national holidays in Colombia. Paisas (as the people of Medellin are known) like to enjoy them at their country houses.
Carlo’s family’s finca is called Monticello (that is, Heaven’s Mountain). It’s north of Medellin, just past the town of Copacabana. Now that Carlos is back home, he’s had an idea.
Carlos is developing an area of his family’s mountain farm into a small gated development, a sustainable mountainside community. Specifically, Carlos and his family have worked with local real estate professionals and engineers to identify 14 lots. The idea isn’t density. These lots are all 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 acres, allowing each owner lots of elbow room and lots of green all around.
Medellin has great weather. The weather out here at Monticello is even better, thanks to the slightly higher elevation. But the real attraction here is the views. This is dramatically beautiful countryside. The lots have been surveyed up the side of the hill, meaning that everyone will always have his view. All lots have long mountain and valley views back toward the city of Medellin. Some also have river and waterfall views.
This is the best of Mother Nature but not remote. Again, you’re less than an hour from central Medellin, and you’re only 20 minutes from the nearest town, which has big grocery stores, restaurants, gas stations, Home Depot-like shopping, a mall, movie theaters, a metro station (so you could use the metro to get back and forth to central Medellin), even home food delivery options.
The nearest hospital is less than 30 minutes away. Rio Negro International Airport is a US$35, hour-and-10-minute ride away. The community will have 24hour security.
The real appeal is the peaceful natural setting…the lushly covered mountains, rolling valleys, rivers, creeks, wildflowers, wildlife, and clean fresh air.
Carlos and the development team he’s put together will be using a variety of green design strategies to reduce the impact of the infrastructure and the construction on the land while still providing full international-standard amenities and services. They can help you to build a house on your lot if you’d like. But you don’t have to build. You can simply hold on to your lot with the intention to resell later. The community being developed should have appeal to both Colombian and foreign buyers.
In addition, should you build a house on your lot, it’d have rental potential. As I’ve explained, residents of Medellin like to escape to the mountains as often as possible. What’s being developed at Monticello will qualify as a high-end and appealing option for them.
The 14 lots currently available are priced from US$125,000 to US$150,000. You can purchase with a fully refundable 10% reservation deposit.
Lief Simon
