Haute Residence continued its "Chat with Haute Residence Leaders" series with an exclusive one on one conversation featuring Vasco Borges: CEO of luxury private villa resort Beach Enclave.
He was hosted by Haute Media Group Cofounder Seth Semilof. Watch their conversation below.
The topics included Borges’ illustrious career from CFO of Grace Bay Resorts, Project Director for Water Cay Development, and his eventual ascendancy in luxury real estate as the CEO of Beach Enclave.
Vasco N F Borges has over 20 years of experience in luxury branding, real estate development, and hospitality. As the CEO of Beach Enclave, Borges raised funding, designed, developed, and is presently managing three private villa resorts. Founded in 2013, Beach Enclave is redefining Caribbean beachfront living by offering the privacy and seclusion of your own home with all resort amenities. Borges’ accolades include Best Caribbean development in 2017 by the International Property Awards, #1 Resort in Turks and Caicos by TripAdvisor, and highest average daily rate in Turks and Caicos.
Here are some of the questions and answers from the exclusive interview with Borges.
Seth Semilof: Tell us a little about how you went from college, growing up in Portugal, to the Caribbean.
Vasco Borges: It was absolutely by happenstance. I had done a more traditional career of economics, then I joined this consulting company called McKinsey. When you are a consultant, you get exposed to a lot of industries. There were a few options on the table. One of them was to join a restaurant group in Singapore and the other one was an opportunity to come to the Caribbean to work. I had never been to the Caribbean before, but they promised me a beachfront bedroom in a five star resort, so I came here. It was a vibrant place and I absolutely loved both the real estate and the hospitality component. That is why the idea of building something where people are going to leave with lifestyle experiences, but also hospitality was really, really exciting.
SS: I would love to learn how you came up with the game plan or strategy because you came out and built three different luxury villas. What transpired into that?
VB: At the time, if you wanted to own real estate in Turks and Caicos or the majority of the Caribbean islands, you could either on a condominium or a standalone home. I could not figure out why we could not combine both. You have the great things of a resort, which is all the amenities or services taking care for you, and combine that with the privacy of your home. You really just go in and it is ready for you. I could not convince my employer to do it at the time, so I decided to go in on my own.
SS: What makes Turks and Caicos so amazing? You have not chosen to go to any other Caribbean islands, just mainly stuck to Turks and Caicos.
VB: An amazing combination of things. It has an amazing infrastructure. It has US dollar, UK law, and above all, beautiful beaches. You can have breakfast in New York and lunch on the beach. It is very unusual to get, but we have very low-density development, a fantastic legal setup, and quality people. We are 22 miles outside of Manhattan, so Wall Street is a big part of our market. We are also seeing people coming in droves from New York to New Jersey to the suburbs. We are seeing tremendous movement in Westfield because interest rates are historically low, so it is a win-win.
SS: Where do you see the next 12 months specifically for Turks and Caicos?
VB: We have seen an amazing amount of money coming in and a lot of interest in our homes. We presold all the homes, even before acquiring the land. There is a lot of demand there, particularly for the high-end products. I think that will continue, but also, what you see in some of these locations is this new way with investment that is helping us build more amenities. An expansion of the ecosystem around us helps as that you really need people to come into the islands. Our purpose is continuing to grow because people want everything to be as easy as possible. We are putting together all these protocols and trying to make the experience top, top, top notch for our client.
SS: Where do you see your company in the next five to 10 years as you are expanding the brand?
VB: We are very happy with this location. Being on the best beach, we have some amazing homes coming our way. Maybe we will do something else here, but I think our next wave of growth once we have solidified and built our roster, the team is to go and expand abroad. I think what we have done here can be done in pretty much any location where you have wealth coming in, interest in real estate, and interest in a good lifestyle experience.
For more information, please contact Vasco Borges at 1-866-580-1675 or visit www.beachenclave.com.
To watch more real estate webinars curated by Haute Residence, visit dev.hauteresidence.com.
