Quote:
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Originally Posted by FireGuy
If I recall correctly, shortly after they bought it they announced that in 2008 it will go private.
Gregg
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Playa Grande to Become a Private (prestiged members-only) Golf Club/Course
Conde Nast Traveler's "The 2007 'It' List":
Until recently, visitors to this Caribbean nation fell into one of two groups: The moneyed and stuffy ensconced themselves at the venerable Casa de Campo compound, while the budget-minded favored the all-inclusives. Now, upscale properties, an improved infrastructure, more direct flights, and a good dose of cash are giving the D.R. newfound cachet. Much of the buzz emanates from Playa Grande, a 2,000-acre enclave earmarked for future development by a group of New York glitterati—founding members include Richard Meier, Alex von Furstenberg, Fareed Zakaria, and Moby. It already has a Robert Trent Jones-designed golf course, and
Four Seasons, Amanresorts, and St. Regis are reportedly opening hotels–but not until 2009. In the meantime, there are plenty of new boutique properties already drawing celebrities such as Bill Clinton, Penélope Cruz, and Uma Thurman
New York Times, ..
Red wine glasses were still in the sink from the previous night's dinner party for a group that [Celerie Kemble] and her husband, Ravenel Boykin Curry IV, had convened to hash out an arts program for their "creative utopia." They are developing a planned community in the Dominican Republic that will provide weekend succor to investors like Fareed Zakaria, the editor of Newsweek International; Bronson Van Wyck, the event planner; Moby, the musician and tea shop owner; and other wealthy bohemians with an appetite for current affairs and social causes served up in a tropical paradise. Mr. Curry, a money manager and education reform advocate, and Ms. Kemble have been collecting folks like these in their Central Park South apartment for some years now, building an unlikely salon and quasi-liberal brain-and-money trust floating high above the gilt and marble of Trump Parc.
here's more from
a very recent article in Radar Magazine:
It's the New Year's party you're not likely to be invited to. Unless, that is, your name is
Moby,
Mariska Hargitay, or you were college roommates with
Boykin Curry, the financier-playboy who's building an elite private community in the Dominican Republic, called Playa Grande.
Curry & Co. are throwing a major New Year's bash in the DR to celebrate their demolition of a recently acquired hotel—the Occidental—set to be torn down come January. The lavish 10 day affair is being planned by event impresario
Bronson Van Wyck, who's stretching his party acumen to contend with the challenges of the raw parcel of land. Not content to rough it, the co-owners of the retreat and guests are being catered for in the Manhattan-style to which they are accustomed, flying in chef
Gabrielle Hamilton of downtown restaurant
Prune (
1)for the occasion. Crates of champagne are being specially imported, and guests can expect an extravagant fireworks show set on dramatic cliffs over the ocean as the clock strikes midnight. And as the socialites ring in the new year, their wrecking ball will pave the way for tropical domination.
Playa Grande, a $50 million
Mosquito Coast fantasy, was conceived by Curry as an elite experiment. In March, the
New Yorker's
Ben McGrath wrote a piece on the Caribbean paradise and the artistic, utopian ambitions of the property's creators. Curry, along with 20-odd investors, purchased the 2,200-acre tract of land on the wild north shore of the DR and is hell-bent on making it into a bacchanalian Bohemian Grove for entitled 30-something Manhattanites. He also cites the Hamptons in the '70s as a major source of inspiration. A tipster tells
Radar that Curry & Co.'s plans for a colonial-style takeover are proceeding apace. In August, the cadre of Park Avenue darlings added a fading hotel to their lair, with plans to knock it down to make way for development come January.
Co-owners of the raw land read like a roll call at
Michael's (
1), with machers like
Charlie Rose and
Newsweek's
Fareed Zakaria. And then there's playboy
Alex von Furstenberg, designer to the Bush gals
Lela Rose,
Bronson van Wyck, Curry's wife
Celerie Kemble,
Moby, and architect
Richard Meier, who signed on to transform parts of the land into a soothingly luxe Perry Street-in-the-jungle. As McGrath noted in the
New Yorker, Curry envisions the retreat as a "creative person's utopia," vowing, "we are going to keep it bohemian, and not filled with dentists who got lucky in the stock market."
Those lucky dentists and the rest of the un-anointed can sob quietly into their flat champagne this weekend as Curry and his friends enjoy their 10 sun-drenched days of hedonism in their own VIP commune.
Photo: Patrick McMullan
By Sarah Horne 12/29/06 1:13 P
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a great and very comprehensive The New Yorker Magazine article
Casa de Currys - Portfolio.com
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Playa Grande is sold!
