In this Daily: The Signs of Neighborhood Development on the South Side of Beach Town
The homes, flats, hotels, and mixed-use buildings in Las Catalinas are one key aspect in which it’s possible to see town growing, but it’s also interesting to see the way in which town grows more complete through smaller carefully crafted features.
All around Calle Cartagena and Calle Virginia, several smaller features have been completed, pieces that tie together homes, plazas, and social spaces like the final piece into a puzzle.
It’s through these small connecting details that individual homes and structures become neighborhoods and streets, an effect that’s tangible when you see them, but even more tangible when you walk along the streets and experience them yourself.
Neighborhood Development On Calle Cartagena and Calle Virginia
Construction is moving forward quickly on the streets south of the Beach Club, with everything from gray work to finishes in progress all along Calles Cartagena and Virginia. More to come on those projects in the future.
However, today we focus on four additions to the south side of Beach Town that serve as connections between multiple individual structures, making the neighborhood feel more complete and welcoming.
Plaza Arbol now has its eponymous tree, a young ceiba tree (the same as in Plaza Lucia) that will grow to shade the entire plaza. Along with the addition of several other plants along the terrace wall, this touch of greenery has transformed this area from a place to hurry through at midday into a cool shaded grove to stop and relax. Leaning against the edge of the terrace, you can see out across town to the sea, chat with friends on the roof terrace of Posada San Rafael, or just enjoy the afternoon’s ocean breeze.
The addition of the stairs and walkway leading up to Casa Acuarela and Casa Plumeria is an example of how the value of a feature does not exist in a vacuum. Though elegantly crafted in its own right, the true value of this path is to connect Casa Acuarela’s and Casa Plumeria to Plaza Celaje, turning what was once a relatively stark wall at the back of the plaza into a welcoming path leading home. Plaza Celaje now feels much more like a communal gathering space in the middle of many homes, an effect that will continue to grow as more small details are completed.
More in Plaza Celaje with the arrival of the tree at the Plaza’s center. This tree, a cenízaro sapling, will be fundamental to the Plaza. Though young now, the widespread foliage that will fill the area one day brings with it shade and protection from the elements making it ideal to set up picnic tables for lunch, and accented by lights in the area becomes a space well worth a stop on an evening promenade.
The final change is one that adds a new dimension to one of town’s most prominent locations, the Beach Club. The staircase at the back entrance of the Beach Club turns a space that was once only accessible from the bridge on Paseo del Mar into an oasis in the heart of town, and a point that shows the integration of the two areas into one cohesive neighborhood. A sign that even “completed” portions of town are constantly lent new dimensions by growth around them.