Just as its namesake suggests, Halcyon Developments delivers just that.
The Devon, England developer’s most recent venture is a sprawling vacation getaway in Limoges, France called The Wyndham Halcyon Retreat Golf and Spa Resort. Adorned with an 18-hole golf course, two castles—the first of which has been renovated into a stunning up-market hotel, and the second, dating back to 1550, into a dedicated on-site spa—and a European Center Parc. Visitors will be able to swim in and out of the spa-castle, too.
According to Robin Barrasford, managing director Halcyon Developments, the five-star resort is accompanied by vacation homes that offer unique investment opportunities.
“We partnered with Wyndham, the largest hotel chain in the world, to manage and market it for us,” said Barrasford. “We have two types of buyers: Customers who rent back their properties to us, and we can guarantee them an 8% rental return for the year. When they don’t use it, they make money, but when they do use it they have a fantastic time. It’s a holiday home that will make you money when you’re not in it.
“If the owner lives there themselves, we guarantee to cover all their ownership costs. We cover everything and there’s no maintenance.”
The vacation homes are being built in the woods with hot tubs and marble interiors, and are, therefore, called treehouses. They range between studio and four-bedroom units, and cater—like the resort itself—to families. Couples typically stay by the main château.
Resorts of this kind are typically three or four stars, but because The Wyndham Halcyon Retreat is state-of-the-art and a rare five-star gem, the vacation homes are expected to surge in appreciation. While the homes will yield 8% per annum, their value should double within 10 years.
The resort has battlefield live and a four-storey indoor play centre for the kids, as well as an indoor aqua park with blooms, a two-mile trail, and mile upon mile of horse riding and mountain biking.
Adults can enjoy two substantially-sized fishing lakes.
“I’m six-foot-two and we pulled a pike out bigger than me,” said Barrasford. “There are 32 activities at the resort. It will keep a family busy for a whole week—a couple of weeks, even.”
Having built over 3,000 developments in 10 countries, to say that Halcyon Developments brings experience to the table is a gross understatement. It has managed to develop a superlative family resort in the middle of France that simultaneously offers savvy international investors high yields.
“The most important thing we bring is the knowledge and almost everybody buys a second home with the intention to make some money off of it,” said Barrasford. “You can only ever make money if you can sell it or rent it. What we’ve learned is to make properties that people in one, three, 10 years’ time will really want to own. We try to appeal to the largest amount of people so that when the customer wants to sell they have the best chance of selling.”
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Neil Sharma is the Editor-In-Chief of Canadian Real Estate Wealth and Real Estate Professional. As a journalist, he has covered Canada’s housing market for the Toronto Star, Toronto Sun, National Post, and other publications, specializing in everything from market trends to mortgage and investment advice. He can be reached at neil@crewmedia.ca.
