A New Standard
Of Luxury.

The community is the result of a combined passion for the area, the desire to bring the ultimate luxury master-planned community to this special part of Costa Rica, and an unwavering commitment to preserve the character, peace and adventure of its surroundings. It’s also the result of more than a century of collective experience in developing and building luxury resort properties. Their attention to detail is unparalleled, which is evident throughout the villa homes and ultimately throughout the community itself.

Meet Gerald Baum

Gerald Baum has been in the financial industry for thirty years and has focused much of his work on retirement planning, asset accumulation, and primarily safety and income planning.  Real estate in the United States in general has been transparent with liquidity risks and typical market cycles as all other financial opportunities, largely dependent on interest rates, and our economy. Developing real estate in a foreign country is quite a different matter.  That has never been a focus of my work until 12 years ago. I did not enter the real estate industry deliberately, but through my marital relationship with my wife who is from Costa Rica. I discovered a unique and exciting opportunity to purchase land and develop single family homes in a vacation area that has much demand and little supply for upscale homes, La Fortuna, Costa Rica.  
 
As the world gets smaller and our environment becomes more critical, and political unrest threatens all our world, locating a small patch of earth which has 5% of the world’s biodiversity, but represents only .001 of the land mass of the earth creates an unimaginable splendor, that can transcend the awful and illuminate life’s greater treasures is our driving force.

Neuroscience Insight: Nature has a demonstrable positive impact on well-being and behavioral health outcomes, an insight which has driven the field of biophilic design, which seeks to connect people with nature in the modern built environment. Natural materials, natural light, views of greenspace and the ability to be outdoors in natural settings can all play an important role in reducing stress and improving physical and mental health. Arenal Hills exposes the wonderment of an exclusive and dwindling natural beauty on earth and can open people hearts and minds to the greater good of appreciating life when viewed without politics and religious turmoil through the lens of an extraordinary place on earth, which includes plants, animals, all creatures, people, and extraordinary dwellings.  

Costa Rica is one of the most difficult countries to develop any kind of real estate, simply because their government cares about and protects their environment from the potential ravages of real estate development. 25% of Costa Rica is protected as national parks, and 98% of its energy is renewable supported by wind and water. A host of governmental agencies require significant approvals and permits to move even a shovel of dirt to protect all waterways from disturbance as well as protecting all living creatures that would be in a path of development. Arenal Hills has helped build a public bridge, planted 6000 trees, and developed its master plan by limiting the number of buildings it will build within its acreage and locating the buildings around the existing forests and landscape, creating a community integrated with the natural environment, while providing luxurious dwellings for its residents.  Our move to develop our community in Costa Rica is directly attributable to declining availability of single-family homes in general, and in Costa Rica specifically. The expanding need for better places to live on a planet with 8 billion people on it. The opportunity to develop living accommodations within the location of a hugely sensitive environmental area, with overwhelmingly attractive climate, surroundings, and people. I look for elements of splendor in our world.  Arenal Hills contemplates the enormous wonderment that comes from thinking deeply about the beautiful things in our lives from plants, animals, all creatures, and people. Consider how wondrous life can be with the absent of illogical behavior of politics, religion, and other dogmas that can push us away from the true nature of living on such a glorious planet in the universe. When the gates of our community close, there are no politics, no turmoil, no wars, no apparent ugliness…. only contemplative opportunities to enjoy beautiful things.

CEO and Founder
Baum Financial Services, Inc