SB Architects Positioned to Shape the Look of Caribbean Destinations

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. October 14, 2008

SAN FRANCISCO, CA,/MIAMI, FL, December 8, 2005. In the past two years, SB Architects has been chosen by Hotel Business, Hospitality Design and Multi-Housing News, three leading trade publications, as one of the most influential firms in the resort and residential design industries. Now, this mid-sized, San Francisco-based firm is on the leading edge of a surge of resort and residential development in the Caribbean - positioning it to play a pivotal role in defining the future of resort and residential design throughout the region.

According to World Bank reports, economic growth in the Caribbean surpassed world economic growth in 2004, and is expected to do so again in 2005. With 13 active projects set on spectacular sites throughout the Caribbean, SB Architects is poised to make a significant contribution to the look and feel of tourism and resort living in the region. Much of the firm's work is accomplished through its Miami office, with its unique ability to provide hands-on design and construction administration services to the nearby Caribbean islands.

"We are seeing optimism, tempered by a balanced, realistic approach to resort development, that gives us confidence that the growth in our Caribbean practice represents a sustainable trend," states Joseph Andriola, Vice President and Principal in the firm's Miami office. "The majority of the resort projects we now have in the pipeline are mixed-use, including resort residential, retail villages and marketplaces, marinas and so on. Particularly important is the trend toward including resort residential, fractional ownership and condo-hotel products in the resort mix. These residential products provide upfront cash flow, decreasing the development's exposure to risk through the rising cost of money. What it means to us is that in the long-term, these projects will get built."

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Residential products, along with marinas, retail villages and other components of larger mixed-use destinations, also lead to greater investment in infrastructure such as roads and airstrips. According to many experts, investments in the overall quality of Caribbean tourism will be vital to maintaining the region's competitiveness as the U.S. dollar strengthens and travel to the region, (in which many of the currencies are pegged to the dollar), becomes more expensive in relation to other regions of the world.

Another indication that Caribbean resort development will remain competitive is the strong presence of luxury developments. "All of our current resort and resort residential projects in the Caribbean fall in the four and five-star categories," notes Scott Lee, Vice President and Principal in the firm's San Francisco office. "This indicates to us a stable development trend - throughout the Caribbean, developers are making solid investments in high-quality resorts, and are taking advantage of the tremendous natural assets this unique region possesses." In the past several years, the region has benefited from several converging factors: a weak dollar drawing new visitors from Europe and abroad, low interest rates fueling development, and fears of global unrest keeping American tourists close to home. As those factors subside, investments in infrastructure, compelling luxury resorts and accompanying residential products will help maintain the region's growth.

SB Architects' current work circles the Caribbean basin: from the Turks & Caicos Islands and the Bahamas off the coast of Florida, to the islands of Puerto Rico and Jamaica, to Antigua, St. Lucia and Trinidad bordering the Atlantic Ocean, to Aruba and Belize off the Central and South American coasts. Several are currently under construction, with several more in the later phases of design.

In over forty years of practice, SB Architects has built a long-standing reputation for excellence in the planning and design of large-scale multi-family residential, mixed-use, hotel, resort and vacation ownership projects. The firm's portfolio of work includes projects throughout the United States, in Mexico, South America, the Caribbean, the Mediterranean, Japan, China, Indonesia, India, Egypt and the Middle East. Known for site-sensitive, contextually appropriate design, SB Architects has received over 185 awards for design excellence.