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March 2005 El Alcazar is the newest project in Coronado, Panama’s best known recreational and retirement community. El Alcazar will have 63 residential deluxe condominiums that will cater to the investor who wants to own property in Coronado without having to worry about the cost of keeping a large home. The condominiums will be located in a new 23-story building with state-of-the-art technology and round-the-clock-security. The condominiums will be 265 square meters (2,852 square feet). The condominiums are going to be built next to Coronado’s beautiful 18-hole golf course, so you will literally be able to walk out your front door and be on the golf course. As part of purchasing a condominium in El Alcazar, the owner will receive a lifetime membership to Coronado Country Club. This will give the owner access to the best 18 hole golf course in Panama as well as the other excellent facilities the Country Club has to offer: spa, pro shop, nighttime tennis courts, Olympic sized pool, four restaurants, four bars, and rooms for conferences and parties.  I spoke with the architect of the El Alcazar project, Juan Manuel Vásquez, and he told me that the architectural design for the new building came from a combination of popular resorts in Costa Rica as well as the neo-colonial architecture found in the historic sections of Panama City, which has strong French influences. The architect, who was trained in Chile, a country famous in Latin America for turning out excellent architects, told me that he spent time traveling around Costa Rica and Panama in order to get a feel of what architectural design would work best in Coronado. He told me that the coffee plantations of Costa Rica and the neo-colonial architecture of Panama City were the influences he decided to utilize in the design of El Alcazar.

El Alcazar: Click Here to find out more about El Alcazar and Coronado.

Walkway at Coronado Resort

The beach at Coronado

A Little History Of Coronado

Coronado is the best-known and oldest beach resort in Panama. It has always had the reputation as a summer get-away for Panama’s most influential families. This is where the bankers, lawyers and merchants of Panama come to relax with their families, play golf, sit by the pool and walk on the beach: a place to unwind. The atmosphere in Coronado is very relaxed and quiet with family and friends strolling down sandy beachside-lanes that are lined with bougainvillea and orchids to the beach. Beautiful young Panamanians walk on the beach and as the sun goes down the inhabitants of Coronado sit back and sip on Panamanian rum and enjoy Coronado’s famous breezes. Later residents head out to one of the many restaurants in Coronado and then on into the night. Panama is a very nocturnal country so there is always nightlife no matter where you are. 

The beach at Coronado is the perfect place to lounge or swim or take a long walk. There is always a cool Pacific breeze blowing through Coronado; at night when the temperatures cool you have the desire to open up the windows and let the fresh sea air blow through your house. The mornings are for walking and reading or playing golf. For lunch there are a number of very good restaurants in Coronado that specialize in seafood; the Coronado Resort also has many excellent restaurants, Le Club is for fine dining, El Fogón Beach Club is a seaside grill and La Terrazas has an International Menu and a new pizzeria. At the entrance to Coronado there is a modern supermarket, bank, medical facilities and hotel. The quaint mountain town of El Valle is only a 45-minute drive and Panama City is only one-hour away. As a place to relax by the seaside, play golf, walk in the late evening, and have access to modern facilities, Coronado is excellent. 

I met with Roberto Eisenmann III, the President of Coronado Golf & Beach Resort, in the resort’s Las Terrazas restaurant. Roberto, the thirty something president of Coronado Golf & Beach Resort and El Alcazar Condominiums, told me that the love affair that his family has had with Coronado dates back to 1941 when his grandfather, Don Gustave Eisenmann, bought the seaside property with a business partner. From there the Eisenmann family sold land to mostly Panamanian and U.S. buyers, who built their summer or retirement homes on properties close to the Pacific Ocean. From there the Coronado project grew to include condominiums, an exclusive resort and country club, and a first-class golf course and equestrian club. In our meeting Roberto stressed to me the time and dedication his family has put into making sure that Coronado gives excellent service. 
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Click Here to read Roger Gallo's article on Coronado and to contact Coronado.

Click Here to read Roger Gallo's article on Coronado and to contact Coronado.

The Eisenmann family is an old and very well-respected family in Panama; the name is easily recognizable to any Panamanian, or expatriate who has lived in the country for any time. Roberto’s father started La Prensa, which is the best newspaper in Panama. The Eisenmann name has always been attached to quality and this shows in the beauty of the resort and the quality of the management. Roberto talks with the same dedication and intensity as his father and his desire to make the Coronado Resort and El Alcazar Condominiums a success is his personal mission. If you are planning to relocate to Panama or are interested in investing in Panama, I suggest you talk with Roberto. Anyone, who wants to enter the Panamanian market would be wise to talk with a local businessman in order to have a local contact. Roberto told me he is more than happy to talk with people who are interested in investing in Panama and want local advice about how to do so. Roberto is a very open and affable person as well as being a well-respected businessman in Panama. You should talk with him: in our short discussion I learned many new things about doing business in Panama, and I’ve lived here for 10 years. Roberto told me that he wants potential investors in the El Alcazar project to remember that the Eisenman family was here yesterday, is here today, and will be here tomorrow. Roberto said the following to me as our meeting broke: “We are an old established Panamanian family and our reputation is everything for us, that’s how we’ve been successful”. 

A Little On Coronado Golf & Beach Resort

Again it’s the breezes. The resort is done in a whitewashed Spanish-style, and whoever designed the Resort did an excellent job of designing the grounds so that the hotel seems to catch the breezes: anywhere you go there is a breeze and though this might sound silly or mellow dramatic, it’s important to be cool in Panama during the hot midday hours. The rooms in the hotel are the best of any beach resort in Panama: mini-bars, cable T.V, air conditioning and balconies over the golf course. The beach is nearby, only a short ride on the hotel’s transport. The food is excellent and the atmosphere is relaxed. The bar makes great drinks: not always easy to find in Panama.

Coronado Is Life: that’s the phrase people use to describe Coronado in Panama. It means that this is a place people come to in order to relax and get back to living, not just surviving. 

In Coronado

18 hole golf course in Coronado

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