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Updates and Info about Rocky Point.
Speaker: Welcome to Rocky
Point by the Numbers.
My name is Steve Schwab, and
today I'm with Miguel Guevara.
He is the principal of Encantami Towers,
the MG group, and we get the privilege
of learning a little bit about his
background and how he got to Rocky Point.
Welcome to the show, Miguel.
Thank you, Steve.
Miguel, how did you end up in Rocky Point?
Speaker 2: I worked with a
big group called Grupo Citor
many years ago in 94, 95.
I worked And my first mission
was to come and finish the hotel
Plaza Las Glorias that it wasn't.
We were struggling because of the
peso devaluation and things like that.
But that was my first mission
to come here and finish it.
And I finished the hotel and I finished
the condos, the Pinacate condos.
Those were tough years, but since then,
I, when I arrived to Rocky Point in 95.
1995, and?
1995.
So your original position, you
were the head of engineering
Speaker: for, for this?
No, I
Speaker 2: was the project manager.
Okay.
I arrived as a project manager to finish
the condominiums and to finish the hotel.
So the project was, uh, That's
what the Marina Penasco is, which
is the little marina, the condos,
the Pinacate condos and the hotel.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I was younger.
I was 28,
Speaker: 27 years old.
That's incredible.
And I remember, at least from people tell
me about it, it was before I got here,
the project was going well, but the group.
As a whole, nationally went under
because they borrowed money in
dollars and converted to pesos, right?
We
Speaker 2: were financing all
the construction in dollars, and
we never thought that the peso
was going to devaluate 100%.
So we were all spread around in
Mexico, and some projects made
it well, some others didn't,
but it was tough for the group.
But for me, it was a great
opportunity and a great formation
with somebody else's money.
And I performed well and,
and I decided to stay here.
It was a great opportunity because after
I finished with C Tour and the things got
complicated for them, then I was offered
a job with Gus Brown, with Gustavo Brown.
To develop the Sandy Beach.
So then I, you know, I finished one
and I went to the other immediately.
So I was never out of, out
of work at the opposite.
I had another offer at the same time.
So then I stayed and since then, you know,
I've been involved in Rocky Point and I
know very, very good that all the guts of
the town and how everything got developed
and who was the players and everything.
So it was a very rich experience
Speaker: for me.
Yeah, so you went straight to
Sandy Beach and Was it Princesa was
your first project on San Diego?
Speaker 2: No, my first one
was Costa Diamante master plan.
So we developed the master plan.
We said, well, this is going to
be the lot for the subdivision.
This is going to be the
lot for the golf villas.
Now Casablanca is going
to be for a condo project.
Princesa, this is going to
be for another condo project.
We did the master plan and the
infrastructure nine months later.
I brought the group to buy the
piece of property for Princesa.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker 2: And it was my former boss
from CTUR that put a group together.
And then they bought the land.
I sold the land working with Gus Brown
to the group and the group bought it.
And they invited me to
become the project manager.
So then I left Gus Brown and I went
to work for the group of Princesa.
And we developed Resesa.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker 2: And, uh, and I kept going.
So since I arrived to Rocky
Point, I never stopped working.
So it's been one after the other.
Speaker: Gus Brown was originally
a partner in it, right?
He and the group bought him out
over time as the project went on.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, he was growing and
he was always developing something new.
And then he decided to be
bought out and they bought him
out at the beginning stage.
And then after finishing Princesa,
some of the Princesa owners invited
me and others to do the Sonorans.
So then I left the group.
With the project finished, and then I went
to start the Sonoran Spa, and the Sonoran
Group with the other partners from Sonora.
And that was my continuation of
this, you know, developing on Sandy
Beach on land that I was involved in
the designing before, so it was one
after the other, one after the other.
Speaker: So Sonora Spa gets built.
In my recollection of it, I felt
like the Sonora Spa was a big
departure from the other resorts from
a point of view of infrastructure.
Yeah, well,
Speaker 2: how we started
it was the Pinacare was.
One building of 90 something condos
done by a big group and 21 villas.
So the first venture on the Princesa
was five buildings of 45 units.
So 45, it was not huge,
but it was not little.
So then we were kind of testing the water.
If the whole thing is going to work
or not, then it seems really work.
Then at the spot, we said, well, we're
ready again to do a bigger building.
So that was a set up was different.
Three buildings, each building, less than
a hundred units, 60 something, 80 units.
And that's how we started.
And then at the C we said, no,
no, no, no more three buildings.
We can do two buildings now.
And the two buildings
were 90 something units.
And, and he was growing because
of the market was a strong bang.
And we felt more confident than the bigger
building was going to work up to now that
we are the highest, the tallest buildings
in the Northern Mexico and 25 floors.
And we feel completely confident
in what we're doing, but we
all started with five stories.
So
Speaker: you end up finishing
the Sonoran sea really strongly.
Yeah.
And you decided at that point when
that was over that you're going to
break out on your own and do your
first resort with you and Mary.
And that was the first non renting
resort here in Rocky point.
Speaker 2: Well, it was a lot of
opportunity in the market then in 2004.
And every other project
around us was rental.
So my former partners were the Sonorans
and they were doing another rental.
It was kind of a very good idea
to go into a niche of the market.
It's somewhere that I could do
something different, something
that nobody would have dared to
do, but at the same time, something
that it wouldn't make me compete.
So everything worked out
well, everything was perfect.
I mean, we had a great piece of property
and at the beginning it was a little
challenging because of the concept.
But after a little bit, after four
months or so that we had the model
open, we started selling like crazies.
And, and it's still up to today is
the only one that has the non rental.
But the non rental is not a surprise.
I mean, the non rental, you go to Miami
and every single project is a non rental.
You want to do Airbnb, you
have to go five blocks behind.
I mean, it's not something that,
you know, that nobody else does.
But the residential is like,
it was the cream of the cream.
People that had already four
or five condos, they bought
a condo for them there.
And it was a great experience.
Speaker: At the time, it
was really known as the most
luxurious project on the beach.
It had that reputation.
And once people got their mind
around it, it really took off.
And I, I believe your very first
client ever buy one is your
director of sales right now.
Is that right?
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Oh, Keith.
Yeah.
Yeah.
He was in the first group in the first 10.
Yeah.
He was at the beginning.
And like I said, if you are a Rocky Point
lover and you're really diehard Rocky
Point, you're going to come every month.
And if you're going to come every
month, you cannot rent your condo.
So we found 200 people that wanted that.
And, and it was a great experience
and everything was finished.
And then we had this crisis for
10 years, but all my projects
have been finished and I've been
lucky enough to finish it on time.
And then we had a big gap for 10 years
that I didn't develop anything in
RunkyPoint and nobody else did either.
Speaker: Yeah, the town sat dead and
you'd gone out and continued to work
though and building your business
in other cities like Guadalajara.
Is there any other cities like
Guadalajara that you've been?
Speaker 2: At the beginning
stage I was in Hermosillo in the
90s doing low income housing.
But then after the crisis of 2008
and Puerto Privada, I decided
to venture in Guadalajara.
You've been there.
Yeah.
You've been there.
You are involved also with
us over there with Casago.
It's a big city with a
lot of opportunities.
But we first developed
the commercial plaza.
That is a extremely great success And
then we did the condos and then I was
you know I was in my best age and I
couldn't just sit in Rocky Point for 10
years without doing anything So yeah,
yeah, we gotta look for something else
and and I guess it was the right decision
to go develop over there and Now I have
developments there and developments here
and other ones in close by in Caborca
and commercial area in Rocky Point.
And I'm going to go now for my fourth
plaza in Guadalajara, in Tonala.
So I have those two lines of the
business to do the commercial and to
do the housing, the towers and condos.
Speaker: Yeah, I have a condo I
bought from you there in Guadalajara.
It's amazing views.
I've really enjoyed being there.
In fact, I need to get back soon.
I've As you were taking a break from
Puerto Penasco, you'd actually banked
a little bit of land out close to Playa
Encanto and let it sit there for the
right time and just a few years ago
you decided, okay, it was a time to
strike and you started up a new project.
Speaker 2: I want to tell you, I
want to tell you a funny story.
I was with the Sonorans.
2004.
The Sonorans didn't have any more land.
So then we were offered
lands left and right.
And then they offered me this
piece of property, which I
think is absolutely great.
It's a little far, but it's great.
It was big and a lot of beach.
So I took him there and I said, I
want to show you a piece of property.
So then I show him around and
they said, this is what it is.
This is the price.
And I said, do you want to buy it?
And they all said right there
and said, no, we don't like it.
It's too far away.
So I even asked permission and said,
do you don't mind if I buy it myself?
And they said, no, go ahead and buy it.
So I did it.
I did it.
Perfect.
And then they said, okay.
And then I bought it.
And 15 years later, we decided to develop.
If I didn't have that piece of
property right now, it's just so
difficult to get a big piece of
property somewhere very well located.
This town is little, but at the same
time, it's so difficult to get a big,
nice piece of property on the right price.
Right.
Yeah.
I'm glad I did what I did.
And it was kind of my reward for
waiting for so long for so many years.
I was at, Oh my God, I would
have, um, But something, well,
like, are we laughing right now?
But no, everything worked out well.
And that's why I love Rocky point.
They give me the opportunity to develop.
And I've been growing with the
time and I had a wonderful team.
I have a very good construction team.
I had a sales team.
I had everything that we've done
around is being working well.
And sometimes we have challenges, but
we always find a way to overcome it.
Speaker: Yeah.
You've got a reputation for finishing
projects and making it happen.
You go out to this piece of property
that you purchased out and play in Canto.
And you've developed it to Incantami
Towers and you're just starting
to deliver your third tower now.
Yeah.
And a lot of success on your sales there.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's been great.
It's, we started in a
very competitive price.
Now we are selling more expensive and
second project is even more expensive.
But it's been a great
opportunity for the buyers too.
Yeah.
The newest one, the best
location and the right price.
It's been a great deal.
Now we're not that cheap anymore.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But we want to give a product that has
the quality of an international project.
Speaker: Everybody who goes out
there talks about the architecture
and the feel of it, and they
absolutely love the project.
And with Encantami Towers, you've started
a second project out there, which is
tied to Encantami Resorts, called Soleil.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Soleil was the second
part, the second three buildings.
We started a little over a year ago.
We have been selling two buildings.
We're very good in sales.
One of them is almost finished
and yeah, that's the continuation.
So we got to always keep going.
If the market is still there, we
have enough land to keep going.
And of course this one is more
expensive, more luxuries and more
amenities, but they come along together
very good because there is more mass,
more things, more people, so you can
perform more things than we can offer.
more restaurants, more amenities,
more things that the people would
need because I want to create a little
city and everybody's in close in the
city and they don't need to come out
to do anything else anywhere else.
And we have the most important ingredient,
which is a wonderful beach, probably
one of the best in town, or if not
the best, it's just an amazing beach.
Speaker: One of the things that I
think is special about in Canterbury
Resorts out there, as I've listened
to you talk about your early days in.
Building a master plan
now for Sandy Beach.
I think the experience must have
brought something forward because this
is really the first cohesive master
plan community we have in Rocky Point
that's beachfront and tourist based.
Where, while you've put
together different phases.
Of the project, the project as a whole
is master plan from an amenity point of
view, from architectural point of view,
and even from the HOA point of view,
and that drives a much larger picture
for homeowners and guests because the
amenity set that can be supported by
your master plan community ends up being
a lot better than just having a single
resort that has to finance amenities.
What made you think of that
or what led to that sort of a
strategy that you put together?
Speaker 2: Well, the size of the land, we
have seen how we developed Sandy Beach.
I mean, Sandy Beach could have been a
way bigger master plan community with
golf courses and things like that.
And for many reasons, and I
mean, you cannot develop what you
want because you need to survive
in the meantime and things.
But I wanted to have a big piece
of property that we can develop
something master community.
The end.
And I'm trying to develop
every single inch of the land.
So we have the first subdivision,
500 meters from the beach.
And we sold that all are almost
99 percent sold, but in a master
community, the people feel confident
that they have access to the beach
and there's not going to be crowded.
So it was a challenge
because we have a mile.
Of depth of the land, but at
the same time, it's all new.
It's all controlled by us.
And we're not the first one.
I want to clarify.
We're not the first
master community in town.
Mayan palace is the first one.
Oh, I, Mayan palace is huge.
And they have invested a lot and
it's a very respectful group.
Yeah.
But we are the condo kingdom there.
Yeah.
So we want to do nine
towers of 25 stories.
Speaker: Yeah.
That's fair.
I didn't think about the
Mayan palace in the same way.
Mayan, they have
Speaker 2: the golf course and.
They have a big, big, big property,
but, but we are the closest to the city
and we paved seven miles to go there.
We brought the water from 10, 12
miles from the city and we brought
the electricity from another 80
or something kilometers first to
Mayan and then from Mayan to us.
And it's been a long run,
but it's all been worth it.
Speaker: And to complicate or to add onto
all the engineering you've done, bringing
in all of these utilities and amenities.
You also decided to build
the tallest building in the
entire state of Sonora with it.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Yeah.
Uh, since we were developing
in Guadalajara, in Guadalajara,
everything is at least 20 stories.
So then we're used to it and
the buildings are spectacular.
And yeah, we are around 25 and probably
the last building is going to be 35.
Oh, wow.
You were not going to replicate the beach,
so we got to use it as much as we can.
Speaker: You've really accented the
height of your properties by having some
pretty cool amenities that are rooftop.
Yeah.
I was just at the rooftop bar yesterday
and the views are just unbelievable.
It's like nothing else.
It's like, it's literally the same views
as I get when I'm flying an airplane.
Speaker 2: And we have the first pools.
On the 25th floor.
So then we have the sky pool
and yeah, that was an idea that
one of our clients gave us.
And he said, everywhere in the
world, there are, you know, these sky
clubs and, and that's what we have.
Was that Charles Corey?
Yes.
Charles was the one and I said, why not?
And it's a great idea.
And it's a spectacular,
believe me, it's a spectacular.
Speaker: Yeah, it seems like it'd
be easy to sell condos if you take
them up there and show them that map.
Yeah, not even in Phoenix you have
a pool in the 20 something floor.
Miguel, I really appreciate you
coming on and sharing your backstory.
I know a lot of people know who you
are, but they don't necessarily know
your story or anything about you.
I appreciate you coming on the
podcast and thank you very much.
Speaker 2: No, thank you, Steve.
And you also have your story.
I hope that you can tell us your story
because many years I have been, you have
been in this town in a different field.
But you've always been
very successful too.
Thank you,
Speaker: Miguel.