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THE FAR PAVILLIONS
Country Life Magazine, UK. January 25, 2007.
From Kuala Lumpur, it is a short hop to the Thai island of Koh Samui, with its uncrowded diving waters and glorious national park – both mercifully untouched by the 2004 tsunami, thanks to the island’s position on the sheltered side of the Gulf of Thailand. IN 2005, a joint venture between globe-trotting British entrepreneurs Neil Helliwell and Stephen Owen (who now lives on Koh Samui) resulted in the formation of Dhevatara Properties, which now boasts a portfolio of bijou villa developments in prime beach-front locations.
Five of six huge villas at Dhevatara Cove, designed by Hong Kong architect David Clarke, have already been sold to UK Buyers with Belgravia or Kensington addresses. Such buyers, Mr Owen says, “are making a lifestyle choice, buying homes they do not need, but wish for.” And, although he foresees great capital appreciation in the future, he would not recommend buying for investment at Dhevatara, as rental returns would be unlikely to cover the cost of servicing a loan.
The remaining 8,500 sq ft, six-bedroom, glass-walled villa has maids’ quarters, a swimming pool and a beach house, and is for sale through Chesterfield (020-7581 5234) at $3.15 million. Another exclusive Dhevatara project, the Residence at Bophut on Samui’s glamorous north shore, has a handful of villas of similar quality and design left for sale, at prices starting from $1.4 million.
It’s “next stop the Seychelles” for the Dhevatara team, who have bought the archipelago’s idyllic Marianne Island, where they plan to create “a plantation resort” along the lines of Richard Branson’s Necker Island.
