Beach lover Leo in “The Beach”, 2000
Leonardo DiCaprio bought a private 104-acre Belizean island, in 2005 for $1.75 million, and now plans to build a luxury eco-resort there. The 40-year-old actor is launching the project that will transform a small island off the coast of Belize into an eco-resort and conservation area. According to the New York Times, DiCaprio, along with a partner Paul Scialla, the chief executive of New York development firm Delos, to create the eco-conscious resort, with plans to open in 2018. DiCaprio told the New York Times of his visit to the island in 2005:
“It was like heaven on earth…. and almost immediately, I found this opportunity to purchase an island there.”
The ambitious project, called Blackadore Caye, a Restorative Island, will include sprawling villas, infinity pools and beautiful views. But not only will the island revitalize its visitors, but also help restore the land itself, as it has endured deterioration from over-fishing, deforestation and an eroding coastline. DiCaprio and his partners plan to rehabilitate the ecosystem of the area. Renderings of the project show an arc-shaped platform with villas over the water with artificial reefs and fish shelters underneath. Other features will include a nursery that will grow indigenous marine grass to support a manatee conservation area and mangrove trees replanted to replace invasive species. DiCaprio says:
“The main focus is to do something that will change the world. I couldn’t have gone to Belize and built on an island and done something like this, if it weren’t for the idea that it could be groundbreaking in the environmental movement.”
He’s to be commended for his environmental work but I’ll bet hot models are going to be suddenly VERY eco-conscious come 2018. Way to go, Leo.
Leo sunbathing on a yacht in the South of France last summer.
(Yacht photo, Pacific Coast News; via Daily Mail)
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