Unspoiled Mediterranean island on sale for £25 million
The exclusive club of multi-millionaires still unaffected by the world economic downturn will be offered the rare chance to buy an unspoiled Mediterranean island with sandy beaches and evergreen woodland.
By Bojan Pancevski in Vienna Last Updated: 4:08PM GMT 14 Feb 2009
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Sveti Nikola is just off the Adriatic coast of Montenegro Photo: AFP/GETTY
Sandy beaches and evergreen woodland: Sveti Nikola Photo: AFP/GETTY
The island of Sveti Nikola off the Adriatic coast of Montenegro, a tiny country that broke away from the former Yugoslavia, will be put on auction for a starting price of 28 million euros (£25m).
Local authorities hope the island will be developed to help create a "Monaco of the Adriatic", where the international jet set indulge themselves on luxurious yachts surrounded by sparkling blue sea.
The rare opportunity for the world's wealthiest investors to buy an island comes after the previous owner ran into financial difficulties because of the global economic downturn and his creditors asked him to sell it.
Covered in thick pine forest inhabited by deer and wild goats, as well as rare species of birds and animals, the mile-long island near the port town of Budva is surrounded by steep cliffs plunging into the azure water and carved with picturesque lagoons.
Its three main beaches of fine sand, totalling almost 1,000 yards, earned the island the nickname "Hawaii" among locals. Its proper name, Sveti Nikola (Saint Nicolas), derives from an ancient church next to a cemetery holding the remains of 11th century French crusaders.
The popular sunbathing destination is less than half a mile off the coast from the old town of Budva, whose harbour can be reached by boat in only a few minutes. Despite this position, the island remains largely untouched as it has few commercial facilities other than a tiny marina and a handful of open-air bars.
Its previous owner, Stanko Subotic, a Swiss-based Serbian businessman accused of cigarette smuggling by Serb prosecutors, bought the island in 2007 for a reported 24m euros and planned a grand-scale development.
His plans included a luxury resort with hotels and casinos as part of a 500 million euro project, involving a group of foreign investors and the support of local authorities.
But the ambitious enterprise, based on designs by the leading French architect Jean-Michel Wilmotte, was put on hold with the onset of the global financial crisis.
"The Budva marina will overshadow all the marinas in the Mediterranean," the architect Mr Wilmotte told local press when the project was announced last year. His ambitious design included two marinas for luxury yachts, one on the island and one by Budva's old port, which would be connected by a spectacular bridge extending across the bay.
But the island's owner, Mr Subotic, saw his assets plunge with the fall of the global stock market while he was in credit to the First Bank of Montenegro. The bank is now auctioning off the island on February 16 at its branch office in Budva.
A spokesman for the local council said: "We will have to wait and see whether the new owners will be interested in participating in the development project."
Middle Eastern, Russian, British and other international investors have already expressed interest in the island, although authorities refused to name any companies or individuals before the auction.
The new owner will get most of the island save for a few plots of land at the southern end, which is not suitable for commercial exploitation, and will remain in the possession of local families.
Other premium properties in the Balkan country are being sold in a similar way by banks whose clients, including wealthy Russian tycoons that were the main buyers in past years, are no longer able to return their loans.
One project that was seemingly not affected by the crisis is the 230 million euros Porto Montenegro project, currently under construction, that will convert the Communist-era former naval base of Tivat, near Budva, into a luxury yacht marina.
The mammoth investment, aimed at turning Montenegro into the new Monaco, involves the British financier Lord Rothschild and his son Nat, as well as the Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska.
Peter Munk, a Canadian entrepreneur and friend of the Rothschild family who conceived the project said Monaco was no more developed than Montenegro before it was transformed into a playground of the rich and famous.
"It's going to become the Monaco of the Adriatic, putting this little country on the map for generations to come," Mr Munk, 80, said.
