CRICKET is not just a national obsession in St Lucia, one of the prettiest and least developed of the Windward Islands, it is also creating a great investment opportunity — if you have about a million dollars to spare, that is.

Before the 2007 Cricket World Cup, which is being held in seven countries in the West Indies, including St Lucia, the Government of this former British territory is offering a 20-year “tax holiday” on new hotels and apartments. This means that properties are cheaper to buy (because developers are not having to pay taxes on building materials) and that investors can avoid the country’s tax on rental income (normally 30 per cent). Combine this with the strength of sterling against the US dollar — to which the local currency, the Eastern Caribbean dollar, is tied — and it is easy to understand why many Caribbean estate agents are singing St Lucia’s praises .

Cecile Wiltshire, of Terra Online Real Estate, based on the island, says that properties cost 40 per cent less than on Barbados and that prices are increasing by between 6 per cent and 15 per cent a year: “Barbados is oversubscribed. Prices have gone through the roof. If you want value, St Lucia’s the place to be.”

Cap Maison, on the northwest coast of the island in the grounds of a former sugar plantation, is an ambitious new apartment hotel. When it is finished in early 2007 it will offer investors a choice of 19 apartments, priced from $750,000 to $1.4 million. Owners will be able to use their apartment either for up to eight weeks a year (four in low season and four in high season) or up to nine weeks (six weeks in low season and three in high season). The rest of the year the apartments, which can be divided into about 50 hotel rooms, will form a five-star hotel, complete with a seafood restaurant, a small cliff-face bar and a spa. Owners will take a 50 per cent share of rental income each year — the developers expect that owners will get a minimum return of 5 per cent in the first year of the hotel opening — and the apartments are on a 99-year lease.

Cap Maison is the creation of Theo and Helen Gobat, a British couple who have been running hotels in the Caribbean since the 1970s, and it is one of several new hotel developments being built before the Cricket World Cup. The Gobats aim to make Cap Maison — their first foray into residential tourism — the island’s “most desirable address”. They have brought in Lane Pettigrew, one of the Caribbean’s best-known architects (he designed the Jalouise Hilton, St Lucia’s top five-star hotel, and Le Sport, next door to Cap Maison), and apartments are between 2,500 sq ft and 3,200 sq ft.

Of the day-to-day management, Theo Gobat says: “We’re trying to keep it simple.” Owners will not have to pay any service or maintenance charges and, if they spend £1,000 to set up a local corporation and make their purchase through it, the “vendor tax” falls from the 10 per cent paid by private overseas investors to 0.5 per cent — but only if this is the company’s only asset. Hurricane insurance and an engineers’ report (similar to a surveyor’s report) are included in the price. Two units, he says, have already been sold: “The tax incentives are great. They’ve really spurred us on — work is starting in September and it’ll all be ready by February 2007.”

Gobat, 66, describes Cap Maison as his “swan song . . . so I want to get it completely right”. It has a stunning location on a clifftop facing Martinique, which is 20-odd miles away and visible on a clear day. Pretty tropical plants abound and steps lead down to a secluded sandy beach at Smugglers’ Cove, which is a two-minute walk away. Frigate birds swoop above on thermals; hummingbirds whiz past; waves crash on the rocks below. Everything is just how you feel the Caribbean should be.

St Lucia has a population of 156,000 but attracts 250,000 visitors a year. For buyers looking for good returns, the arrival of cricket fans hoping to catch a glimpse of Michael Vaughan should create a healthy demand for the hotel: St Lucia will be the base for the England team in 2007. Members of the “Barmy Army” with money to burn will be able to book accommodation at Cap Maison, where hotel room rates are likely to be well over $400 a night. Eighteen per cent taxes and charges are added on top.

The north of the island, around Rodney Bay, a five-minute drive from Cap Maison, is the most highly regarded residential area — and the bay has lots of restaurants and nightlife. St Lucia’s central region is too mountainous to develop, and much of it is a national park, with some of the best preserved rainforest in the Caribbean; the conservationist Gerald Durrell described the forest as a shining example of how the region should be protected. The capital, with 60,000 residents, is Castries, midway up the west coast. Unfortunately the international airport is on the southern tip, which means a 90-minute drive to Cap Maison, or a 15-minute helicopter flight (about $90 each way).

Cap Maison’s cliff-top location may not find favour with parents of young children or with those who want to be permanent residents. But its investment potential — with the Cricket World Cup factor — looks strong. And local politicians are wary of overdoing it. “We are different from Barbados: we won’t go crazy. We have seen how other islands have developed, but we are going to protect our environment,” said Dr Kenny Anthony, St Lucia’s Prime Minister. “The Cricket World Cup is big news for us — things are happening here. Yes, great news . . . and let’s just hope the West Indies win.”

Cap Maison 0870 4431662, www.capmaison.com; Terra Online Real Estate www.terrastlucia.com

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