THE last time anyone got excited about the 30,000 rocky acres surrounding Juanillo Beach was 90 years ago. Then, with French sugarbeet fields having been destroyed in the First World War, a global sugar shortage had sent prices soaring. In the Dominican Republic, entrepreneurs with deep pockets acquired any scrap of land that might be used for cane.

As it happened, the former mahogany forest near Juanillo – three miles of arrestingly white sand, laced with stunted palms – was not up to the job. Cultivation was impossible; jungle spread across the site and squatters moved in.

Sold and sold again, it had been relaunched as a luxury holiday destination. A beach club had been erected, and some villas and apartments knocked up. The ambitious developers – a consortium owned by the Hazoury family – had visions of creating the “world’s next great destination”.

Then, last year, Ivanka Trump came, fell in love with this corner of the Caribbean and convinced her father Donald to sign up.

In the excitement that followed, plans were drawn for a $2 billion (£1 billion) cliff-top estate, featuring a Trump Tower, golf courses and villas. Donald Trump’s endorsement confirmed that Cap Cana had arrived. Deals with Spanish giants Altabella and Sotogrande were signed and Ritz-Carlton was next in line with plans for a hotel and luxury homes complex. When 68 sites, on which buyers can build a villa within Trump guidelines, went on sale in the US this year 95 per cent sold within half a day, raising $350 million.

The Dominican Republic takes up the bulk of the vast island of Hispaniola, and attracts the most visitors of any country in the Caribbean. But its reputation trails behind more esteemed locations such as Barbados. Worse still, despite its historic appeal (Columbus embarked for the Americas from its shores) visitors – and their money – have remained within the walls of all-inclusive resorts.

But Cap Cana, on the easternmost tip of the island, is ripe for conversion to a playground for jetsetters. Admittedly, the template had already been set by existing developments: the exclusive 15,000-acre Punta Cana private resort next door, on which Oscar de la Renta has collaborated, and 7,000-acre Casa de Campo farther east. These have attracted visitors such as Bill Clinton and Michael Jackson. Both offer an ever-expanding menu of real-estate opportunities, outdoor space and luxury activities.

Hype about the first, secluded residences at Cap Cana – palm-thatched villas, a stunning Jack Nicklaus signature golf course – has attracted such visitors as Beyoncé and Ricky Martin. Other names are rumoured, but the Cap Cana staff remain characteristically discreet. But, with plans for the building of 10,000 units across hotels, apartments and villas, the developers realise that they will need to attract less rarified clients: the West’s wealthy baby-boomers.

These are the kind of people, says George Spence, a vice-president of one of the leisure businesses, that “are getting to the stage where they have accumulated household wealth and are ready to experience a better quality of life for a few months of the year”.

Dorthe Tate, of Hampstead, North London, is too youthful to be a baby-boomer, but is an enthusiastic Cap Cana pioneer. Mrs Tate and her banker husband Truett bought a Cap Cana villa two years ago for $2 million. On the strength of investment returns – a similar villa sold three months ago for $3.5 million – the Tates have since snapped up a marina apartment and a penthouse. Despite the lengthy flight from London, the Tates bring their two-year-son and seven-year-old daughter five times a year.

Around them, the vast resort is taking shape. The parts of the 20-year master-plan that have been made public – that is, just half – feature more than 50 zones. Green Village, an estate of bungalows (priced from $480,000), is half built and a swarm of Haitan labourers are painting, tiling and planting at the sprawling Altabella Sanctuary hotel, a five-star golf and spa resort, which is due to open within weeks.

For the Tates, seeing this village become a town is part of the appeal. The nearest supermarket is more than a hour’s drive away: “You go to a guy ten miles down a bumpy road. That adds to the sense that you are very far away. In 20 years, when this is totally developed, we will be gone.”

FACTFILE

The Global Property Guide says that prime beachside property in the Dominican Republic sells at an average of £1,000 a square metre, compared with £5,200 in Barbados.

Property prices at Cap Cana have risen 20 per cent in a year.

The Government has granted a ten-year exemption from any property taxes to the first buyer of each Cap Cana property.

Details: capcana.com ; puntacana.com ; savills.co.uk/abroad

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