WITH crime on the rise and citizen security on the decline, major developers in the Greater Metropolitan Area are continuing full-speed ahead with the neo-feudalistic model that says owning a piece of paradise means living behind gates and armed guards.

Like modern day fiefs equipped with swimming pools and tennis courts, residential communities are dominating housing development to the north of San José in Heredia, and east of the capital in communities such as Curridabat and Tres Ríos.

Developers say now that the popular western suburb of Escazú is over-saturated and has lost its hillside community charm to the neon lights of consumer culture, more home and property seekers – Costa Ricans and foreigners alike – are looking north and east.

REAL estate prices on the east side of town, near the new Multiplaza del Este and Terramall shopping centers, increased in value by 25% last year, compared to prices on the west side of town, which have leveled out after years of growth and more supply than demand, according to Marianela Penorio, sales director of residential development firm Urbanizadora La Laguna, founded in 1967.

As a result, Penorio said, more middle and upper-middle-class buyers are purchasing lots as investments and for future development in La Laguna’s eight planned communities in Curridabat and Tres Ríos.

Lot sizes range from 200 square meters to 10,000 square meters, and sell for an average of $80 to $145 per meter, according to Penorio.

All of the planned communities are landscaped with green areas and recreation areas, equipped with underground electrical wiring and, of course, 24-hour guard service.

LA Laguna’s deluxe Monterán urbanization in Curridabat is complete with playgrounds, pools, tennis courts, a soccer field and a nine-hole, par-three, USGA approved golf course.

Lots range from 2,000 to 10,000 square meters, with prices starting at $90 per square meter.

La Laguna, the only development firm that is part of the national stock exchange, is affiliated with real estate agency Century 21. La Laguna does not, however, sell homes, just lots.

Although La Laguna has a gated community in Escazú and one in Santa Ana, and is starting new development in Heredia, the firm has focused most of its 20 urbanization projects on the east side of San José.

WHEN it comes to development in Heredia, Fomento Urbano, with more than 30 years of experience, is a main player.

It has four residential housing projects in San Joaquín de Flores (Villas Luisiana and Hacienda Las Flores) and San Pablo (Rincon Verde II and Valle Claro). The 900 lots and homes, available in 15 different models and sizes, start at $68,000 and go up to $145,000 for a four bedroom.

In the case of Valle Claro, which sells lots without homes, prices range from $14,000 to $24,000 each.

About half the homes and lots have already been sold, according to Guillermo Bonilla, general manager of Fomento.

Bonilla said his company first made the move to Heredia about five years ago, after selling approximately 40 residential projects on the east side of San José.

He said at first Fomento was “timid” about moving to Heredia, but the market interest in the northern region has already exceeded the company’s expectations.

Heredia is attractive because of its location – about 20 minutes from San José, depending on traffic – and general perceptions that it is safer, cleaner and más tranquilo than the big, stinky city.

FOMENTO sells lots and homes at about the same rate, Bonilla said, adding there are different advantages to purchasing one versus the other.

Advantages of buying a home are fixed cost and ease on the nerves, Bonilla.

One of the main reasons for divorce in Costa Rica is the stress and tension that couples go through when they have to build a home, according to him.

Advantages of buying a lot are: cheaper initial investment, and greater control over the design of the home.

A third option offered by Fomento is to purchase a lot where a home is currently being built, allowing the new owners to make slight modifications to the house-inprogress.

However, Bonilla warned, there is a misconception among many aspiring homeowners that it is cheaper to purchase a lot and then build a home. Construction problems and other hidden costs often make the build-your-own-home alternative just as expensive, if not more, he said.

BONILLA said the model used for gated residential communities has changed during the last 10-15 years to adapt to changing security needs.

For example, he said, a decade ago families looked to buy homes on or close to the main road, so residential communities were built closer to main roads and with more access roads.

But with a rising crime rate, gated communities have now become more closed off to the outside world, with homes built well inside the walls and with access to the community limited to one or two guarded entrances.

Fomento has an interactive Web site (www.fomentourbano.co.cr) that allows users to type into a search engine a specific price, location and home features and see what housing recommendations the program comes up with. For more info, call Fomento’s offices in Sabana Norte, 290-5560.

For more info about La Laguna, visit its bilingual Web site www.urlaguna.com, or call 258-0346.

“IF you build it, they will come,” intoned Kevin Costner in the film Field of Dreams. But in the context of Costa Rica, you can almost hear Jerry Maguire’s Cuba Gooding Jr. crying out, “Show me the money!”

Recent announcements by the Costa Rican government that three long-awaited highway projects might finally get off the ground this year drew a mix of optimism and skepticism from area real-estate experts.

“Project is a big word,” said Ivo Henfling of Go Dutch Realty, part of the American-European Realty consortium.

“The promise is not enough.”

The endeavors in question whose jump starts appear most imminent are the expansion of the 68 kilometers between San José and the western Central Valley city of San Ramón; the construction of a new 30-kilometer highway between San Ramón and Ciudad Quesada in the Northern Zone; and completion of 77 kilometers between San José and the Pacific port of Caldera, via Orotina (TT, Jan. 23, Feb. 6).

The government is presently evaluating a bid for construction of the San Ramón highway. Funding has been acquired for the other two projects.

“POSSIBLY, yes, it is going to increase prices,” said Emilia Piza, president of the Costa Rican Chamber of Real Estate Agents. However, she points out, two of these projects have been on the drawing board for three decades. “We’ll have to see.”

Even though the Caldera highway has been “stewing for awhile,” Les Nunez of RE/MAX First Realty acknowledged there already has been an effect on prices, most notably in the far-western suburb of Ciudad Colón, at the end of the present

.

The government has announced that highway construction will begin in July and be completed from Ciudad Colón to the Pacific coast by the time the President Abel Pacheco leaves office in 2006.

“The last three years were the first wave, and much of the land has been spoken for already,” Nunez explained, referring to the 2001 building of three bridges being connected by the new highway. He adds that speculators started moving in about five years ago.

SOME of the land remains in coffee growers’ hands, according to Nunez. They’re waiting to sell when the price is right, he said, calling it a phenomenon of “highest and best use.”

Nunez said land near Ciudad Colón now sells for $25-40 per square meter that sold for $8-10 per square meter three to four years ago.

Land in the city’s Barrio Trinidad is now advertised for $65 per square meter, he said, and some land in the vicinity is being advertised as high as $140 per square meter.

Nunez projected a 10-18% price increase in coming years in Ciudad Colón and nearby Atenas, situated between the Caldera highway and the San José-San Ramón road.

The prospect of easing the commute into San José and out to the beach – once complete, travel time to the coast is expected to take an hour – will be a strong selling point in real estate listings for both communities.

HENFLING remains cautious, however. “Everybody talks and raises prices. But does anyone want to buy?” Henfling explained that the market has responded this way before in response to highway project announcements. Once people realized construction was not going to proceed, land values dropped again.

“It’s a gamble, just like going into the casino,” he said.

Another area poised to benefit from the coastal highway construction is the Central Pacific beach community of Jacó.

Henfling said development there will be more likely to occur in response to ventures funded by the private sector than announcements by the government of impending projects.

Real estate took off in Jacó with the construction of the Los Sueños Marriott hotel-marina-condominium-golf course complex, he said. An outside private initiative always instills more confidence in Costa Rica than a government announcement, he added.

Still, Henfling admits that this time, the road construction projects look more certain than they have in the start-and-stop days of the past.

 THE fifth annual ExpoConstrucción –the country’s largest construction and home furnishings fair – will take place next week at the Herradura Hotel and Convention Center, northwest of San José along the highway to JuanSantamaríaInternationalAirport.

The event, set for March 3-7, will fill up the Herradura’s 2,500-square-meter convention center with stands from more than 200 local and foreign companies representing all facets of construction and remodeling for homes, offices and industries.

ExpoConstrucción kicks off Wednesday night with a gala inauguration. Stands will officially open Thursday at noon and remain open until 10 p.m. Those same hours will apply to Friday. The fair will be open longer on the weekend – from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Saturday and from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Sunday.

THE event’s stands will focus on three main areas – construction (machinery, technology providers, materials and construction implements and building in general), home furnishings (floors, walls, ceilings, bathroom and kitchen accessories, water heaters, illumination, and locks) and real estate (real-estate developers, projects, financing and mortgaging options for properties).

Serious house hunters and home-repair enthusiasts may want to arrive at the event early because they are bound to run into crowds. Last year’s ExpoConstrucción drew approximately 15,000 visitors.

The Costa Rican Construction Chamber and the Inter-American Construction Industry Federation, the event’s organizers, expect attendance to surpass that this year.

“Each year there are more companies. This year, we’re fully booked – even the smallest corners of the convention center have been rented to participating companies,” said Mónica Múñoz, of Congrex-Costa Rica, the firm in charge of coordinating the event.

A wide range of free educational conferences on issues related to the construction sector will be offered to guests. Conferences will include “characteristics, techniques and correct uses of low-voltage cables”, “organic preservation of wood,” “houses and housing developments,” “floral decorations for different environments,” “property maintenance and subcontracting,” “Costa Rica’s seismic code,” and “accessible credit for housing.”

As a special bonus, George Hedley – the legendary construction entrepreneur who, armed only with a college degree, $500 and a used orange Datsun pickup truck, was able to build a $50 million company in just seven years – will give a two-part seminar on managing a successful and profitable firm.

The March 4 seminar will be divided into two parts – “how to understand financial management in a simple manner” and “how to make your business generate profits always.” The cost of attending one conference is $150, $270 for both.

Reservations are required. Entrance to the fair cost ¢1,000 ($2.35) per person. For info, see www.construccion.co.cr or call 204-7204.

THE real estate market in the Central Valley is looking stronger than it has in years, according to industry representatives. Any trace of a post-Sept. 11 slowdown has all but disappeared in the area, say real estate brokers, and prices continue rising steadily.

“Things are certainly on the upswing again, based on the last quarter of last year,” said Les Nunez, president of RE/MAX First Realty in San José. “Things are starting to take off again. We certainly have a lot more foreigners coming back into the country.”

One indicator of the increased foreign interest in real estate is participation in the Association of Residents of Costa Rica. Real estate seminars held by the organization last year had an attendance of about 30 people, but last week’s session drew 65, Nunez said.

The population of foreign residents is not only increasing in number, but also decreasing in age.

“EIGHT years ago the market was all retirees, but now we have some of the people who made it in the dot coms, and others who have just made some money and decided to cut out of the States early,” he said. “So now you find a lot of people in their 40s or younger. Some still work on projects for their employers up north, in technology or graphics. So it is a far more flexible crowd.”

Finding anything under $100,000 in the neighborhoods where most foreigners want to live is becoming increasingly difficult, particularly in gated communities, said Nunez, whose company works predominantly with foreign buyers.

Real estate appraiser Angela Jiménez says prices are rising faster than they should be in some areas of San José. But Emilia Piza, head of the Costa Rican Chamber of Real Estate Agents, said she believes home prices in the Central Valley are headed toward a period of stability.

THE price of a 190-square-meter (2,045-square-foot) condominium in a gated community with two bedrooms and two bathrooms varies greatly in price from area to area, according to Nunez.

The asking price in Escazú, an upscale neighborhood west of San José, would average about $200,000, he said. The same condo in San Pedro, on the east side of San José, would be about $150,000 or more, while in Heredia, the provincial capital located at the north end of the Central Valley, the price would probably range between $90,000-120,000 and Alajuela, northwest of San José, would be about $10,000 less than Heredia.

Escazú is and has been by far the most expensive and popular place to live for citizens from the United States. Construction of new condominiums in Escazú and Santa Ana, farther west, has been booming, Jiménez said.

She said she is worried about the effects so much development will have.

“I can tell you that in Escazú something is going to happen in the short term with so many condominiums being built. I don’t think the services are being taken into consideration – traffic, water, municipal services…” she said.

PRICES in Escazú are generally 50% higher than elsewhere, Jiménez said. For example, $100,000 can buy a 150-squaremeter (1,600-square-foot) home on a 300-square-meter (3,230-square-foot) lot in Sabanilla, Heredia, Ciudad Colón and Alajuela, but in Escazú a similar property sells for about $150,000.

A 200-square-meter (2,150-squarefoot) home on a 500-square-meter (5,380-square-foot) lot would cost $200,000 in the other neighborhoods and $300,000 in Escazú.

Piza said that in her experience, European investors often prefer less warm temperatures than those in Escazú, and turn to other areas.

Communities east of San José, such as San Pedro, San Bonilla and Tres Ríos, also are becoming increasingly popular, according to Nunez.

IN Lomas de Ayarco, east of San José and south of San Pedro, a wide range of homes can be found. For example, a look at recent real estate postings at www.therealestate.net reveals a 93-square-meter (1,000-square-foot) house with two bedrooms and two bathrooms in a gated community of Lomas de Ayarco costs $55,000.

A 232-square-meter (2,500-squarefoot) two-story condominium with three bedrooms and two and a half baths in the same area costs $160,000.

And $450,000 will buy a 418-squaremeter (4,500-square-foot) home on a 1,278-square-meter (one-third acre) property with three bedrooms, two baths, maid’s quarters, office and swimming pool with a guesthouse in north Lomas de Ayarco.

“IT is difficult to give a price per square meter, even in general, because it depends on so many things, not just the neighborhood, but the street, the house next door…” Piza said.

Whether the home is on flat terrain or a hill can also make a difference. When it comes to paying for land, the more you buy the cheaper it is, Jiménez points out. For example, in the hills of Escazú, one could expect to pay $50 per square meter for a piece of land with a view measuring more than 5,000 square meters. But a property that is more than 9,000 square meters would be priced closer to $25 per square meter.

The cost of homes in Costa Rica varies widely not only because of the land, but because of the wide range in price and quality of materials used, Jiménez said.

“And the cost of some materials depends greatly on the international market because they must be imported,” she said.

WHILE Costa Rican real estate does not have the same dramatic swings that it can have in the United States, few agents are ready to speculate on the future.

“It could get better, it could get worse,” Piza said. “It depends on the stability of the country and even more what happens with globalization, which will have an enormous impact.”

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina – Though the economy finally is picking up after the worst financial crisis in Argentina’s history, fear is widespread that this country’s middle class will never recover, and that its working class will continue disintegrating into a mass of desperate poor.

Workers wonder if they will ever again see the jobs with steady hours, decent wages and solid benefits that made Argentina the economic pearl of Latin America.

Their doubt gnaws at this once-proud country, creating a collective wariness as potentially profound as the fallout in dollars and cents.

“THE anarchy of two years ago has subsided,” said Augusto Salvia, a sociologist at the Catholic University of Buenos Aires, referring to the riots and demonstrations that rocked Argentina after the crash. “But among the unemployed and underemployed, there is still widespread pessimism about the future.”

Thanks to decades of economic prosperity and social mobility, more than two-thirds of Argentina’s work force was middle class by the 1990s – a stunning contrast to most of Latin America, which is divided into a wealthy few and a poor majority.

BUT after years of free-market policies and government mismanagement, the economy took a nosedive in late 2001 and early 2002. The country defaulted on billions of dollars in loans, the peso plummeted by 70% and half of those employed ost their jobs.

Despite 8% economic growth last year, half the country lives below the poverty line, and more than a third of the  labor force remains unemployed or underemployed. Of 1.5 million jobs created since the crash, Salvia said only about 300,000 are full time with formal contracts; 800,000 are part-time, government- sponsored work-for-welfare posts.

“ARGENTINAis still almost at rock bottom,” said Alan Cibils, a Buenos Aires-based economist who works with the Center for Economic and Policy Research of Washington, D.C. The jury is still out, Cibils said, on “whether the country will return to a Third World economy.”

ROME – Italy is a country, let us not forget, where the prime minister recently took a month off, shelving economic crises and regional political demands, to have a face lift.

So it would seem a natural fit that Italian TV viewers be treated to a weekly “reality” show on plastic surgery, with contestants who are given nose jobs, tummy tucks and breast lifts in fullfrontal detail. But the show, “Scalpel: No One Is Perfect” – an over-the-top version of the U.S.’s already over-the-top “Extreme Makeover” – seems to be a bit too much for many here, even for an audience accustomed to rather risque TV fare, full of buxom blondes and silly game shows.

FROM the medical community to the Roman Catholic Church, groups have raised their voices in protest over what they call an exploitative misrepresentation of surgical complexities made to look simple. Participants are demeaned, and aesthetic alteration is portrayed as a panacea, the critics charge.

Nonsense, say the show’s makers, who argue that they are helping people who could not otherwise afford cosmetic surgery.

“Scalpel” premiered last month on a network owned, appropriately enough, by Berlusconi, part of the vast media empire that has made the prime minister one of the richest men on the planet.

The show goes more or less like this: Platinette, Italy’s most famous drag queen, is one of the two hosts. Outfitted  in a platinum bouffant wig and a tomatored caftan over his very ample frame, he saunters onstage and extols the virtues of beauty, both external and internal.

His improbable co-host is Irene Pivetti, former speaker of the lower house of Parliament and a onetime conservative paragon of traditional Catholic values. Pivetti left politics a few years ago and became a regular on TV talk shows.

PIVETTI appears with spiky, closecropped hair, huge spangly earrings and tight-fitting black spandex. Each hour-long program features seven or eight cases, culled from “thousands” who responded to ads last summer calling for anyone interested in free physical improvement.

But a leading association of plastic surgeons said it was horrified that serious medical procedures such as liposuction were being made to look like something you can do at the beauty parlor, right along with a pedicure.

The show promotes unnecessary operations and creates unrealistic hopes, said the 800-member Italian Society of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery in a statement.

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil– Millions of exuberant revelers poured onto the streets of Brazil on Monday as the country’s biggest block party, the annual bacchanal known as Carnaval, kicked into high gear amid marching bands, men dressed as brides and a kerfuffle over sex on parade.

From Salvador in the northeast to this famous beachside city in the south, Brazilians took advantage of a national holiday Monday to press on with celebrations that began over the weekend and that will stretch through most of Wednesday, when the Christian period of Lent begins.

HERE in Rio, all eyes are riveted on the lavish late-night parades in the specially designed Sambodrome stadium, where top samba clubs display spectacular floats and dancers wearing elaborate costumes – or hardly anything at all – in a competition for Carnaval’s coveted championship.

The talk of the town has been the entry by the Grande Rio club, whose effort to put the carnal in Carnaval has provoked the wrath of the Roman Catholic Church. The club’s theme, “Let’s put on a condom, my love,” celebrates the joys of safe sex and has earned the unusual approval of the United Nations’ AIDS organization.

But the archbishop of Rio declared his outrage over two floats with huge figures depicting couples practicing techniques in the Kama Sutra and Adam and Eve doing what, according to the Bible, gave rise to the rest of humankind.

THE archdiocese called the figures “indecent images” that would “disturb the peace” of Carnaval, which features nearly naked men and women gyrating to the deafening sounds of samba music.

The controversy highlighted the contradictions that reign in Brazil during Carnaval – and during the rest of the year. Bowing to the church’s objections in this predominantly Catholic nation, state officials ordered Grande Rio to cover up the offending sculptures.

Yet, the federal health ministry launched a condom giveaway campaign during Carnaval, and many Brazilians were left wondering what the fuss was about, especially here in a city that prides itself on its reputation for skin and sin.

Grande Rio’s artistic director, Joaosinho Trinta, dismissed accusations of lewdness.

VATICAN CITY – A draft report released Monday by scientists commissioned by the Vatican harshly criticized as potentially dangerous the U.S. Catholic Church’s policy of removing priests from the ministry for committing one act of child abuse.

The report, the result of a conference held here last April that featured eight non-Catholic experts, recommended that the so-called zero tolerance policy be reconsidered.

A Canadian expert, William Marshall, described zero tolerance as an “abdication of responsibility” that could discourage offending clerics from seeking treatment.

Moreover, he wrote, “Such a policy is certain to have disastrous consequences, including the clergy sex offender committing suicide or re-offending.

“All offending clerics should be offered treatment and then reintegrated as much as possible into the normal aspects of life.”

Zero tolerance “does not function to prevent these crimes,” Hans-Ludwig Kroeber, director of Berlin’s Institute of Forensic Psychiatry, told the symposium.

“It is better to domesticate the dragon. If all you do is cut off its head, it will grow another.”

The 220-page report, called “Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church: Scientific and Legal Perspectives,” said that public opinion had put the church under pressure to move with “destructive severity.”

“ALTHOUGH until now the phenomenon of abuse was not always taken seriously enough, at present there is a tendency to overreact and rob accused priests of even legitimate support,” the report says.

A Vatican spokesman said the findings might provide a basis for future policy. It will be published next month and distributed within the church hierarchy and to bishops around the world.

“It will be taken into consideration,” said Ciro Benedettini, a Vatican spokesman.