Ocean Home magazine is for people who love the luxury oceanfront lifestyle, from home design and decor to world-class beach resorts, villas, hotels, and destinations.
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SHELTER | THE LIFE Back to the Beach While the California coast and Idaho mountains appealed to real estate developer Jack Marshall, it was Curaçao that succeeded in stealing his heart. It’s a long way from Oregon’s McKenzie River, where he enjoyed fly fishing and water sports as a child, but Jack Mar- shall considers Curaçao his home just as much as the Pacific Northwest. That says a lot, considering that Marshall, presi- dent of the real estate development and consulting company VIDA Group, has owned homes in several stunning loca- tions. “I buy a property almost every place I go [for a devel- opment deal],” he says. Those deals have included Elkhorn in Sun Valley, Idaho, the Pebble Beach Lodge and Spanish Bay Resort in California, and Beaver Creek, Colorado. When Marshall was approached to oversee the creation of the Santa Barbara Plantation on Curaçao, “My wife and I just fell in love,” he says. The people and the natural beauty made a big impact on the couple, and another purchase was imminent. The Santa Barbara Plantation is a planned 1,500-acre re- 34 oceanhomemag.com july + august 2010 sort community that includes a Pete Dye- designed golf course and a Hyatt Regency hotel and spa. Residential offerings range from three-bedroom houses with guest cottages to custom homes. Marshall’s home is tucked in the Seru Boca section, which overlooks Spanish Water Bay and the Caribbean. He enlisted the help of noted California-based designer Richard Elmore, who he says “took my ideas and rendered them.” With 5,500 square feet of air-conditioned space and about the same in covered outdoor areas, it has a “very Mediterranean” feel, featuring tile roofing and a central open courtyard with a fountain. Inside, it’s “eclectic,” with terra cotta floor tiles from Columbia, shutters and doors from Java, teak furnishings from Bali, and carpets from Turkey. “I spend a lot of time in the covered part of the courtyard water world Jack Marshall, top right, and his Curaçao home. and what I call the ‘outdoor living room,’” Marshall says. That “room” has a gravitational pull. Despite a pianist performing in the central courtyard during a recent party for about 100 Hyatt Regency and government officials, “People migrated to the open covered living area,” Marshall recalls with a laugh. “The pianist was playing away with nobody there!” —Diane M. Byrne