newport yacht club real estate

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358 Yacht Club Drive

Description

• Virtual Tour

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Motivated Seller! Presenting a magnificent custom built home on Bogue Sound, boasting meticulous maintenance, exceptional quality, & fine attention to detail. This residence artfully combines contemporary style w/rustic charm, creating an inviting & harmonious atmosphere. Enter through the 8' custom solid Sapele front door, flanked by reclaimed ship lap barn wood, radiating warmth. The heart of this home lies in the exquisite kitchen w/a coffered ceiling & a spacious island housing top-of-the-line appliances like a 5-burner Wolf range, wall oven, & warming drawer. Granite countertops & African Mahogany Sapele island top complete this gourmet kitchen. Entertain at the wet bar featuring a Hoshizaki ice machine and an elegant French cabinet, adding elegance. Add a stylish, screened doored butler's pantry w/an additional refrigerator, custom shelving & storage galore and you are ready for company! The laundry room impresses w/granite countertops, a large stainless sink, & built-in cabinetry. A serene sunroom offers picturesque views, reclaimed wood board ceiling, & nostalgic fireplace. Work in comfort in the office with custom shelving and French glass doors. 1st flr primary suite boasts distressed columns, an oversized walk-in closet,& fabulous en-suite bathroom &direct access to the pool. Upstairs, another impressive primary suite awaits w/vaulted white washed ceilings, an ensuite bathroom, walk in custom closet & a walkout covered porch. 2 addl bed spaces...Kid's nook w/ Capt's bed & guest suite provide comfort w/vaulted ceilings & custom baths. Ample storage incl a vast walk-in attic above 3car garage, convertible to another primary suite. Superior quality boasts 4X6 construction vapor barriered crawl space, whole house Kohler generator, & foam insulation for energy efficiency. Step outside to the saltwater pool w/swim lane & swimming deck. The pool's heater & cooler offer year-round enjoyment, complemented by tile surround. 26 ' boat slip incl. Simply the best!

Accessibility

Appliances/equip.

• Stove/Oven - Gas
• Refrigerator
• Bar Refrigerator

Association Amenities

• Boat Slip - Assign
• Maint - Comm Areas
• Maint - Grounds
• Maint - Roads
• Master Insure
• Street Lights

Construction Materials

• Fiber Cement

Door Features

• Thermal Doors

Exterior Features

• Shutters - Functional
• Shutters - Board/Hurricane
• Irrigation System
• Metal/Ornamental

Fireplace Features

• Natural Gas

Interior Features

• Solid Surface
• Whole-Home Generator
• Kitchen Island
• Master Downstairs
• Tray Ceiling(s)
• Vaulted Ceiling(s)
• Ceiling Fan(s)
• Walk-in Shower
• Eat-in Kitchen
• Walk-In Closet(s)

Laundry Features

• Laundry Chute

Listing Terms

• Conventional

Lot Features

• Additional Parking

Patio & Porch

• Security Lighting
• Smoke Detector(s)
• Community Water Available

Waterfront Features

• Deeded Water Access
• Deeded Waterfront
• Water Access Comm
• Water Depth 4+
• Waterfront Comm
• Thermal Windows

Sale price ($)

Down payment (%)

Interest Rate (%)

Term (years)

Alison Jaeger

Contact Info

Contact agent - real estate listing, schedule a showing - real estate.

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Property listed by Coldwell Banker Sea Coast AB

Copyright 2020 ® NCRMLS. All rights reserved. North Carolina Regional Multiple Listing Service, (NCRMLS), provides content displayed here (“provided content”) on an “as is” basis and makes no representations or warranties regarding the provided content, including, but not limited to those of non-infringement, timeliness, accuracy, or completeness. Individuals and companies using information presented are responsible for verification and validation of information they utilize and present to their customers and clients. NCRMLS will not be liable for any damage or loss resulting from use of the provided content or the products available through Portals, IDX, VOW, and/or Syndication. Recipients of this information shall not resell, redistribute, reproduce, modify, or otherwise copy any portion thereof without the expressed written consent of NCRMLS.

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Bogue Sound Yacht Club, Newport NC Real Estate and Homes for Sale

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160 YACHT CLUB DR, NEWPORT, NC 28570

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2,136 Sq Ft

167 YACHT CLUB DR # 45, NEWPORT, NC 28570

358 YACHT CLUB DR, NEWPORT, NC 28570

4,526 Sq Ft

• North Carolina Real Estate
• Newport, NC Real Estate

Total Listings and Average List Price are calculated by RE/MAX, LLC. Data comes from REIN, but the calculation is made by RE/MAX and is not attributed to REIN.

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160 Yacht Club Drive

• STATUS: Active
• ON SITE: 55 Days
• MLS #: 100454077
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Description

Unparallelled property! Spacious, impeccably maintained & updated soundside home w additional conditioned garage in gated Bogue Sound Yacht Club. Includes boat slip/lift #46 (7500 lb) & ramp in protected marina. Nestled on over an acre wooded lot, this 2-story home features freshly painted interior, hardwood & bamboo flooring throughout, a stunning 2-story wall of windows illuminating the living area & a downstairs guest powder room. Kitchen boasts granite counters, stainless appliances, subway tile, pantry, and laundry/work room w ample storage. Downstairs primary suite offers private water closet, double vanity, shower, walk-in closet, and tiled bath. Upstairs: hall bath, 2 bedrooms, bonus room over garage, and floored attic. Both attached double garage & separate 24x40 garage (2021) wired w 220 amp elec. The additional garage is ideal for woodworking, welding, or boat storage incl. 500 lb attic elevator, 10x14 garage door, & 10x12 insulated shed w power roll-down door for yard equipment. Enjoy front porch rocking to wave at your neighbors walking by or private outdoor life w two screened back porches, & spacious deck, recently updated areas have trek decking. Updates New gutters/roof 2021, new septic drain field 11/23, exposed aggregate concrete driveway/walkway/parking 2021, generator switch, natural gas available, low maintenance landscaping w irrigation, hurricane shutters, new ductwork/HVAC downstairs 2020, encapsulated crawl space w dehumidifier & access from garage, whole house water filter, reverse osmosis at kitchen sink, water softener, & a BIG PLUS... X flood zone location. ANOTHER ONE: Award-winning Croatan High school within walking distance. Other HOA amenities include a hog slat community pier with comfortable gazebo for sound side sunrises & sunsets, kayak launch, fish cleaning station, picnic area, & boathouse w ice maker/bathrooms. So convenient! The marina hosts many fun events. Your coastal neighborhood and friendly lifestyle awaits!

• 1 1/2 BATHS
• $372 $/SQFT

School Ratings & Info

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160 Yacht Club Drive Newport, NC 28570

• Price: $795,000
• Status: Active
• On Site: 55 Days
• Updated: 25 min ago

Property Description

Attached Garage Spaces 2.00 Construction Wood Frame Construction Type Stick Built Detached Garage Spaces 4.00 Exterior Features Shutters - Board/HurricaneStorm Doors Exterior Finish Brick VeneerVinyl Siding Exterior Structures Second GarageSee RemarksShed(s)StorageWorkshop Fencing None Foundation Crawl Space Location Type Mainland Lot Description Interior LotLevelWooded Lot Dimensions 162x291x162x287 Lot Water Features Deeded Water AccessDeeded WaterfrontSound SideWater Access CommWaterfront Comm Parking Driveway Additional ParkingAttachedConcreteGarage Door OpenerGarage Faces FrontGarage Faces SideOn SitePavedSee Remarks Porch Balcony Deck CoveredDeckPorchScreenedWrap Around Road Type Frontage MaintainedPaved Roof Shingle Rv Boat Spaces 2.00 Total Carport Spaces 0.00 Waterfront No Waterview No

Appliances Equipment DishwasherDryerHumidifier/DehumidifierMicrowave - Built-InRefrigeratorSee RemarksStove/Oven - ElectricWasherWater Softener Attic FlooredSee RemarksStairs - Pull DownWalk-In Basement None Cooling System Heat Pump Dining Room Type CombinationFormal Fireplace None Flooring BambooTileWood Heated Sq Ft Range 2000 - 2199 Heating System Heat Pump Interior Features 1st Floor MasterBlinds/ShadesCeiling - VaultedGenerator PlugMud RoomPantrySmoke DetectorsSolid SurfaceSprinkler SystemWalk-in ShowerWalk-In ClosetWorkshop Laundry Location Hookup - DryerHookup - WasherRoom Laundry Room Level First Master Bedroom Level First Master Bedroom Location Primary Living Area Number Rooms 7 Rooms Bedroom 1Bedroom 2Bonus RoomDining RoomKitchenLaundryLiving RoomMaster Bedroom Stories Levels Two Water Heater Gas Electric

Accessibility None City Limits No Cobra Zone No Electric Provider Carteret-Craven EMC Fuel Tank None Heating System Fuel Source Electric Hoa And Neighborhood Amenities BarbecueBoat Slip - AssignGatedMaint - Comm AreasMaint - GroundsMaint - RoadsManagementSecurityStreet Lights Hoa YN Yes Home Warranty Termite Termite Bond Horses YN No New Construction No Property Taxes 1709.39 Residential Sub Type Single Family Residence Secondary Subdivision N/A Stipulation Of Sale None Tax Year 2023 Termite Company Modern Exterminating Terms CashConventional Total City Real Estate Property Tax 0.00 Water Provider West Carteret Water Corp Water Sewer Community WaterNatural Gas AvailableSeptic On SiteWater ConnectedWell Water Zoning Residential

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Yacht Club - Newport, NC Real Estate & homes for sale & real estate

Yacht Club - Newport, NC home for sale

Unparallelled property! Spacious, impeccably maintained & updated soundside home w additional conditioned garage in gated Bogue Sound Yacht Club. Includes boat slip/lift #46 (7500 lb) & ramp in protected marina. Nestled on over an acre wooded lot, this 2-story home features freshly painted interior, hardwood & bamboo flooring throughout, a stunning 2-story wall of windows illuminating the living area & a downstairs guest powder room. Kitchen boasts granite counters, stainless appliances, subway tile, pantry, and laundry/work room w ample storage. Downstairs primary suite offers private water closet, double vanity, shower, walk-in closet, and tiled bath. Upstairs: ha

You will not want to miss the opportunity to own this almost half acre sound side lot in the gated community of Bogue Sound Yacht Club. Lot comes with assigned boat slip #8 in the marina and the lot is already partially cleared. This community is central to both Morehead City and Swansboro making it the perfect location! It is also located in the popular Croatan School District. This neighborhood has so much to offer! It has a community marina which has a boat house with large ice machine, fish cleaning station, pier with covered gazebo and amazing views, all at your disposal. Spend your summer fishing, boating in the Sound, traveling the ICW, or exploring Cape Lookout. No flood zone per G

Motivated Seller! Presenting a magnificent custom built home on Bogue Sound, boasting meticulous maintenance, exceptional quality, & fine attention to detail. This residence artfully combines contemporary style w/ rustic charm, creating an inviting & harmonious atmosphere. Enter through the 8' custom solid Sapele front door, flanked by reclaimed ship lap barn wood, radiating warmth. The heart of this home lies in the exquisite kitchen w/ a coffered ceiling & a spacious island housing top-of-the-line appliances like a 5-burner Wolf range, wall oven, & warming drawer. Granite countertops & African Mahogany Sapele island top complete this gourmet kitchen. Entertain

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Yacht Club - Newport Homes for Sale

There are currently 3 homes for sale matching yacht club in Newport at a median listing price of $255K. Some of these homes are "Hot Homes," meaning they're likely to sell quickly. Most homes for sale in Newport stay on the market for 16 days. This map is refreshed with the newest listings matching yacht club in Newport every 15 minutes.

In the past month, 3 homes have been sold in Newport. In addition to houses in Newport, there was also 1 condo, 2 townhouses, and 1 multi-family unit for sale in Newport last month. Find your dream home in Newport using the tools above. Use filters to narrow your search by price, square feet, beds, and baths to find homes that fit your criteria. Our top-rated real estate agents in Newport are local experts and are ready to answer your questions about properties, neighborhoods, schools, and the newest listings for sale in Newport .  Our Newport real estate stats and trends will give you more information about home buying and selling trends in Newport . If you're looking to sell your home in the Newport area, our listing agents can help you get the best price. Redfin is redefining real estate and the home buying process in Newport with industry-leading technology, full-service agents, and lower fees that provide a better value for Redfin buyers and sellers.

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Newport Shores: A Unique Community Located on Lake Washington and Canal Waterfront

“Inside Bellevue”, the Bellevue neighborhood spotlight series, is a unique collaboration between The Brazen’s at Windermere Real Estate/Bellevue Commons and Downtown Bellevue Network. Drawing upon their over 30 years of experience living, working, and selling in Bellevue, the esteemed Brazen family provides an exclusive insider’s perspective on living in Bellevue and the real estate market.

Our exploration takes us into the Bellevue district of Newport Shores , an exceptional community positioned along canal waterfront and the edges of Lake Washington. This family-centric enclave spans across more than 170 acres and accommodates over 340 homes. The streets within this neighborhood provide an ideal setting for biking and strolling. Moreover, its advantageous proximity to downtown Bellevue and Factoria adds to its appeal, just minutes away.

Situated south of I-90 and to the west of I-405, Newport Shores rests along the Lake Washington shoreline. The Lake Washington bike trail, Newcastle Park, Mercer Slough, and the convenient I-405 corridor form a seamless network of accessibility and leisure.

Newport Shores Real Estate by the Numbers

*Data from 8/1/22-7/31/23 (NWMLS)

Newport Shores Neighborhood and Amenities

Newport Shores is a luxurious and unique community located along the southeast shore of Lake Washington in the city of Bellevue, Washington. With more than 340 homes in the neighborhood, 100 of them are located on canal waterfront and Lake Washington.

The suburban neighborhood is primarily made up of medium to large-sized homes, with 3-5 bedrooms, single-family homes. The real estate is noticeably well-maintained.

In the serene enclave of Newport Shores, every homeowner is automatically enrolled as a Resident Member of the prestigious Newport Yacht Club, a cornerstone of the community’s identity and lifestyle. Operating under the umbrella of the Homeowners Association (HOA), this membership entails an annual due of $200, collected in January. However, this level of affiliation doesn’t grant access to the Clubhouse amenities or participation in its activities, unless homeowners upgrade to Active Membership status.

A pivotal shift occurred on January 1, 2005, mandating that all homebuyers within Newport Shores must assume the role of an Active Member in the Newport Yacht Club and maintain this status.

While most Newport Shores homeowners hold the coveted title of Active Resident Members in the Newport Yacht Club, this tier of membership extends beyond the community’s boundaries. Even after relocating, members can retain their status by continuing to pay monthly dues, billed every quarter. This entitles homeowners and their immediate families to the full spectrum of club facilities and activities.

For those who own marina slip licenses, a distinct mandate is in place – becoming an Active Associate Member of the Club is compulsory. This entails an initial fee and recurring monthly dues, also billed quarterly. In addition to access to the Clubhouse amenities, Associate Members are welcomed to engage in all Club activities.

Even home renters within the Newport Shores community can become Active Associate Members under the purview of their landlord agreements, subject to Board approval. Marina slip renters, on the other hand, have the flexibility to opt for Active Associate Membership during their occupancy. 

All membership categories, including Resident, Active Resident, and Active Associate, offer perks such as receiving the monthly newsletter and accessing the dedicated member’s website.

A Glimpse into the Opulent Amenities

One of the standout features of the Newport Shores community is the exclusive Newport Yacht Club. Functioning as a haven of indulgence within the neighborhood, this facility brings together a diverse range of activities, social gatherings, and events designed to cater to members of all age groups.

Among the notable amenities are three regulation-size tennis courts, a half-court basketball court, a children’s playground, a sandy volleyball court, a seasonal heated outdoor pool, and a marina. Additionally, a 1,700 square-foot banquet room stands ready for private rentals, serving both members and non-members alike.

The Newport Yacht Club is home to a vibrant swim team, a member of the Midlakes Swim League encompassing 27 teams from Seattle and the Eastside. While the swim team is open to all Active Members, there are 40 additional spots for Community Members who haven’t achieved Active Membership status yet.

Exploring the Newport Yacht Club Marina

Nestled south of the I-90 Bridge on Lake Washington in Bellevue, the Newport Yacht Club Marina stands as a remarkable feature of the club’s offerings. With a collection of 109 slips ranging from 26 to 50 feet in length, each equipped with 30-amp power and water connections, the marina caters to boat owners’ needs. Approximately 50 slips are available for annual and 6-month lease contracts.

Marina slip renters have the option to gain Active Associate Membership status, allowing them access to a wider range of privileges. By paying Average Price of Home Sold* Average Price Per Sq Ft* Average Days on the Market* Number of Homes Sold in the Last 12 Months Highest Priced Home Sold in the Last 12 Months Lowest Priced Home Sold in the Last 12 Monthsan initiation fee along with active monthly dues, these renters can immerse themselves in the club’s offerings for the duration of their slip occupancy.

Development History of Newport Shores Community

Stepping back to the early 1960s, Newport Shores began to take shape as homes first graced its landscape. This picturesque community exudes a unique charm that blends a rich history with modern amenities.

Central to the allure of Newport Shores are the three tranquil canals that meander through the neighborhood, offering homeowners a sanctuary for their boats.

For the waterfront homeowners, the experience goes beyond the mere aesthetics. Their backyards unfold into lush green lawns and generous entertaining spaces that seamlessly transition to the canals. With secure boat moorage, these residences cater to outdoor and water enthusiasts, fostering a lifestyle that encapsulates indoor and outdoor living.

While the legacy of the 1960s homes endures, the neighborhood has evolved to accommodate modern preferences. Among the eclectic housing mix, new construction waterfront estates have emerged as prominent symbols of luxury, with some commanding prices exceeding $10 million.

The fabric of Newport Shores is tightly woven with a sense of community, a value held dear by its residents. Clean streets, meticulously manicured landscaping, and a palpable pride of ownership contribute to the neighborhood’s warmth and appeal. It’s not just a collection of homes, but a family-friendly environment where community bonds run deep.

Noteworthy Events

The Newport Shores Fourth of July stands out as a significant event, marked by its scale. Local activities encompass a variety of engaging events such as a fun run, a tennis tournament, a pet parade, a pie-baking contest, a chili cook-off, and both live and silent auctions. Another noteworthy occasion is the Commodore’s Ball.

Discover more Bellevue neighborhood spotlights curated by The Brazen’s in our “Inside Bellevue” series .

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Interested in selling your home?

• 4,150 sqft 4,150 square feet
• 0.66 acre lot 0.66 acre lot

Single Family

Property details

Property features.

• Bedrooms: 3

Other rooms

• Attic, Walk-In Closet

Interior Features

• 1st Floor Bedroom
• 8' + Ceilings
• Ceiling Fan(s)
• Central Vacuum
• Dining Room
• Elec Water Heater
• Fireplace(s)
• Handicapped Access
• Home Office
• Hot Tub/Spa
• Security System
• Tray Ceilings
• Window Treatments

Building and Construction

• Heated SqFt Range: 4000 - 4199
• Stories: 1.5
• Composition Shingle Roof

Exterior and Lot Features

• Community Boat Ramp
• Double Pane Windows
• Fenced Yard
• Swimming Pool
• Water Depth (+4)
• Wood Fencing

Garage and Parking

• Double Garage,Garage Door Opener

Heating and Cooling

• Heat Pump Heating

School Information

• Elementary School: Bogue Sound
• Middle School: Broad Creek
• High School: Croatan

Other Property Info

• Subdivision: Bogue Sound Yacht Club
• PIN: 631501271278000

Find out more about this property.

Local Home Services

RealEstimate℠

The following table summarizes the chart by comparing the earliest historic estimate, last year's estimate, and a forecasted projection to this month's current estimate for each valuation provider.

Our home values come from independent valuation providers, whose solutions are used by many financial institutions, insurance companies, and real estate agents. Each valuation provider applies a unique approach and methodology resulting in a range of values that consumers can use as a starting point for discussions with a real estate agent.

Property history

Property price.

Tax History

Neighborhood

Facts about 222 yacht club dr.

Commute time: Add a commute

is located in neighborhood in the city of Newport, NC.

Check out other home values in Yacht Club Dr, Newport, NC.

• $327,000 Median listing price
• $340,990 Median sales price
• 62 Median days on market
• $221 Median price per sqft

Nearby neighborhoods in Newport, NC

• Mandy Farms Median listing: N/A
• Downtown Havelock Median listing: N/A
• Landfall Median listing: $1,325,000
• Masonboro Sound Median listing: $695,180

Nearby home values

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The For-Profit City That Might Come Crashing Down

The dream of Próspera, founded by a U.S. corporation off the coast of Honduras, was to escape government control. The Honduran government wants it gone.

Ricardo González, legal consultant for Honduras Próspera Inc., looking out on the Honduran island of Roatán. Credit... Brian Finke for The New York Times

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By Rachel Corbett

• Aug. 28, 2024

Jorge Colindres, a freshly cologned and shaven lawyer, handed me a hard hat to take the elevator to the 14th floor of what is now the tallest building on the Honduran island of Roatán — nearly twice what the local building code allows. When construction is complete, Duna Residences will house 82 units overlooking a jungle of palm trees, the Caribbean Sea and several other new buildings that the Honduran government considers illegal.

Listen to this article, read by Frankie Corzo

If Próspera were a normal town, Colindres would be considered its mayor; his title here is “technical secretary.” As we looked out over a clearing in the trees in February, he pointed to the small office complex where he works collecting taxes and managing public finances for the city’s 2,000 or so physical residents and e-residents, many of whom have paid a fee for the option of living in Próspera or remotely incorporating a business there. Nearby is a manufacturing plant that is slated to build modular houses along the coast designed by Zaha Hadid Architects. About a mile in the other direction are some of the city’s businesses: a Bitcoin cafe and education center, a genetics clinic, a scuba shop. A delivery service for food and medical supplies will deploy its drones from this rooftop.

There’s not much else to see yet. But the Delaware-based company that founded this experimental town in 2017 has raised $120 million in investments — including from venture-capital funds backed by the Silicon Valley billionaires Peter Thiel, Sam Altman and Marc Andreessen — to transform the territory, about twice the size of Monaco, into the most developed start-up city in the world. Built in a semiautonomous jurisdiction known as a ZEDE (a Spanish acronym for Zone for Employment and Economic Development), Próspera is a private, for-profit city, with its own government that courts foreign investors through low taxes and light regulation. Businesses can choose a regulatory framework from a menu of 36 countries or customize their own.

A California company offers a Montessori education for approximately 60 students. Security is provided by a private firm of armed guards. An arbitration center staffed by three retired Arizona judges handles dispute resolution. (In order to enter the jurisdiction, I was told I needed to sign an “agreement of coexistence” binding myself to 4,202 pages of rules, violations of which would be subject to the jurisdictional authority of the arbitration center.)

Próspera has become particularly well known for the zone’s experimental medical facilities, which run clinical trials unburdened by F.D.A. standards. The week of my visit, Patri Friedman, grandson of the economist Milton Friedman and the founder of a start-up-cities fund that invested in Próspera, had a chip with his Tesla key implanted into his hand. On a previous trip he brushed his teeth with genetically modified bacteria purported to prevent cavities. Another time he was injected with a protein booster intended to make him “stronger and faster,” as he put it at a conference in Roatán that weekend.

“I can tell you when Próspera became most real for me,” Friedman told the audience. “When I sat down to fill out my informed-consent forms that said, like, ‘This agreement is adjudicated under the laws of the Próspera ZEDE; any disputes are arbitrated by the Próspera Arbitration Center.’ Like, you are under a different set of laws.”

There are more than 5,400 of these special economic zones in the world, ranging on a spectrum from free ports for duty-free trading all the way to the special administrative region of Hong Kong. About 1,000 zones have cropped up in just the past decade, including dozens of start-up cities — sometimes called charter cities — most of them in developing nations like Zambia and the Philippines. Some have actually grown into major urban centers, like Shenzhen, which went from a fishing village to one of China’s largest cities, with a G.D.P. of $482 billion, after it was designated a special economic zone in 1980.

Each zone offers a degree of escape from government oversight and taxation, a prospect that has excited libertarian and anarcho-capitalist thinkers at least since Ayn Rand imagined a free-market utopia called Galt’s Gulch in “Atlas Shrugged.” Today, escalating clashes between the government and Big Tech — like the S.E.C.’s regulatory war on crypto, or the Federal Aviation Administration’s repeated investigations into SpaceX — have spurred some Silicon Valley entrepreneurs to seek increasingly splintered-off hubs of sovereignty. And with government dysfunction preventing reforms even in wealthy cities like San Francisco, locked in a decades-long affordable-housing crisis, and New York City, which just lost out on as much as $1 billion when Albany scrapped a 17-years-in-the-making congestion pricing plan that would have funded public transit, it’s not hard to see the appeal of starting from scratch.

In promotional materials, Próspera markets itself to “21st-century pioneers” craving not just laissez-faire policies but also “good times and Caribbean vibes.” Direct flights from Miami and Houston can transport these digital nomads to Roatán in less than three hours. Then, from a chaise longue on the beach, they can register a business with the tap of a button. Although only one residential building has been built so far, a forthcoming eco-condo was during my visit courting buyers seeking “more personal freedom” and less “political drama.” Próspera’s original investment plan projected that by 2030 the city would be home to 38,000 residents, and that foreign direct investment in the country would top $500 million by next year.

But plenty of other people find Próspera’s goal — “building the future of human governance: privately run and for-profit” — unsettling. Critics have described it as a neocolonial state within a state, or an example of corporate monarchy, where yacht-owning C.E.O.s exploit land and labor in a poor country. Keller Easterling, the urbanist and architectural theorist, considers Próspera a city in name only, akin to “say, Mattress City.” Really, she says, the zones are low-tax, deregulated marketplaces.

As we peered over the edge of the tower’s rooftop, I considered the story of a subcontractor who was working at the apartment tower at night two months earlier. The power had gone out, and he walked to the edge of the floor to yell down to his crew to turn on a generator, but took a step too far and fell to his death. If companies choose their own regulatory frameworks, as they do in Próspera, who holds them accountable if they endanger or harm one of their employees?

“Próspera ZEDE has its own set of labor systems,” Colindres said when I asked him about it later. He told me the worker’s family was compensated appropriately — receiving at least as much as was required under Honduran law — but he declined to disclose details. If an independent investigation took place, its findings have not been released to the public. After all, the point of a place like Próspera is that there isn’t really a “public” to speak of.

This lack of transparency is one common criticism of Próspera, and today, it’s unclear whether this experiment can continue. In recent years, vehement opposition from the Honduran government and neighboring communities has imperiled Próspera’s future. Now its fate — and that of the private-cities movement writ large — hangs in the balance of a high-stakes case before an international tribunal.

There are about three dozen charter cities currently operating in the world, according to an estimate from the Adrianople Group, an advisory firm that concentrates on special economic zones. Several others are under development, including the East Solano Plan, run by a real estate corporation that has spent the last seven years buying up $900 million of ranch land in the Bay Area to build a privatized alternative to San Francisco; Praxis, a forthcoming “cryptostate” on the Mediterranean; and the Free Republic of Liberland , a three-square-mile stretch of unclaimed floodplain between Serbia and Croatia. Many of the same ideologically aligned names — Balaji Srinivasan, Peter Thiel, Marc Andreessen, Friedman — recur as financial backers; Patrik Schumacher, principal of Zaha Hadid Architects and a critic of public housing, is behind several of their urban (or metaversal) designs.

Srinivasan, the former Coinbase chief technology officer and now an adviser to Pronomos Capital, Friedman’s fund to build start-up cities, argued in his 2022 book “The Network State” that these new business-friendly hubs would soon compete with nation-states and, one day, replace them. “The Network State” was inspired, he said, by the state of Israel. “That country was started by a book,” he tweeted in 2022, referring to Theodor Herzl’s 1896 manifesto, “The Jewish State.” “You can found a tribe,” Srinivasan said on a podcast. “What I’m really calling for is something like tech Zionism — when a community forms online and then gathers in physical space to form a ‘reverse diaspora.’”

The concept might have stayed on the fringes of libertarian and neoreactionary forums had Paul Romer, who would go on to be the chief economist of the World Bank and win the Nobel Prize, not made charter cities the subject of an influential 2009 TED Talk. He projected a photo of students in an African country doing their homework under streetlights, explaining that their government required the electric company to provide power at such low prices that the company decided not to service the homes in their area at all. When the president tried to reform the system, he went on, consumers and business leaders pushed back, and ultimately, nothing changed. Romer argued that charter cities would give developing countries a chance to prosper by ceding uninhabited territory to wealthier nations to develop.

This ruling country would act as a “guarantor” to the host country and write its own laws and regulations, which would attract private companies to invest and build the cities. In turn, jobs, technology and educational opportunities would pour into the host country, which would share in the revenue, too. Locals would stop leaving for richer countries, migrants would come to the zone, a virtuous cycle would take hold and students wouldn’t need to do their homework in the streets. “The city can be built,” Romer said in his talk. “And we can scale this model. We can go do it over and over again.”

Around the same time that Romer was delivering his TED Talk, Honduran soldiers stormed the home of the country’s left-wing president, Manuel Zelaya. They led him outside at gunpoint, still in his pajamas, and put him on a plane to Costa Rica. Zelaya had been planning to hold a public referendum on reforming the Constitution, which his critics saw as an attempt to illegally extend term limits. Shortly after the coup, the military held another election; it put into office the conservative candidate Porfirio Lobo, who lost the previous contest to Zelaya. Several nations, including the United States, questioned the legitimacy of an election staged by leaders of the coup.

President Lobo’s chief of staff, the Harvard-educated lawyer Octavio Sánchez, saw Romer’s TED Talk and thought it was just what Honduras needed to achieve economic prosperity. Sánchez arranged a meeting in Miami among Romer, Lobo and the president of Congress, Juan Orlando Hernández. Lobo told Romer that to do something as significant as he proposed — to create a zone that would replace Honduran laws with those of a wealthier nation — they’d need to amend the Constitution.

Romer visited Tegucigalpa soon after. Honduras, a country where over half the population lived in poverty and 75,000 people left each year for better opportunities in the United States, was an ideal testing ground for his vision. When Romer returned home, he recorded a follow-up TED Talk titled “The World’s First Charter City?”

A tumultuous three years followed: Romer and the oversight board he helped set up were sidelined, and the Honduran Supreme Court initially rejected the constitutional amendment. But Congress, led by Hernández, dismissed the four opposing judges in what some critics called a “technical coup.” (Hernández, who succeeded Lobo as president of Honduras, continued to have a career marred by corruption and was recently sentenced to 45 years in a United States federal prison for drug trafficking.) In 2013, Honduras amended its constitution to allow for the creation of autonomous zones, following China and the United Arab Emirates.

I met Colindres outside his office on a “Wellness Wednesday.” Catering staff had set out fruit and granola bars on the counter of an open-air cafeteria at the city’s headquarters, a small complex of three interconnected buildings on a manicured tropical lawn. A guard in black combat fatigues with a double-barreled rifle paced near a porch swing. Colindres, who is 31, peeled an orange as he began to tell me about his family’s history in Honduras. One of his grandfathers fought in the Honduran armed forces against communism during the Cold War. Later, his uncle, the president of the chamber of commerce, was taken hostage by Communist guerrillas. Colindres’s hero is the family’s capitalist success story: his great-grandfather Constantino Marinakys, who immigrated from Greece after World War I and built a fortune, in part by opening grocery stores during the country’s banana boom in the early 20th century.

In the late 1800s, Honduras owed immense debt to Britain, and began offering land and financial incentives to attract foreign investment. Eventually, U.S. banana companies, like Cuyamel and United Fruit (now Chiquita), built railroads, port infrastructure and other projects in exchange for land. By the beginning of World War I, O. Henry had named the country the original “banana republic.” The six largest banana companies owned more than a million acres of fertile land on Honduras’s northern coast, and in 1911, one orchestrated a coup to install a puppet government.

Where many see a story about exploitation, Colindres describes one of private-sector productivity. As workers migrated to the coasts to work, the plantations grew into small cities with their own housing, schools, hospitals and stores. “Back then there was very poor infrastructure, and so when the banana companies came everything had to be done,” Colindres said. “No roads, no electricity — all of what we consider public infrastructure in Honduras, it was put in by the private sector.”

Colindres’s political views started hardening as a teenager living through the coup of 2009. He went to law school and came to the conclusion that he’d have to leave Honduras for the United States if he wanted to have a fulfilling career. But then came news that the ZEDE constitutional amendment had passed. Honduran law preserved national authority over a few fields, like criminal law, but granted the zones broad freedom to establish their own courts, fiscal policies and labor and environmental protections.

In 2014, as required by the amendment, Juan Orlando Hernández appointed a group to oversee the ZEDEs. Early members included a granddaughter of the final Austrian emperor and a band of Republicans from the U.S. that included the former Reagan speechwriter Mark Klugmann, the anti-tax activist Grover Norquist, the former Reagan aide Faith Whittlesey, the libertarian economist Mark Skousen and Ronald Reagan’s son Michael Reagan. A couple of years later, Honduran lawmakers heard about an Arizona entrepreneur named Erick Brimen who was lobbying Washington to make creative use of the U.S. Constitution’s Compact Clause to pass a bill establishing low-regulation “prosperity zones.” Brimen was having a hard time implementing his vision in the States, so took the Hondurans up on their offer to develop a zone like the one Romer imagined, but run by a private company rather than by another nation.

Brimen, who grew up in a wealthy family in Venezuela until he moved to the United States at 12, met Gabriel Delgado, a Guatemalan entrepreneur who had already identified a couple of plots of land in Roatán as potential sites. In 2017, they decided to work together, with Brimen acting as chief executive and Delgado heading up fund-raising and real estate development. They secured early investments from Friedman’s Pronomos Capital and an unnamed investor “behind” SpaceX. But their success in establishing the first ZEDE, they said, is due in part to keeping their ideological beliefs quiet. “Instead of saying we are trying to create a libertopia,” Brimen told the libertarian magazine Reason in 2021, “we shifted the conversation away from advancing a political ideology toward, yes, liberty, but as a tool to development.” After a brainstorming session, Brimen came up with a name that might accomplish that: Honduras Próspera, Inc.

When Colindres heard the news that the project had broken ground, he reached out to Brimen, who expressed interest in his 2019 paper “Make Honduras Great: Charter Cities as a Development Program.”

“He said, ‘I also want to make Honduras great,’” Colindres recalled. He promised Brimen his support. “Let me bring all my contacts and all my clients and everybody to join,” he told him. “And then that’s what I did.”

Próspera has now incorporated 222 businesses into the ZEDE, including an outsource staffing agency and scores of experimental medical centers. Minicircle, founded by two young biohackers, offers a product that they say might cure Alzheimer’s and suppress all tumors; Symbiont Labs manufactures implants that turn people into “self-sovereign cyborgs”; the Bay Islands Fitness and Transformation Center offers affordable semaglutide injections; and the Global Alliance for Regenerative Medicine provides stem-cell treatments. (A man sitting next to me on my flight from Roatán showed me severe burns on his arms that he’d come to treat at the clinic.) While I was visiting, a “pop-up city” called Vitalia used a dome it had erected on Próspera’s grounds to host events for biotech innovators who want to “make death optional.”

Much of the activity at Próspera takes place not in the area where the Duna tower stands and Colindres works but a 15-minute drive away at Pristine Bay, a green, gated golf community and beach club. Starting in 2021, Próspera began incorporating parts of the resort into the zone. Down by the tennis courts, I saw Vitalia’s white-tented dome, though organizers did not allow me to attend any of its events. Reason wouldn’t grant me access to a conference it was hosting at the hotel either. So I hung out by the pool, and down the street at AmityAge Academy, an old restaurant that a Slovakian math tutor had turned into a Bitcoin education center and cafe.

That’s where I met Zussel Ramos, at the time AmityAge’s 25-year-old lead educator, next to a bookshelf stocked with Ludwig von Mises’s “Bureaucracy,” Ayn Rand’s “Capitalism” and Jordan Peterson’s “12 Rules for Life .” I bought a coffee — the barista let me pay with “fiat” paper money on a one-time basis — and then Ramos took me on a tour. On the walls downstairs hung a Bitcoin mining machine, a portrait of Guy Fawkes astride a bucking green stallion and a map of Roatán with colored squares of paper marking the dozens of businesses that now accept Bitcoin, largely thanks to Ramos’s door-to-door persistence.

Ramos told me she couldn’t wait to move to Próspera — probably to the Duna tower. Then she’d apply for physical residency, giving her the right to vote for ZEDE leadership — one vote for every square meter of land she owned, under the current rules. For now, very few people actually live full time in the ZEDE, which is a checkerboard of territory across both the island and the mainland. It started out with 58 acres in Roatán, but since a ZEDE’s territory doesn’t need to be contiguous, it has added 385 acres in La Ceiba on the mainland, followed by another 239 acres of Roatán’s Port Royal and then 322 acres of Pristine Bay.

Just how much land the Próspera ZEDE plans to absorb is the source of much of the conflict that now vexes the project. Early promotional images sparked outrage for depicting the north coast of the island dotted with skyscrapers, futuristic houses and yacht-filled ports, rather than the wooden shacks and jungle that exist there now. One image that forecast the growth of Próspera from a village to a town to a city made it look as if the project had “started engulfing the areas around it,” says Ricardo González, a legal consultant for Honduras Próspera Inc. “It was taken literally” by the people who lived in those areas, he says, but it shouldn’t have been. “Everything is voluntary, we cannot just pick up your land and say now it’s part of us.”

But it is also true that the ZEDE law allows the Honduran government to compel landowners to sell to a zone, so long as they are paid fair market value for the property. Brimen insists that Próspera would never take advantage of that provision, because it violates the sanctity of private-property rights, and that the company has self-imposed “the highest possible limitations on this in its charter.” Nevertheless, the provision’s existence set in motion a spectacular series of events as Próspera began incorporating land.

The Duna tower stands next to a fork in the road, with one path leading to the Próspera gate, manned by guards carrying guns and contracts, and the other winding down a dirt path to a small fishing village called Crawfish Rock. Roatán, thanks to its thriving tourism industry, generates more money than many parts of Honduras, but Crawfish Rock — home to a Black, English-speaking community (Roatán is a former British colony) — is an exception. Turquoise and peach houses sag and lean on stilts, their roofs patchworks of corrugated-metal scraps.

According to Vanessa Cárdenas, vice president of Crawfish Rock’s patronato , or community board, it was 2019 when the first Próspera representatives came to the community, informing them of plans to develop a nearby resort. “It’s quite normal for us to have this kind of restricted, gated community popping up,” Cárdenas said. The island is full of them. They also wanted to do community development, they told her, and offered small-business loans to Crawfish Rock residents. But then odd things started to happen, Cárdenas said.

Próspera stationed armed guards on the road. Then Brimen tried to form a new patronato that Cárdenas said was stacked with Próspera employees. (A Próspera representative disputed this.) In 2020, Cárdenas received a voice message from someone in the community that said, “This project is not a normal project.” So she and Luisa Connor, the president of the patronato, began to research Próspera. They learned about the ZEDE law and about the involuntary sale of land. “By no means did they explain to us” what a ZEDE was, Connor says. “They came as a normal resort they were going to build next to the community.” (A Próspera representative disputed this, saying the company held multiple town halls describing the project to residents.)

Distrust spread among members of the community, who felt they had been lied to about Próspera’s intentions. In September 2020, Brimen tried to address the conflict by organizing a meeting in Crawfish Rock. Connor wrote a letter asking him to postpone it, because Covid was spreading rapidly on the island and the hospitals there were full. Brimen, who says he was invited by village elders, held the meeting that evening anyway, accompanied by guards. He stood on a second-story porch reading into a microphone the parts of the ZEDE law pertaining to land expropriation. “That’s when all hell broke loose,” Cárdenas said. People rushed up the steps, some shouting that he should leave, others to let him speak; shoves were exchanged, and Brimen’s MacBook tumbled off the railing. He yelled at people to back up and stop violating his right to social distance. Trucks of police officers arrived.

Brimen later said that, before he was interrupted, he was trying to point out the ways the law restricts, rather than promotes, the forced sale of land. But a video of the encounter circulated throughout Honduran media, and the fear of expropriation became a galvanizing message used by anti-ZEDE groups on the mainland and the other Bay Islands. From that point on, the narrative changed from “ZEDEs are bad because they are violating constitutional rights,” González says, to the more forceful “ZEDEs are bad because they’re going to take your land.”

A national protest movement was born, and prominent politicians turned against the project. In 2021, Xiomara Castro, the wife of the ousted President Zelaya, made repealing the ZEDEs a central promise of her election campaign. The zones became associated with the corruption of Juan Orlando Hernández, the president at the time, whom many Hondurans now revile. Castro won with a clear majority. In 2022, Honduras’s Congress unanimously repealed the law and passed a constitutional reform that would abolish the three existing ZEDEs. “Never again will we carry the stereotype of the banana republic,” Castro declared to the U.N. General Assembly a few months later.

There was one problem, however: Congress, mired in competing legislative priorities, failed to ratify the reform. Furthermore, the original ZEDE law guaranteed the companies 50 years of legal stability — no matter what changes were made after a zone was founded. The net result is that Próspera is in a state of legal limbo.

Delgado seemed bewildered by the staunch opposition to Próspera. How had his dream to enrich Central America become a political piñata? “We’re not crooks,” he told me. “We’re just guys trying to get something good done.” He said he was inspired to help found Próspera after reading Machiavelli’s writings on the impossibility of reforming a system from within. “The idea is that if you go to a place where nothing, nobody has a stake, there’s no entrenched interests, you can make really deep reforms that won’t affect any of the players,” he said. Years of dysfunction and corruption would be replaced by radically simple governance. A free market and political stability would attract top innovators and investors from the West while empowering Latin America’s legions of microentrepreneurs — the guys on the side of the road selling oranges or “a chicken leg in a bag,” Delgado said — to grow real businesses.

Crawfish Rock, home to a Black, English-speaking community. Conflict with Próspera over the ZEDE law sparked a nationwide protest movement.

But in seeking to sidestep politics, Próspera instead ran straight into them. The endemic corruption in Honduras, the sort of thing Próspera was supposed to combat, was also what enabled its creation and has plagued its pursuit of legitimacy. For Hondurans, the prospect of American capitalists promising prosperity may instead resurrect fears of exploitation and dispossession. Despite Próspera’s fantasy of exit, it uses roads, hospitals and ports built by the municipal government, and it shares an economy and ecosystem with its neighbors in Crawfish Rock. The national government that granted its right to exist, meanwhile, may still take it away.

In 2022, the government began stripping Próspera of some of the special privileges it was granted under its predecessors. It halted the company’s tax-exempt customs service, allowing the zone to continue to import goods only if it paid the same duties as the rest of Honduras. Colindres said that the National Banking and Insurance Commission also pressured Honduran banks to shut down accounts of Próspera businesses and bar lenders from financing its projects. Duna Residences, for example, “was going to be financed by one of the biggest banks of Honduras,” Colindres said. But once President Castro came to power, the financing evaporated and the building was delayed. “The third tower would already be under construction if they hadn’t done that.”

At the end of 2022, Honduras Próspera Inc. and its affiliates filed an astronomical $10.775 billion lawsuit against the state in a World Bank tribunal called the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). Próspera is thought to have a good chance of prevailing in part, critics say, because the court is biased toward corporations, which can bring suit against nation-states but cannot be sued by them.

A win for Próspera could demonstrate sufficient legal stability to attract investors and set the precedent for new cities around the world. If it loses, start-up city founders will need to look for new legal strategies. Colindres said that his mission now is to try to persuade the government, “whether this government or the next government,” to stop “harassing” the banks and let them finance Próspera projects. That could be the government of Juan Orlando Hernández’s wife, Ana García de Hernández, who would soon announce her candidacy for the 2025 presidential election.

With building delayed, the view from the Duna tower’s rooftop looked like little more than a construction zone — a patch of dirt littered with piles of two-by-fours and wooden pallets. There were as many sheds as finished buildings. Still, some think Próspera may already be too far along to fail: There is simply too much capital already invested, too many commitments made, to have them torn apart in Tegucigalpa. The government is making “emotional arguments more than anything else,” González told me. “If they had the legal right to do what they’re trying to accomplish, they’d have already done it.”

Read by Frankie Corzo

Narration produced by Tanya Pérez and Krish Seenivasan

Engineered by Anj Vancura

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