Formula One world champ Jenson Button has already bought one of 25 villas in a Moroccan resort targeted at wealthy tax exiles launched last week by Monaco’s Prince Albert
WEALTHY English and Irish tax exiles living in Monaco – like Michael Smurfit and Michael Flatley – are among those being targeted to buy villas costing from €2 million to €7 million in a luxury resort being built by a Monte Carlo company in Morocco.
Formula One world champion Jenson Button and one of the world’s highest paid bankers, Barclay’s Bob Diamond, have already reserved villas on the 35-acre Jawhar Estate, a development being built near the Menara Gardens in Marrakesh.
Prince Albert of Monaco launched the scheme, the first to be built outside Monaco by resort operator Monte Carlo SBM – mainly owned by the government of Monaco – last week.
It hopes to sell the 25 villas, which come with media rooms, private cinemas and swimming pools, to wealthy English, Irish and other Europeans living in Monaco for tax reasons as well as to wealthy people in the Gulf states.
Monaco, the second smallest state in Europe, wants to expand and build resorts outside its boundaries in partnership with developers in other countries with tax regimes favourable to the wealthy.
People buying villas in Jawhar – described as a slice of Monte Carlo in Marrakesh – will not have to pay rental tax for the first five years, there is no inheritance tax, and after 10 years’ ownership, no capital gains tax. (Obviously these are of more benefit to Monaco tax residents than to Irish residents, who would have to pay these taxes at home.) The properties can be bought freehold.
The Jawhar Estate, scheduled to open in late 2011, will comprise the 25 villas, a 93-suite five-star hotel, restaurant and a wellness centre and spa. The villas range in size from 500sq m (5,382sq ft) on large landscaped grounds to 900sq m (9,688sq ft).
Like Monaco, Marrakesh has long been popular with celebrities, from Samuel Pepys to Yves St Laurent to Kate Moss and Thierry Henry. Developers Aerium Atlas Management and Monte Carlo SBM expect wealthy Monaco residents to be attracted by winter sunshine to Jawhar as well as by tax breaks. They also expect interest from “medical tourists” in the wellness centre/spa .
www.jawharresidences.com
