Why The Portuguese Riviera Should Be On Your Real Estate Radar

Forbes

2 days ago

Glilttering, glamorous Cascais Bay. Rich in stories of intrigue, romance and, long before the 20th century served up Agent 007, fishermen's tales. Alexandre Rotenberg/Shutterstock.
From exiled royals to double agents real and imagined, the elegant Portuguese Riviera town of Cascais and its near neighbor, Estoril, harbor stories galore.
This wealthy municipality west of Lisbon was a turn-of-the-century haunt for aristocrats in search of its therapeutic thermal waters, before finding wartime fame in the 1940s as a den of espionage on both sides thanks to Portugal's neutrality.
While holed up in the Palacio Estoril and working for British Intelligence, the writer Ian Fleming invented the world's most famous spy here. Played by George Lazenby in the 1969 film On Her Majesty's Secret Service , Agent 007 emerges from the waves on Estoril's golden shore after rescuing a drowning damsel in distress. It's also where Edward, Duke of Windsor, retreated to with his own distressed damsel, Wallis Simpson, after abdicating from his short-lived stint on the British throne.
Tucked neatly between Cascais and Estoril, Monte Estoril was developed as a 19th-century resort for the well-heeled. For 21st-century wellness and pleasure-seekers, its riches lay in smart new developments. Alexandre Rotenberg/Shutterstock
Indicative of the area's modern-day desirability, it's where among the secluded pines of Quinta da Marinha on the verdant headland that sits between Cascais and the Atlantic ocean, football superstar Cristiano Ronaldo is building one of the most expensive houses in Portugal, reported to cost around €20 million (~$23.2m). His 300-square-meter (3,330 sq ft) primary suite alone could comfortably house a family mansion.
For a century or more, this edge-of-Europe location has been a safe haven. An Eden to many. And so it's fitting that today, as global wealth seeks safe harbors in uncertain times, they are gravitating to this genteel spot whose new focus for development is Monte Estoril on Cascais Bay, where the old Hotel Eden once stood.
Occupying prime position between sea and the famed Jardim dos Passarinhos, the luxury apartments—including the full-floor penthouse—at the new MyEden development sold out even before a sales brochure was produced Render courtesy Portugal Forbes Global Properties
In its place, rising from the rubble, is the 12-story MyEden, designed by the award-winning Portuguese architect Pedro Reis. His vision for the building includes draping the new Eden in greenery, creating vertical gardens that provide a seamless link between the famous grounds of the Jardim dos Passarinhos behind the old hotel and the sea in front.
Interiors and artistic direction come from the French designer with a suitably stellar name, Philippe Starck. This is his first Portuguese hotel—a five-star, boutique affair with 33 rooms. And above will be 32 apartments designed by Reis, including 'the crown jewel of Portugal,' according to Francisco Garcia, partner of Portugal Forbes Global Properties. He's referring to the penthouse that occupies the entire top floor of the building, with 500 square meters (around 5,380 sq ft) of open internal space all on one level. And the same size again in external space, where nothing but some softening foliage comes between you and the glistening ocean. 'At low tide, you can open the windows, smell the sea and hear the waves,' says Garcia.
Key to architect Pedro Reis's design for MyEden is a lush drapery of greenery—a vertical garden worthy of the new building's name. Render courtesy Portugal Forbes Global Properties
Starck—who has lived in Cascais, and works between Paris and Lisbon—is similarly mesmerized by the big blue. 'The waves. The waves. If I make a caricature, I shall say that I am here for the waves,' he rhapsodized in a speech about Cascais to a gathering of local Town Hall grandees a few years ago. 'When there is waves, there is happiness, which fills me. It's the real power of nature.'
'The demand for homes in frontline Estoril is there, but there is legislation that makes it impossible to build. Without that, we'd have a skyline like Miami to meet demand.' Francisco Garcia, Portugal Forbes Global Properties
For Cascais, the MyEden project sets a new price benchmark for this part of the Lisbon coast. Prices have been rising consistently in Cascais for the past 10 years, with Vila de Cascais and Estoril recording the highest average apartment prices across the whole market, nudging €10,000 (~$11,600) per square meter), according to property market data from Confidencial Imobiliário. At MyEden, they average €25,000 ($29,000) per square meter, and elsewhere in prime Monte Estoril, large (upwards of 250 square meters/2,690 square feet) penthouses and duplexes with sea views can command €6 million-plus.
Philippe Starck designed MyEden's lower three floors—a five-star-standard hotel with spa, indoor and outdoor pools, fitness facilities, restaurant and concierge. Render courtesy Portugal Forbes Global Properties
Next to MyEden, the existing InterContinental Cascais-Estoril, which also has luxury residences above its hotel rooms, 'has proven to be the most exclusive and expensive real estate in Portugal, per square meter,' Garcia says. 'The demand for homes in frontline Estoril is there, but there is legislation that makes it impossible to build. Without that, we'd have a skyline like Miami to meet demand.'
By virtue of snaring an already-developed prime beach site, however, Brazilian investment bank BTG Pactual (for whom this is their first Portuguese real estate venture) and local partner, asset managers Sostate, are creating something 'epic,' says Garcia. 'MyEden feels like a continuation of the InterContinental. It's taking that as its guide, upgrading it, making it more boutique with half the number of hotel rooms, and bringing in a internationally renowned brand in Starck.'
Luiz Godinho Lopes, director at Sostate, adds: 'We've been working on MyEden, in partnership with hospitality developer Pedro Mendes Leal, for the past 18 years. I believe the outcome reflects our hard work—I couldn't be prouder.'
"The crown jewel of Portugal" is how Francisco Garcia, partner at Portugal Forbes Global Properties, describes the 500sqm (5,382 sq ft)penthouse apartment at MyEden. Occupying the entire top floor, it has an equally generous outdoor footprint and panoramic Atlantic views. Render courtesy Portugal Forbes Global Properties
BTG have pinned their colors to the Cascais mast by already working on their second project locally, Hotel Oitavos in Quinta da Marinha, where serviced apartments will be operated by the Brazilian brand Fasano. 'With Eden as our first project in Portugal, we have set a high bar for [Hotel Oitavos]' comments Rui Ruivo, partner at BTG Pactual. Luiz Godinho Lopes, director at Sostate, adds that 'we've been working on 'My Eden' for the last 18 years and I believe the outcome reflects our hard work. We couldn't be prouder.'
The Oitavos Fasano at Quinta da Marinha is another hotel/residence answering the demand of luxury buyers and investors. Set to open in 2028, Brazil's Fasano Group will transform the current Oitavos hotel into 96 suites and 44 branded residences. Portugal Forbes Global Properties
To Portugal's super-rich, Cascais need little introduction—all of the residences in MyEden sold off-plan, even before a sales brochure was produced. 'Cascais has the biggest concentration of wealth in Portugal. If you work in Lisbon and you're wealthy, you live in Cascais,' says Garcia. The same applies if you work in London for one globally mobile commuter who lives in the InterContinental. 'He arrives by private plane on Monday and returns on Wednesday,' Garcia comments, noting that the private airstrip is just a 15-minute drive away.
A moneyed haven it may be, but this stretch of the Portuguese Riviera remains a relatively understated one (how else would it harbor all those spies?), devoid of Saint-Tropez or Marbella bling. You will need millions to live on the seafront here, but the greatest pleasures are free. 'Sunsets over Cascais Bay,' says Garcia. And the waves. The waves.
Portugal Forbes Global Properties is a member of Forbes Global Properties, the invitation-only network of top-tier brokerages worldwide and the exclusive real estate partner of Forbes.