Leonardo DiCaprio has announced that he’s opening an eco resort on his private island in Belize. The actor picked up the 104-acre Belizean island, Blackadore Caye, in 2005 for just $1.75 million.
The planned luxury resort will feature villas on a platform over the water, artificial reefs with “fish shelters” and a nursery growing marine grass to feed manatees, according to Curbed. It is expected to open in 2018.
“The main focus is to do something that will change the world,” DiCaprio told the New York Times. “I couldn’t have gone to Belize and built on an island and done something like this if it weren’t for the idea that it could be groundbreaking in the environmental movement.”
DiCaprio is working with NYC developer Delos to build 68 resort villas and 48 private houses to sell. DiCaprio owns a unit in the Delos Living building at 66 East 11th Street.
The units will cost between $5 million and $15 million. Jason McLennan, author of “The Philosophy of Sustainable Design,” has been tapped to design the project. [Curbed] – Christopher Cameron