(Dallas Business Journal) -- Miami-based Crystal Lagoons U.S. Corp. has hired a market leader and opened its new Dallas office at Crescent Court in Uptown. Now CEO Uri Man says the Lone Star state could be the biggest lagoon market in North America.
By the end of the year, Man said he expects a handful of new blue-hued lagoon projects to land in Texas.
"Dallas is a great place to have an office," said Man, who has been leading the technology firm's North American operations from Miami. "It's a very prestigious city and there's a lot of activity here. It's an easy jumping off point to go see our operational lagoon in Cabo."
Man took nine developers to Mexico to tour the 10-acre lagoon, which acts as a centerpiece to a 1,500-acre master-planned community, as part of the Urban Land Institute's fall meeting on Monday. Each of the developers — some from Dallas and Houston — has similar master-planned communities and could see a boon from tucking a man-made lagoon into the Texas vistas.
With a strong economy and people continuing to flow into the state, Mann said Texas could become Crystal Lagoons' largest market, especially since the state doesn't have beaches with natural, crystal clear water.
Crystal Lagoons has 1,500 patents for technology that turns a lagoon, or a gigantic swimming pool, into a swimmable environment with the help of a pulse disinfection filtration system. The technology, which was founded by scientist Fernando Fischmann, is patented in 160 countries and is licensed to developers on a royalty-based business model.
The technology — which uses sound waves with the help of machines around the lagoon to filtrate the water — helps lagoons use 30 times less water than a typical 18-hole golf course and 100 times less chemicals than a pool.
Man has hired Derrick Roach as regional director of the central United States, which will have an office within One Crescent Court in Dallas. Roach, who has a background in real estate and private equity, will be the point person on the ground in Texas working with developers.
He also will help Dallas developer Kent Donahue — the man behind the $1 billion Bayside vision in Rowlett — bring the first Texas lagoon to fruition just 15 miles east of downtown Dallas. Donahue has begun marketing the lagoon-fronting real estate to companies and restaurants.
Along with Bayside, there are 12 other lagoon projects underway in the United States, the most being in Florida, with another 40 lagoon developments in various stages of negotiations. In Texas, there are negotiations to bring a lagoon to North Dallas, south of Dallas and two in Houston, among others.
In the next 15 years, Man says he expects to develop a projected 14,000 such blue lagoons throughout the world. Right now, there are more than 300 Crystal Lagoons in 60 countries worldwide.
"Lagoons are nothing short of transformative," he said. "Texas is going to be our biggest market. It has a great economy and will help make Texas a great place to live."
Candace covers commercial and residential real estate and sports business for the Dallas Business Journal.
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