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This isn’t your mother’s beach getaway, but it is intended to be enjoyed with your mother.
A new Caribbean resort development, accurately dubbed South Bank, is elevating family travel in Turks and Caicos.
Set along 31 acres of pristine shoreline on the island Providenciales — “Provo” among locals — the nation’s latest luxury residential resort has created a second-home city. With 92 villas, the district is divided into four boutique neighborhoods, all optimized for multigenerational travel.
The resort community’s quartet of distinct residential compounds all offer slightly different takes on the same contemporary Caribbean aesthetic, with clean, straight lines, blocky white facades and large, airy windows throughout. While hardly camouflaged, the properties are also built to blend with their surrounding environment through the use of natural materials.
The 38 private dock-equipped homes in the Boathouse Residences neighborhood are set on a marina, while the 18 abodes in Lagoon Villas are built around a man-made lagoon. While all of the buildings are optimized for large broods, the 19 villas in Ocean Estates are especially roomy, with four to six bedroom pads that are as large as 8,000 square feet. Next door, Arc offers a single six-story “neighborhood” composed of 17 “Sky Villas” designed by the Italian architect Piero Lissoni.
Residents also have access to shared amenities including tennis and pickleball courts, a fitness center and a spa.
In designing South Bank, developer Windward — which is also behind Providenciales’ Peninsula, Blue Cay and Nivå villa collections — kept families at the front of mind.
“We didn’t want to create more of the same. We wanted to create something unique and special that maybe doesn’t appeal to everybody, but it really appeals to a smaller percentage of the population,” Windward co-founder Ingo Reckhorn said. “What we have done with South Bank really speaks to that multigenerational travel target group. A lot of our buyers are people that are in their 50s and 60s and they want to create a haven for the whole family, so their kids and their kids’ kids can come together and enjoy a special lifestyle together.”
That meant designing plenty of bedrooms with shared common areas in each home — a less common offering at resorts in Turks and Caicos. Privacy was also key, so families can focus on spending quality time with each other.
To achieve this, Windward chose to build South Bank not on Providenciales’ far better known Grace Bay Beach — a white sand stretch protected from ocean swells by a barrier reef that has won best beach in the world multiple times — but on its southern, Long Bay Beach side.
Where Grace is home to the vast majority of Turks’ luxe lodgings and businesses, Long Bay offers far less foot traffic and is, in Reckhorn’s words, “a little bit less curated and perfect. It’s a bit more for the adventurer, if you will.”
And, for those who can afford it, it still has all of the resort-level amenities only on a personally tailored level, with butler service, private chefs and the like available.
“I think there are people who maybe would have stayed on the Great Bay side some years ago but maybe find it is getting too busy,” he said. “Or there are people who would have stayed in freestanding villas previously but lacked the community aspect.”
Although not fully completed — South Bank opened earlier this year, with Arc planned to open by 2026 — only two neighborhoods have units that are still available.
For those looking to buy, the remaining on-market apartments include three two-to-three-bedroom vil-las in the Boathouses neighborhood seeking $2.15 million to $2.45 million each; and seven apartments at Arc, which are seeking $3 million to $4.75 million each. However, its sixth-floor, 12,600-square-foot penthouse is asking $20 million. The Lagoon and Ocean Estates are already sold out.
Families not ready to pull the trigger can also try before they buy. South Bank began accepting rental bookings in May, part of a streamlined subletting management system by Grace Bay Resorts for homeowners.
Following a 35% inaugural rate discount of $888 a night, prices are now soaring ahead of the holidays. But with bookings still available from $2,875 to $3,500 per night over the week of Christmas and New Year’s, it’s a relative steal compared to similar villas on other Caribbean isles — even within T&C.
So maybe leave your mother-in-law at home and treat yourself.
