Croatia’s ‘American Dream’ development to include a casino, vineyard, golf courses and more


The American Dream and all that it suggests – happiness, prosperity, fulfillment of destiny – is the inspiration for a 5,000-acre mini city that its developers hope will someday take shape along Croatia’s Adriatic coast.
The Croatian Dream has been master-planned to be several things, including a vacation destination, a business center and a place to call home. The company that’s developing it, Profectus Grupa, says it’ll be “a haven for the soul,” “a synonym for health and vitality” and “a true example of an ‘American Dream’ being achieved here in Croatia.”
The Dream is to be built in Doli, 20 miles northwest of Dubrovnik. At build-out, it’s expected to have a little bit of everything: several types of houses, 13 hotels, a casino, two marinas (one of which will accommodate mega-yachts), a business park, a film studio, exhibition space for international trade shows, an airport, a university campus, a hospital, a theme park, sports arenas, recreation areas, museums, a vineyard, an olive grove and at least two golf courses.
Profectus Grupa is based in Split but also has offices in Zagreb and Dubrovnik. The firm’s chairman, Vicenco Blagaic, is a former concert and movie producer. (He produced one of Croatia’s most popular films, The Last Will). He now publishes the Croatian edition of Nautica, a magazine about boating, and organizes trade shows, including the Croatian Boat Show.
Assuming he can find financing, Blagaic hopes to break ground on the first phase of the Dream, a community called Three Sisters, sometime in 2011. Three Sisters will have a shopping village, a waterfront promenade, a marina, and the Dream’s first golf course.
A designer for Three Sisters’ golf course hasn’t been named, but representatives of Nick Faldo’s design firm showed up for Profectus Grupa’s charette in Dubrovnik last fall.
This story originally appeared in the World Edition of the Golf Course Report, in a slightly different form. For a sample copy of the World Edition, call 301/680-9460 or write to WorldEdition@aol.com.