Huge Man-Made Water Amenities For Swimming And Boating Planned At 140 U.S. Residential Developments

The purveyor of man-made lakes big enough for motorboats is catching on in the United States.

Crystal Lagoons, the Chile-based company with a U.S. headquarters in Miami, has 140 different deals in place or already under construction across the country, Multifamily Executive reports. 

Crystal Lagoons' ability to make inland property into a waterfront is not cheap, starting at $600K/acre. The company uses a far more efficient filtration system than a standard, sanitized pool while still remaining safe for swimming. The company estimates that its product uses less water per year than a golf course or man-made land park of the same size.

Early adopters of the lagoons have been developers in warmer states like Florida and Texas. Developers like Unicorp National Development started planning huge, mixed-use developments with retail and multifamily centered around the lagoon in 2016. Tavistock Development Co.'s Lake Nona project in the Orlando area even cantilevered an apartment building over its 15-acre lagoon to further emphasize its aquatic nature.

Though Crystal Lagoons has signed deals in Arizona, California, Nevada and Hawaii, a full third of its deals have been in Florida. Metro Development Group has signed on for five of them, and the first lagoon in South Florida has already broken ground. Terra Verde Group has also signed on with Crystal Lagoons for projects in Texas.

Though the warmer states are Crystal Lagoons' current focus, with Georgia and the Carolinas next on the list, the company told Multifamily Executive that its lagoons could be frozen into ice rinks for colder climates.