"Grand Coral Riviera Maya will truly be the first of its kind in the region," says Jordi Mercadé, CEO of Developer Grupo Grand Canal. "This master development presents a great opportunity to developers and investors to be in an impressive gated community with multiple real estate options."

Grupo Grand Coral has received support from the Spain-based finance companies of Bancaja and Banco de Valencia. By next April, the first phase of the project, Mareazul, is expected to deliver the first residences to the Caribbean destination, Luis Mendoza, director of sales and marketing for Grupo Grand Canal, tells GlobeSt.com. This phase will bring 300 luxury beachfront condominiums to market. It will also include a spa, beach club and botanical garden. Roughly, $700 million has already been poured into the project.

Phase two will include the Nike Price golf course, which is expected to be ready for golfers in two years. Hall of Fame golfer Nick Price has designed the course for the Grand Coral. As the course is built, developers will also be working on the Nick Price Residences. These 123 units will be sold for full or fractional ownership.

Within 10 years the entire MXD is expected to be complete, Mendoza tells GlobeSt.com. When all development subsides the Grand Coral will contain more than 6,900 residential units as well as hotels , medical centers, entertainment destinations and retail.

The tough financial times have not altered the Grand Coral's ultimate goal. "The Riviera Maya destination is a hot and world class destination so we believe that there exist real opportunities in the market because 50% of our competitors stopped their projects," Mendoza says. "The market keeps the demand of these kind of units so we will be prepared to offer the product with a mix of products from $250,000 to $1.5 million with finance guaranty that our partner Bancaja Habitat offers."