The project begins to reveal the urban and architectural rules that will guide its growth, from building heights to design and sustainability criteria
SANTO DOMINGO. – The Punta Bergantín megaproject, a mixed-use tourism, residential, and commercial development, is beginning to reveal the urban planning and architectural criteria that will guide its development, including a building code designed to regulate construction and preserve a common identity throughout the complex.
In an interview with the specialized magazine Arquitexto, Andrés Marranzini, executive director of the trust, explained that the owners will have defined deadlines to begin construction and must adhere to common guidelines to avoid isolated developments or those that clash with the overall vision of the complex. “Nobody can just invent what they’re going to do,” he stated.
The existence of the aforementioned code is relevant in a project that covers approximately 10 million square meters in Montellano, Puerto Plata, conceived as a master-planned community, which integrates hotels, residences, commerce, entertainment, education, innovation and public spaces within the same urban scheme, as stated on the website.
According to Marranzini, the master plan was developed by the firm GVA and focuses on a walkable community, prioritizing pedestrians and cyclists, parks, viewpoints, and public spaces linked to the mangrove and wetland system present in the area.
The interview also offers details that have received little attention in the public discussion about the project until now. Marranzini revealed that the intention is not to reproduce the Victorian architecture of Puerto Plata, but rather to reinterpret some of its features from a contemporary perspective.
As he explained, one of the central components will be the so-called "Sea Village", conceived as a space with its own identity within the development.
The executive also said that the master plan includes buildings of up to seven levels whose height will gradually increase as they move away from the coast, with the aim of preserving views towards the sea, and also noted that priority will be given to the use of local materials, permeable pavements and design criteria adapted to the environmental conditions of the land.
These statements add to proposals made previously during FITUR 2026, where the executive stated that the plots would be handed over to investors under rules designed to regulate construction within the project.
More than 700,000 square meters in motion
While this urban vision is being developed, the project continues to progress through its construction phase. In January, it was reported that the infrastructure work included over 700,000 square meters of earthworks, 12 kilometers of internal roads, drainage systems, and potable water networks. The sale of more than 400 residential units and cumulative sales exceeding US$100 million were also reported.
In April, the agreement for the development of a third hotel within the complex, the Westin Puerto Plata, was also formally announced, adding to the previously announced projects of Hyatt Inclusive Collection and Meliá.
Beyond the investment figures or the number of projected rooms, recent statements on urban design, public space and architectural regulation suggest that Punta Bergantín seeks to differentiate itself through more structured territorial planning.
The full content of that development code has not yet been made public. Its eventual publication would allow for a more detailed understanding of the rules governing aspects such as building heights, densities, materials, public space, and environmental criteria within one of the largest tourism and real estate developments currently underway on the Dominican Republic's north coast.
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