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| This 3,250-square-foot holiday villa is built on stilts and
sits just off the Cambodian coast in the Gulf of Thailand. Owner Robert
Tizzard, an English chartered surveyor, purchased the two-bedroom home
off-plan in 2011. The property is part of Song Saa, the first
private-island resort in the country. ‘I didn’t really know anything
about Cambodia, but it had an appeal because of that sense of
adventure,’ he says.
Ruth Murphy |
An Over-Water Villa in Cambodia
Wall Street Journal | 2 December 2014
Song Saa, which is Khmer for ‘The Sweethearts,’ spans two
islands, Koh Ouen and Koh Bong, that are joined by a wooden walkway. The
bulk of the resort, which has 27 villas, is on Koh Ouen, with Koh Bong
unspoiled except for the development of a spa. The resort’s other
amenities include a beachside yoga center, a watersports center and a
restaurant serving contemporary Cambodian cuisine.
Ruth Murphy
Villa 1, as the home is known, is one of three two-bedroom
over-water villas at the resort. The villa is shaped like a seashell,
with two identical bedrooms on either side of a central living area that
opens onto a deck and infinity pool. The bedrooms have floor-to-ceiling
sliding doors that lead to the deck area. “Everything is designed about
looking out to sea,” Mr. Tizzard says.
Ruth Murphy
The resort has created a 200-meter no-fishing zone around the
islands to preserve the coral reefs and encourage snorkeling and scuba
diving. Mr. Tizzard enjoys the nearly 180-degree view of the gulf. ‘You
have a great sense of seclusion until we walk the short distance to the
restaurant,’ he says.
Sarah Tizzard
Mr. Tizzard paid approximately $750,000 for Villa 1 and a
smaller mountainside jungle villa on Koh Ouen that he plans to retain.
‘This property has an added attraction to me as a father, that I can
provide my children with a particularly attractive, romantic trip
abroad,’ he says. His nephew, Joe Tizzard, a recently retired jockey in
the U.K., celebrated his honeymoon at Song Saa.
Sarah Tizzard
Song Saa’s Australian developers, Rory Hunter and his wife
Melita, set up a company to negotiate a 99-year lease beginning in 2008
on the islands with the Cambodian government. Construction started in
March 2010, and the resort opened two years later with home owners
guaranteed to make back 8% of their purchase price in rentals in each of
the first five years. The developers pledged to make up any shortfall.
Prices for the one-bedroom over-water villas originally began at
$550,000 off-plan in 2009. ‘We knew that it would be perceived as a
high-risk investment,’ Mr. Hunter says. ‘No one had ever owned an island
in Cambodia when we first found the site. We had to work out a legal
structure of how to do it.’
Ruth Murphy
The villa uses driftwood to craft much of the furniture, a
feature Mrs. Hunter has used throughout the resort. The Hunters sourced
other wood by purchasing old fishing boats or old homes in fishing
villages.
Ruth Murphy
The granite used in the villas, such as in the kitchen and around the pools, came from a quarry in Cambodia.
Ruth Murphy
The resort is 45 minutes by boat from the coastal city of
Sihanoukville. Mr. Tizzard, who visits Song Saa several times a year
with his family, is selling the villa because he wants to lock in profit
from his investment by selling one of the two holiday homes. He will
retain the other.
Ruth Murphy
The villa was first put on the market last year. It is listed
with David Simister at CB Richard Ellis for $1.5 million.
Ruth Murphy
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