Did You Know

The Cayman Islands
Community
Consultants
Design Elements
The Developers
History
The Observation Tower
The Town Centre

Cayman Islands

• Cayman’s beautiful white sands are produced by coral and algae passing through the digestive system of reef grazers such as the parrotfish.
• Duty free items such as jewellery, cameras and watches are often a better value in Cayman than in the U.S.
• The Cayman Islands is the fifth largest financial centre in the world.
• The red, white, and black mangroves found in Cayman have adapted to cope with levels of salt and a lack of oxygen that would normally kill other plants.
• The National Tree is the Silver Thatch Palm and the National Flower is the Wild Banana Orchid.
• The coat of arms includes a pineapple and turtle above a shield with three stars (representing the three islands) and a scroll at the bottom bearing the national motto, ‘HE HATH FOUNDED IT UPON THE SEAS‘

Community

• Every edition of Camana Bay Times has a gardening tip from the horticultural experts at the Camana Bay Nursery.
• The long term plans for Camana Bay’s future residential phases include a marina village on the shores of the North Sound.
• Students of 30 different nationalities attend the Cayman International School.
• Cayman International School is part of a global educational organisation known as International Schools Services.
• The vision for Camana Bay is based on New Urbanism, a design philosophy that promotes diverse communities with a mix of housing, shops, schools, parks and civic facilities all within walking distance.
• The word “Camana” dates back nearly 300 years, and is derived from “Las Camanas,” an early Spanish spelling of the islands.
• Air conditioning is provided by a chiller plant, which pumps 33,000 gallons of cold water through a closed circuit of insulated pipes over a distance of 10,000 feet.
• The road to the school is named Minerva Drive after the Roman goddess of wisdom.
• Miles of bike trails wind through Camana Bay, allowing cyclists to bike safely around the community with minimal use of a main road.
• The Ficus Aurea in Cassia Court is the biggest tree in the Town Centre. Native to Cayman, it produces figs, which supports the local bird and insect population. The tree produces supermarket quality produce almost all year round.
• The Camana Bay logo and ‘Life Blossoms’ mantra reflect the vision that the Town’s creation is like a garden, sowing seeds that will last and bear fruit for generations to come.
• Direct flights to Grand Cayman are available from London, Miami, Jamaica, Tampa, New York, Houston, Atlanta, Charlotte, Cuba and Toronto.

Consultants

• Ten years after their selection, Camana Bay’s lead consultants, Moore Ruble Yudell and OLIN, were awarded two of the highest honours in architecture.
• In 2006, Moore Ruble Yudell won the American Institute of Architecture’s Architecture Firm award, the highest honour the AIA bestows on a firm.
• In 2006, OLIN won the American Society of Landscape Architects Architecture Firm Award, the industry’s highest accolade.
• L’Observatoire, the creator of Camana Bay’s lighting features, was also commissioned by the Louvre in Paris to light the world’s most famous painting, the Mona Lisa.
• The team at Fluidity, designers of the water features at Camana Bay, also designed “Ice Falls,” a three-storey glass waterfall in the lobby of the Hearst Tower, a Manhattan skyscraper designed by architect Norman Foster.
• Spillis Candela, now AECOM, is the architect of the Cayman International School campus.
• Awning designer Duvall has been commissioned to design a fabric prototype for a ‘hospital in a box’ for use by US marines as a mobile surgery.
• Burns Conolly, Camana Bay’s local architect, is also Cayman’s first registered architect.

Design Elements

• Camana Bay signage was tested for durability and clarity in a variety of climates and conditions, including a busy shopping street in Los Angeles.
• Palms on The Island have been handpicked to lean out at different angles.
• One of the world’s leading transportation planners, Walter Kulash, gave advice on traffic flow in and around Camana Bay. He also recommended street parking as an effective way to promote careful driving.
• Signage around Camana Bay is made from materials which increase in beauty as they age. Ipe wood becomes a silvery grey and corten steel gains a deep red colour.
• The louvres that shade the Town’s breezeways were tested to see which orientation would filter light most effectively.
• A model of Camana Bay was tested in a wind tunnel in Toronto to ensure the orientation of the Town would maximise the cooling benefits from the predominant breezes.
• The boulders used as seats in The Crescent and The Paseo were mined locally.
• The Paseo is lined with two layers of retractable awnings, which fold like a Roman blind with marine-quality mechanisms.
• Two passageways connect The Crescent to the nearby Cassia and Canella courtyards. Each is adorned with a 75-foot Bizazza mosaic, one depicting a series of water droplets, the other a sea anemone.
• Every light fixture in the community was designed especially for Camana Bay.
• The fountain located on The Crescent can be switched off to provide a platform for entertainment.

The Developers

• Dart Realty, the developer of Camana Bay, also created Salt Creek, a luxury residential neighbourhood on the shores of the North Sound. The first phase offers 23 exclusive homes with lush private gardens and shared open spaces that enhance the sense of community.
• Dart Realty has dedicated Property Management and Operations & Maintenance teams to provide support and maintenance services to all Dart tenants.
• Dart Realty also manages 128,000 square feet of Class A office space in Regatta Office Park, the island’s first office park.
• Dart Realty also owns the Flagship building and The Island Plaza in George Town.
• Dart’s first product was military dog tags.
• The Dart Foundation is a privately funded organisation committed to public purposes. In Grand Cayman, the Dart Foundation has worked in partnership with the government to create community parks in each of the island’s five districts.

History

• The land Camana Bay occupies was originally owned by Murray Crymble, the second recorded land owner in the Cayman Islands.
• The word “Camana” dates back nearly 300 years, and is derived from “Las Camanas,” an early Spanish spelling of the islands.
• A “native” plant is one introduced to the area, which grows in the wild. An “indigenous” plant is one found naturally in the region. An “endemic” plant is one found only in a particular environment.
• Sir Francis Drake was the first British visitor to the Cayman Islands.
• The first royal grant of land in Grand Cayman was made by the Governor of Jamaica in 1734.
• In 1937, the first cruise ship to visit the Cayman Islands, The Atlantis, signals the beginnings of tourism and the first tourist booklet is published.
• In 1953, the George Town Hospital is opened along with Barclays Bank, the first commercial bank.

The Observation Tower

• The Town Centre has a 75-foot tall Observation Tower with 360° views of the North Sound, Seven Mile Beach, and beyond.
• A mosaic decorates the inside of The Observation Tower from top to bottom, portraying a marinescape from the surface of the sea to the ocean floor.
• At night, The Observation Tower resembles a lantern with golden light escaping through its louvered façade.
• The double helix staircase in The Observation Tower is based on a design originally created by DaVinci.

The Town Centre

• The square footage of The Crescent has been carefully scaled in proportion to the town’s requirements based on study of towns throughout the U.S. and Europe.
• The cinema’s auditoriums are equipped with state-of-the art audio-visual equipment and are available for corporate events.
• Camana Way is a topographical transection of the Cayman Islands in its native state. Cayman’s five ecosystems are categorised as coastal strand, sandy woodland, dry rocky limestone woodland, moist woodland, and seasonally flooded brackish woodland.
• The partition between the bar and dining room at Abacus is a giant counting frame, giving the restaurant its name.
• The Town Centre is elevated to a minimum of 7.5 feet above sea level for storm protection and to allow the roots of the trees along the street to develop without reaching the brackish water table.
• The courtyards are named for flowers found in their gardens: Jasmine, Cassia, Gardenia and Canella.
• The majority of shops in the Town Centre face onto The Paseo, a pedestrian-only street lined with trees and awnings, which runs from the Esterley-Tibbetts Highway to The Crescent.
• Retailers at Camana Bay are encouraged to contribute to the streetscape beyond their storefront by including outdoor seating, shady awnings and colourful planters.
• Forum Lane is named after the Latin word for commerce or trade because its location in the Town Centre is at a crossroad of shops and businesses.
• One-quarter of the total area of the Town Centre is designated as public space, a greater percentage than most neighbourhoods.
• The town of Camana Bay has been carefully oriented to maximise the cooling breezes provided by prevailing trade winds blowing from the northeast.