Crystal Lagoons is a tech company that promises coastal living anywhere in the country with man-made lagoons.

Crystal Lagoons, a technology company founded in Chile, is creating large man-made lagoons in locations far from natural coastlines, such as the suburbs of Houston, Texas. Their patented water treatment technology allows them to build these lagoons almost anywhere, including colder climates, with lower chlorine use and costs compared to traditional pools. The company has over 1,000 projects in development worldwide, with the U.S. as its largest market. Notably, Crystal Lagoons is partnering with the Walt Disney Company to build the largest U.S. lagoon in Southern California.

These artificial lagoons are attracting families and real estate developers by providing resort-style amenities and affordable waterfront living. Developers report that communities built around these lagoons, like Sunterra in Texas, are growing rapidly, offering home prices significantly lower than traditional beachfront properties. The lagoons also use less water than golf courses and can be integrated with other technologies, such as data center cooling. Residents enjoy the convenience and amenities, often choosing to stay home rather than travel for vacations.

Company promises paradise anywhere with man-made lagoons

It's a picture fit for a postcard, a perfectly planned paradise in a place you might never guess. This is a little different than ocean kayaking. Yes, it is. It's way better. No red ties, no sharks. This pristine body of water is actually a crystalline man-made lagoon sitting some 70 miles from the coast in the suburbs of Houston, Texas. I mean it is hard to believe, like I'm sitting here looking at this blue water behind you and we are sitting on land that was a farm not too long ago. Yes. Yes. It's incredible. It's amazing how you can change the land, the land users and the land value as well. Nicholas Galati is a regional director for Crystal Lagoons, the tech company transforming dry land into dreamy blue water. Is there any limitation on where you can build them? No, there's no limitation. We have projects in Egypt, Dubai and Europe, South America, here in the U.S. Here in the U.S. is now their biggest market for these pools on steroids where you can boat, swim or play in purified water. And they can build a beach virtually anywhere. It's luring families like the Quintanillas. This summer David and Leah were here at the lagoon with their sons Jay and Nate several times a week. I feel like I'm in a resort. We still can't believe that this is in our backyard, like we used to pay to go to places like this. The average size of a Crystal Lagoon is more than four acres, but they can get a lot bigger. The largest artificial lagoon is in Egypt, measuring almost 30 acres, the biggest swimming pool in the world. That potential has captured the imagination of the Walt Disney Company, which is partnering with Crystal Lagoons to build this one in Southern California, the largest yet in the U.S. Disney's lagoon is 10 times the size of this? Yes, it's a 24 acre lagoon. That's kind of a crazy idea. Yeah, it's crazy, but it's feasible and it's doable. And that's because of our technology. Crystal Lagoons was created three decades ago in Chile by biochemist Fernando Fishman. It says its secret is a revolutionary and heavily patent protected approach to treating water with far less chlorine and lower costs than a traditional pool of equal size. All lagoons worldwide are monitored and managed in real time by a central control room in South America. We have more than 1,000 projects and different phases in terms of development and negotiation all over the world at this point. Is it possible to build them in colder climates? Absolutely, yes. We have the echo heated technology in which we can have the lagoon heated all year long. It doesn't matter if you're in a Southern state or a Northern state. There are even plans to use water from lagoons to cool data centers and in return use the heat from the centers to warm the lagoons. And you are in essence creating new coastline. You're creating coastline waterfront properties. We also have projects that are open to general public. And once they go and visit them, they say, okay, I would love to have this in my backyard. The appeal of oceanfront property is hardly new, but building boom during the 20th century. Today though, buildable and affordable beachfront property is limited and living by the coast can come with real risks like hurricanes and erosion. So it's no surprise Crystal Lagoon's big customers are real estate developers. You've got myriad options when it comes to buying a home. Families want to do something where they look at it and they can have fun and they can easily envision themselves having a good time. And the Crystal Lagoon definitely helps us do that. Tim Johnson is a vice president with developer Starwood Land. They say Sunterra built around this lagoon is the fastest growing master plan community anywhere in Texas. New homes here start at about half the price of beachfront homes in nearby Galveston. The home prices allow a lot more people to come in at a lot more affordable price to be close to the white sand beach, to the crystal clear water. They wouldn't tell us how much it costs to build a lagoon, but say it's on par with more traditional amenities like a golf course. And Crystal Lagoon's claims an 18 hole course actually uses 33 times more water than all this. We opened Sunterra about three and a half years ago. And since then, the home builders in Sunterra have sold about 3,500 homes. They say your home is your castle, but a place to build sand castles was a big reason the Quintanillas bought their three bedroom house in Sunterra in 2023. When we found out about the amenities here, we're like, man, that sounds like resort style living. It doesn't sound like feasible. It doesn't sound like something that we could do. And sure enough, we did it and we're here. Their previous home had a private backyard pool. Now their HOA dues, $1,300 a year, cover private beach access, a clubhouse and other amenities. Do you miss your pool at all? Not at all. I don't. No. He was the, he was the cleaning. You had to take care of it. Yeah. Yeah. And a day at the beach no longer requires days of planning and packing. It was a lot of work. A lot of work. Trying to carry everything to, you know, that one spot on the beach that you've picked out and here there's everything that you need. You just show up. It's like a 10, 15 minute walk. So I was like, I can come here every day. Instead of taking a vacation this summer, the Quintanillas stayed home. I could fall asleep on this thing.

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