Orlando-based experience design firm IDEAS has been tapped by local developer Bahía Urbana Redevelopment, LLC to reimagine the Port of San Juan destination experience at Bahía Urbana in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The $118 million project will offer integrated adjacency to San Juan’s cruise terminal and will provide exciting new cultural entertainment just steps from arriving ships.
Bahía Urbana will be a first-of-its-kind destination for Puerto Rico, bringing the best of the island’s artistic tradition, cuisine, storytelling, and natural splendor to one walkable oceanfront destination. IDEAS will work with local consultants to create attractions that authentically animate San Juan’s story. Three distinctly themed areas are planned for Bahía Urbana: a waterfront promenade, an urban eco-adventure park, and the unique “Beach on the Bay.”
Guests will encounter the historic charm of San Juan strolling alongside an authentic “chinchorro” dining offering, hands-on artisan workshops, a marketplace and spontaneous street performances with musicians and artists.
Bahía Urbana will transform one of the port’s piers into a lush urban park, landscaped to recreate the natural environment of Puerto Rico’s diverse horticultural and zoological biomes providing the setting for iconic wildlife encounters and a tree canopy walk. The park will host a bayfront amphitheater that will feature exciting entertainment and name acts. Anchoring the pier will be an observation drop tower, which will invite guests to ascend 200 ft. aboard a 360-degree observation lounge with the option to take a free fall back to Earth via a separate ride system.
“Beach on the Bay” will provide a nonstop beach experience hosted on sand-surfaced floating islands just off the pier. Revelers will go head-to-head in bouts of beach volleyball and tennis or enjoy special performances at Bahia Urbana Park’s Theater from the cooling shade of the lush surrounding landscape or on the sun-drenched waterfront sand terraces.
Along with an influx of new tourism, Bahía Urbana is expected to add over 180 jobs during its construction along with 250 jobs when it enters operation in addition to hosting signature regional restaurants and artisanal craft shops and kiosks.
Bob Allen, Chief Storytelling Officer of IDEAS, notes, “From its mountainsides to the teeming streets of Old San Juan, Puerto Rico truly is the Enchanted Island. Our team couldn’t be prouder or more enthused to share the best of what the island has to offer at Bahía Urbana. We believe this development will set a new gold standard for cultural storytelling and redefine what a port destination can be.”
