16 Apr 2025
Land planning and landscape architecture firm VITA leverages its extensive experience in the business of luxury real estate to maximise real estate value for global brands, while simultaneously creating places, such as resort communities, which endure as integral parts of people's lives.
"Luxury real estate developers and property owners come to VITA for exceptional outcomes," says Founder Don Vita. "Our clients seek us out for our ability to create the big vision and the story, determine the best use(s) for the land, then create and implement the master plan."
Former VITA client, and now Managing Principal, Lisa Baker, AICP, concurs: "Our dedication to understanding the facets of the land—its history, inhabitants, culture, and various environments—creates a sense of place that is experientially distinctive, yet unfailingly contextual, while the VITA client experience is about personalized service from a trusted advisor."
Liliane Stacishin Moura, Business Development Principal, who leads the firm's global efforts, describes the VITA client experience as a "boutique studio approach, paired with large firm capabilities." She notes that VITA's programmatic and global expertise– the firm has worked on projects in 23 countries on five of the seven continents–has helped clients sell more than $25BN worth of luxury real estate products.
"Working with VITA gives global brands the best of all worlds and, in turn, they can provide their customers the best of their worlds," Moura continues.
VITA's four recent luxury resort community projects, encompassing an aggregated 4,780 acres, include:
Camp Sarika at Amangiri, Canyon Point, Utah (900 acres)
Set in the desert—amidst a landscape of towering mesas, slot canyons, and rust-coloured sand—this intimate, back-to-the-wild experience offers ten canvas-topped pavilions, each with a private plunge pool, centred on a shared lounge.
Project team: Canyon Equity (Client); Aman Resorts Group (Operator); VITA (Master Planner and Landscape Architect); Luxury Frontiers (Architect and Interior Designer, Tented Pavilions); Selldorf Group (Architect and Interior Designer, Common Buildings)
Four Seasons Resort Los Cabos at Cabo Del Sol, Mexico ™, Mexico (1,800 acres) Located along the Sea of Cortez, this resort includes 141 guest rooms, as well as a private community environment with beachfront and marina homes.
Project team: Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts (Operator); VITA (Master Planner and Landscape Architect); Robert Glazier, Gensler (Architects); Meyer Davis and EDG (Interior Designers)
Kona Village, A Rosewood Resort, Kailua-Kona, Hawaii (81 acres) Barefoot elegance meets rustic charm at this repositioned, multi-generational family retreat located in a former ancient fishing village.
Project team: Kennedy Wilson (Client); Rosewood Hotels and Resorts (Operator); VITA (Land Planner, Master Planner and Landscape Architect); Walker Warner, Delawie (Architects); Nicole Hollis (Interior Designer)
Kiawah River Community featuring The Dunlin, An Auberge Resorts Collection, Charleston, South Carolina (2,000 acres)
Located on John’s Island, near the Charleston peninsula, and set within the grand canopy of heritage live oaks, this new development features distinct neighbourhoods with unique waterfront and village homesites, as well as a Main Street Village with shops, a spa and boutique hotel cottages.
Project team (Kiawah River Community):
The Beach Company (Client); VITA (Land Planner and Landscape Architect); Backen, Gillam & Kroger Architects, Beau Clowney Architects, Starr Sanford Designs, Reggie Gibson Architects, Historical Concepts (Architects); Design Works Landscape Architecture (Landscape Architect of Record)
Project team (The Dunlin, An Auberge Resorts Collection): Auberge Resorts Collection (Operator); Robert Glazier (Hotel Design Architect); McMillam Pazdan Smith (Hotel Production Architect); Amanda Lindroth Design (Interior Designer)
