Gloria Estefan: Let's maintain the quaintness of Vero Beach

On a recent afternoon, Gloria Estefan sat down in a suite at her new hotel, Costa d’Este, for an extended interview with the publisher of Vero Beach 32963, Milton R. Benjamin. Condensed and edited excerpts from their wide-ranging conversation are printed below:

Q. Where would you have wound up buying a vacation home if it hadn’t been Vero?

Estefan: “We were looking for a very private place. We had been trying to buy an island 12 miles south of Key West for a two-year period. The guy didn’t want to sell it, ultimately. But he had me on that chain for a while. My husband was happy because he wasn’t happy about having to boat over to this place.”

Q. Then you came to Vero Beach in 2001. Was it love at first sight?

Estefan: “When we came to the house that we finally bought, we knew this was the place. Then we checked out the town. And I fell in love. I fell in love with the Jungle Trail, and the turtle preservation, the conservation laws that they have, and the fact that there was a moratorium on building on the beach. All that really appealed to me. I thought, ‘You know what, we love this place.’”

Q. What changes do you see in Vero since you first moved here?

Estefan: “There has been a great deal of development (particularly) on the mainland. But even the Jungle Trail has changed its look. Hopefully nature will once again (restore it) because there’s plantings there – they are just baby plantings – and for me one of the favorite things we do is take my bike with my family down the Jungle Trail. They should have had to keep more of the foliage. But it will come back. There’s more traffic. I used to be in heaven. I used to be: ‘I know I’m here. Yea! No traffic.’ “

Q. Do these changes concern you?

Estefan: “Quite honestly, in Miami, I get frustrated a lot because Miami really lost control. Miami Beach – it wasn’t planned well, the high rises, and the streets can’t handle the infrastructure, couldn’t handle some these things going up, and now we are feeling the brunt of it. The Miami Beach that I love, parts of the beach are already in shadows by 2 o’clock in the afternoon and that’s a real shame. Hopefully that won’t happen here. There’s a lot more clamping down, and the laws are stricter, and I hope that doesn’t change.”

Q. Did you ever get discouraged following the 2004 hurricanes?

Estefan: “On the contrary, we saw it as an opportunity. Before the hurricanes, the hotel was a viable business, and the last thing you are going to do is shut down a viable business to remodel. But after the hurricanes, there was no business. So we said, ‘Okay, now we are going to do exactly what we wanted.’ It was still a challenge because we were working with two boxes. If we would have torn down, we would have lost two floors of the hotel. So we said, ‘All right, what can we do with this?’ And it really became quite challenging. It was fun. I wish it was quicker, but there was a backlog. Everybody was in the same boat. And all the environmental laws. We went as quick as we could, believe me. I’m very happy. I’m very happy with how it turned out.”

Q. Any lingering hard feelings from the ungracious reactions of a couple of politicians to your offer to do a benefit concert following the hurricanes?

Estefan: “You know, I think it was good, actually. People got to know who was representing them, and how they felt about things. And people sent me so many letters of support, I felt bad that they felt so bad for me. I’m not going to let a couple of politicians dictate to me what the people are showing. I never have. And people have shown their support hugely for us. They’ve been fantastic, very warm and nice.”

Q. How would you hope to see the barrier island evolve in the years ahead?

Estefan: “What I would hope is that Vero would move into the future fearlessly but cautiously, and maintain what kept this town special – and what probably drew everyone here to Vero, which is the quaintness. For me, it was like stepping back to my childhood – to old Florida – and that hopefully will not get lost. Because I think that was people’s fear when we came in. I think they saw such a high profile couple, and career, and they hear all the scuttlebutt, and they were fearful that we might bring some other lifestyle, or too much noise, God knows what. But there’s ways to bring move forward without ruining what makes this beautiful and nice and what drew us here. That’s what we hope.”

Q. Do you see Vero Beach increasingly attracting international visitors?

Estefan: “Very much. This is a place Europeans would really love, because it has – first of all for them, it is very inexpensive at this point. And I know many, many Europeans love this because they don’t have it. They don’t have beaches like this. They don’t have the quietness. And I think they would love it. I did a lot of interviews with London media, and they were very, very curious, and wanted to know about Vero Beach. With the webpage we are going to link to all the surrounding activites. Vero Beach is quiet and out of the way, but you can be involved with all of these great places around.”

Q. And you also see your hotel attracting visitors from Miami, Orlando and other parts of Florida?

Estefan: “Especially offseason. Because offseason, Europeans I think will die of heatstroke, a lot of them. It never gets too hot for me, but for them, I think maybe it might get a little – although Vero, this is a big selling point, never gets as hot as further south. We have breezes here. In Miami, the water gets like soup, but here it stays fresh.”

Q. Do you expect island residents to see Costa d’Este as a place to come after a dinner party or benefit for a nightcap?

Estefan: “Well they already are. They have been coming in full force. We’re trying to find out if there is a way you can (keep the bar open) later than one o’clock in the morning because apparently that’s the law here. But people have been here until one o’clock in the morning and then some. They just can’t serve more liquor to them.”

Q. Many Florida cities allow liquor to be served until 2 am, and it’s 3 am in Tampa and 4 am or later in South Florida. Would you like to see the law changed here?

Estefan: “I think to at least 2 o’clock. I don’t think you want to go beyond two o’clock. I don’t know if you want people continuing to drink that late into the night because that’s just not safe. Two o’clock would be nice. At least one extra hour. It’s just a little later, but still late enough that people get their fill and don’t go home without still wanting some party in them. But we’ll see. We’re trying to look into that to see if there is a way. But if not, we’re going to stick to the law and have a good party until one o’clock.”

Q. Speaking of parties, what do you have planned for your grand opening? Will you be inviting celebrities to Costa d’Este?

Estefan: “They’re coming for the grand opening in early November -- a lot of big celebrities. We’re planning a big celebration for that. We’ve got some things, I don’t want to talk about it because I want to make sure they happen, but we’re planning a very nice – a lot of international press, national press from other parts, Access Hollywood, and all the big shows, and we hope to have some entertainment. I’m not sure what we’re going to do, we’re still in the talking stages for what we are going to do. We are limited in space here, so we will have to find something – we don’t want to turn it into a zoo either. So we are going to bring definitely something very special and we’ll see. Some of the best things that we have done have been like a charity event that I do with Queen Latifah. It was just a small thing that we sang together. It doesn’t have to be huge to be great. We’re planning all that now.”

Q. Do you have any plans to expand your business ties to Vero Beach?

Estefan: “We’re constantly looking and I know we are going to make some moves on the real estate side. We want to move some things not just out of Miami but out of Florida. We’re looking at North Carolina, and Colorado. We are always looking at places that we go to. Because you also need to be able to be there. And I don’t want to get to the point where we have so much that we don’t enjoy life anymore because you’re constantly chasing your tail. But we are looking always at things. We’re looking at several things here in Vero. But a place like this is so unique to find it. It’s very hard to find what we’ve found here. That’s what we loved.”

Q. So we likely will be seeing the Estefans spending more time in Vero Beach in the future?

Estefan: “More and more, I can tell you that. The last couple of years, we have been traveling non-stop. When we come back, we definitely come over here. I love this place. And if I have a couple of days, we will come. I just love being here.”