A Croatian architect and developer is hoping to share a part of her homeland with the Bermuda market through a new property development scheme.

Vesna Karlovic Terceira, who is the designer and co-developer of Projekt Gradnja along with her husband Peter Terceira, of TQ Ltd., will be presenting Villa Belvedere project to prospective clients at TQ's offices in Walker Arcade, Hamilton on Tuesday November 17.

Mrs. Terceira believes the exclusive holiday apartments located in a restored villa on the Opatija Riviera will allow Bermudians to be centrally based in Europe at the same time as being able to invest in an appreciating property market.

The 20 one- and two-bedroom units and two-, three- and four-bedroom penthouse suites, which are available now, cost between 120,000 and 350,000 euros. TQ designed and managed the project during its construction.

Mrs. Terceira was born in Zagreb, Croatia when it was part of the former Yugoslavia, before her family emigrated to Canada, where she grew up and graduated with a degree in Architecture at the University of Toronto.

Having returned to her home country a number of times to visit relatives as well as a study trip to Florence in Italy on the eve of the fall of the Berlin Wall and the Iron Curtain came crashing down, she fell in love with it all over again and realised there was great potential to develop property there.

"At the time when the Berlin Wall came down there was a great deal of euphoria throughout eastern Europe and there was an enormous amount of potential for development," she said.

"I really felt that Croatia was going to be a new frontier and I wanted to bring in my experience to help realise that."

When the Yugoslavian war ended in 1995 and the countries within it gained independence, Mrs. Terceira decided it was time to take a closer look at what could be achieved in a northern region of Croatia bordering Slovenia, which had been untouched by the conflict, was safe, orderly, well-connected to the rest of the continent and relatively western in its outlook.

Her parents already had a flat in the country and she was building a house in the region with her husband, when the opportunity arose to acquire the property and renovate it.

"We saw an opportunity to work on this project as both the architect and the developer, and took it and proceeded with the development," she said.

"I think it will appeal to someone who would like to have a base in central Europe 50 kilometres from the European Union (EU) border - it is so close to many things and places, while it is also a great investment opportunity with Croatia joining the EU in two years and the area set to appreciate higher than any other region in the country."

And Mrs. Terceira, who first came to Bermuda in 1993, where she later met her future husband, starting off at Bath Butterworth (now Design Ltd.) and went on to work on the design of the XL Capital's offices with Entasis and then joined her husband at TQ Ltd., reckons the apartments will cater to the market of foreign buyers looking for high quality residential development in a fine boutique hotel style within the historic setting of the medieval town of Lovran.

The presentation takes place between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. on Tuesday.

To book your place at the presentation or for more information contact 236-2203 or 536-2203 or email peppercorn@logic.bm