British Virgin Islands Home: Halo Over Oil Nut Bay

A hilltop home in the British Virgin Islands overlooks both the Atlantic and the Caribbean.

Words by J. Michael Welton. Photography courtesy of Oil Nut Bay.

In the early 2000s, David V. Johnson, flush with success from 40 years of lucrative real estate developments across the United States, embarked on a scientific journey across the Caribbean.

His quest: to find an undeveloped island with a 10-month season and temperatures in the low 80s. To do that, he built a yacht and investigated 13 countries over six years. He cruised the Bahamas, inspected the Turks and Caicos, threaded the French Virgin Islands, then came to rest in the British Virgin Islands.

There he was stopped cold by 400 acres of paradise on the eastern tip of Virgin Gorda. No roads connect the two – so access is by water or helicopter only. That made for appealing acreage that checked other boxes too.

“There’s no sugar crop or corruption, but there are financial services and the British government,” he says. “And it had a Social Security stamp on it.”

By 2008, he’d established Oil Nut Bay, a high-end residential resort like none other in the British Virgin Islands. “No one has our size, scope and services,” says Emily Oakes, vice president of business. “It has all the resort amenities a beach club, three pools, two bars, a kids club, a nature center, tennis courts, pickleball courts, yoga and Pilates.”

Then there’s the 101-slip marina with its own village another restaurant, a bar, a pool and all manner of watersports. Since it’s open to the public, day-boaters can come in and tie up overnight. The island’s homeowners keep their yachts there as well. “Most end up owning a slip and a day boat for the incredible fishing that’s 20 minutes away,” she says. “It’s true boating mecca.”

Johnson authored a set of architectural guidelines for homes to be built on his island, based on his decades of development experience. They’re to be constructed in harmony with nature, and can’t exceed 15,000 square feet of air-conditioned space. 63 out of 180 lots have sold so far, with 44 homes now standing and eight more underway.

“So far, $650 million in homes have been built, $100 million in sold homes are being built and there’s another $75 million in spec homes,” he says. “And there’s been $100 million in superstructure that’s complete, with no partners and no debt.”

Most of the homes are on the water, but the developer wanted to prove a hilltop residence could work as well. For that, he turned to the late Ken Kao, a Boston-based architect and frequent lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. He’d already designed two beach houses, but this one was to be different. “I asked him to create a ‘Wow!’ house that was also cozy,” Johnson says. “The mission was to showcase the upper land and the sheer cliffs going down to the ocean.”

Kao would not disappoint with his design for the home that Johnson calls Halo. The 8,500-square-foot residence offers 270-degree views of both the crystal-blue Caribbean and the wild Atlantic, whose 20-foot waves crash against a cliffside 200 feet below. “The cool thing is that it’s where the Caribbean meets the Atlantic,” Oakes says.

A concrete porch structure also supports a green roof, densely planted with native vegetation. A copper element covers the great room below, where four beams clad in walnut span 75 feet of the ceiling inside. Ten-foot-tall glass walls open up to 24 feet wide at the push of a button. And as long as there’s a 10-knot wind, the temperature’s a breezy 82 degrees.

“The great room blows people away, but there are also more intimate areas like the TV room,” Johnson says. “There’s privacy, a pool with a waterfall you can control with your phone, a chef’s kitchen outside, and an amazing kitchen inside I’ve had dinner parties for 15.”

It flows nicely, and it’s comfortable, but not overwhelming or intimidating, says Alexander Dobbs, lead sales listing agent for Oil Nut Bay.

“It’s not ‘Let me show you how rich I am!’” he says. “That’s not the story.”

Halo’s located on one of only three hilltops left on the island today. And it may be elevated, but it’s still accessible. Johnson can be on the beach after a two-minute golf cart ride, and at the marina in five.

It’s a little big for his wife and himself though, and besides, he’s proven his point. So the developers built a three-bedroom home below. He’ll move there on November 1.

That means that for the right angel, Halo’s available at a cool $27.5 million.

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