Great questions and I'll try to answer the best as I can. My answers don't come from tourists, but from the well-off Dominicans, investors and their thoughts on what is going on.
1. Sosua is really fucked up right now, personal I find it more fucked up than ever. The mayor wants the businesses to finance the closing of Pedro Clisante. That is really messed up. She created this situation and should have had a solution ready. We all knew that removing the clubs from that district would change the dynamics. She should have had a plan and the funds ready. 7 years ago we had the street closed and for the majority it worked fine, but after 9 months it was reopened because of 30 signatures of unhappy business owners. Those business owners are still there and do not what the street closed. So as a restaurant or bar owner would I to invest in something that is bound to fail again?
2. I believe that the next 5 years will be an extremely difficult time for Sosua business owners, especially on the west side of Pedro Clisante. Being in limbo is the worse. Nobody is sure what is going on. With the main highway being redone to Cabarete starting in January, the new port in Puerto Plata, the new highway from Santiago and the new constructions going on, the town is a mess and nothing is in a stage of completion. The sidewalks and the lighting are two small examples. The bad press is keeping away the regular tourists and the WW don't seem as interested in coming because of the recent changes. The transition is happening, but not near completion to have either type of influx of tourists.
3. The richest percentage of Dominicans live in Santiago and many have holiday homes in Sosua. The Baldom family for example have a home on the ocean in Playa Chiquita and one in the hills of
Los Cerros. They only come on long weekends, because it take 2 -2.5 hours from Santiago because of the weekend traffic. The new highway will cut through Montellano and will only take 45 minutes to get from airport to airport. This means they can come on weekends and stay until Monday morning and head straight to work. This will be the biggest benefit to Sosua, not the expat tourists. These people don't hang out on Pedro Clisante. If you want to see them, go to Nelson's, Bologna, Maria's, Ocean Village or Margots on the weekend. Those restaurants are packed with rich Dominicans. They want to stay in posh condos and have the money to buy them. The new Marriot is spending 4 million dollars on their new beach / break wall alone. They are also building a helicopter pad.
4. Prices will go up because of supply and demand. It will all fall into place. There are big things happening that the regular public isn't aware of. Most people have no idea about the new highway being built, or the new port in Puerto Plata which is set to open next January.
For now Sosua is a little shit town in my opinion. The transition was done without thought. I find the traffic horrendous compared to 5 years ago and there in not any more order today than there was yesterday. Also, don't forget the municipal election in February, that can also complicate things further.
Maybe I'm wrong about all of this. Maybe all the rich Dominicans that influence the construction and decisions are wrong. Maybe the investors are wrong. With all that is happening, change is here and the transition is going through....that is clear.
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