5 photos from the developer
Under construction
Generation Tower
Costa del Este, Panama City
from $246k to $325k
- Unit types
- 3
- Smallest unit
- 43 m²
- Bedrooms
- 1
- Status
- Under construction
- Area
- Costa del Este
Generation Tower is sold as a permit as much as an apartment. Article 21 of Ley 80 de 2012, published in Gaceta Oficial 27159-A on 8 November 2012, prohibits any rental shorter than 45 days anywhere in the distrito de Panamá by anyone without a permiso de alojamiento público turístico, and it lets the Autoridad de Turismo de Panamá fine between B/.5,000 and B/.50,000, including fining people who merely advertise the listing. Costa del Este sits inside that district. Empresas Bern is building this 42-storey tower as a condo-hotel, which means you buy the unit outright but every listing for the project states the units carry commercial permits allowing rentals from one night up on Airbnb, Booking and Expedia. If that holds, it is the entire reason to look at this tower rather than the several other Costa del Este projects selling at the same time. It also tells you what you are buying: a furnished 41 to 68 m² suite with a hotel operator attached, not a family apartment. We could not verify the permit. Every statement of it traces back to the developer's own marketing or to a broker repeating it, and we found no public register of permiso holders we could check it against. Closing that gap is the most important thing an attorney does on this purchase, because without the permit on your specific unit the investment case collapses into an ordinary long-let apartment bought at a condo-hotel price.
Generation Tower prices and floor plans
| Unit | Beds | Baths | Size | From |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Condo-suite — fully furnished | 1 | 1 | 43 m² | $246k |
| Condo-suite — fully furnished, larger plan | 1 | 1 | 65 m² | $325k |
| Independent Living — floors 6–11, nurses station | 1 | 1 | 43 m² | $246k |
Where Generation Tower actually is
Generation Tower is going up in Costa del Este, in the Juan Díaz corregimiento of the distrito de Panamá, a few minutes from Town Center mall and from Hospital Pacífica Salud. The hospital matters more here than it would for a normal tower. Part of the building is being sold as an "Independent Living" product aimed at medical stays, and the developer's own material puts the hospital about eight minutes away and Tocumen about fifteen. Three levels at the base are retail and restaurants. The district context, including title, cost and the state of the bay, is on our Costa del Este area page and applies to this tower the same as any other. What is specific to Generation Tower is who its guests will be. Costa del Este has corporate headquarters, international schools and a seafront promenade. It has no nightlife, no historic quarter, and no beach you can use. A short-stay unit here fills with business travellers, relocating executives and medical visitors, not with tourists, who stay in Casco Viejo and Bella Vista. That demand is steadier and duller than tourist demand, and it moves with the corporate calendar rather than the dry season.
What’s included at Generation Tower
- Infinity pool
- Wellness centre
- Sky bar
- Rooftop
- Open-air theatre
- Spa
- Jogging track
- Coworking lounge
- Gym
- Shared laundry
- Games centre
- Sun deck
- BBQ areas
- Meet-and-greet lounge
Who Generation Tower suits — and who it doesn’t
Investors buying the short-stay permit as much as the real estate, who want a Panama City unit that can legally be let by the night; buyers who want the letting run for them and are comfortable that the operator is the developer's own management arm, be. by Empresas Bern; anyone whose expected tenant is a corporate visitor, a relocating executive or a patient using Pacífica Salud rather than a family; and buyers who accept a furnished one-bedroom suite of 41 to 68 m² as the product rather than treating it as a starter apartment.
The permit is the whole investment case and we could not independently verify it. The developer's current material goes further than before, describing Generation Tower as one of only two Costa del Este condo projects licensed for short-term rentals and stating flatly that the 45-day minimum-stay rule does not apply. That is a stronger and more specific claim than the earlier marketing, and it is still a claim by the seller. Every source describing the permit traces to the developer or to a broker repeating the developer, and we found no searchable public register of permiso de alojamiento público turístico holders to check it against. Ask for the authorisation document with its number, and verify it with the ATP yourself before any deposit.
The legal scarcity that makes the permit valuable may not last. Anteproyecto de Ley N°35, filed in the Asamblea Nacional in July 2025, would repeal the sanctions in article 21 of Ley 80 de 2012 outright, register short-stay hosts, tax them at 10% ITBMS, and hand the decision on whether short-stay letting is allowed to each building's copropietarios. If something like that passes, thousands of Panama City apartments become legal competitors and the premium built on this tower's exclusivity thins. We did not establish the bill's current status and you should check it before relying on either outcome.
More cash is due during construction than the broker pages said. The developer's current schedule is 15 percent at signing, 10 percent at six months, 10 percent at twelve months and 5 percent at eighteen months, which is 40 percent before handover. Broker listings had circulated two different schedules that both landed on 30 percent during construction and 70 percent at delivery. That is a ten-point difference on a mid-2027 delivery, so work from 40 percent until the developer's contract says otherwise.
The units are small and single-purpose. A 43 to 65 m² furnished suite in a family district resells to another investor, not to an owner-occupier, which narrows the exit.
The running costs stack: HOA at $3.50 per m² per month, an initial fund contribution of $6 per m² at handover, and a rental management split that we could not find published anywhere. The letting is run by Be Property Management, the developer's own hotel arm, which means the operator and the seller are the same group. Ask for the management agreement in writing and read the fee schedule before you model a yield.
The yield figures are the developer's, not the market's. The current material puts estimated ROI at 8 to 10 percent, and long-term rents around $1,500 a month. Against a $246,000 entry price, $1,500 a month is a gross yield of about 7.3 percent before any cost, so the 8 to 10 percent figure depends entirely on short-stay rates beating long-let rates, which depends on the permit. No Panamanian institution publishes per-project occupancy or nightly rates, so nobody can quote you a verified return on this building.
The developer carries a live legal dispute of real size, set out in the section below.
Before you buy at Generation Tower
Status is under construction, with delivery quoted for 2027. Panama Equity puts it at Q4 2027, another broker at mid-2027, and The Agency Panama at "estimated 2027", so the year is consistent even though the quarter is not. One listing still shows 2026 and one project directory still shows 2022; both are stale. Payment structures published by brokers differ. One shows 10% at signing, 10% at 12 months, 10% at 24 months and 70% on delivery against the occupancy permit. Another shows a 5% reservation, 10% within eight days, staged payments after that, and the same 70% at delivery. They agree on 30% during construction and 70% at the end, which is the number to work with until the developer gives you the current schedule in writing.
The developer is Empresas Bern, which states 47 years in the market and is also the developer behind Pino Alto in Boquete, the other project on this site whose case rests on legal short-term rental. Scale like that normally counts in a developer's favour on delivery risk, and it also means the same commercial model is being run twice, so ask how Pino Alto's rental programme has actually performed before you accept the projections for this one.
Weigh one thing against that scale. On 24 May 2024 a tribunal of the Centro de Conciliación y Arbitraje de Panamá ruled against Empresas Bern in a dispute over Town Center Costa del Este, the same mall this tower is marketed as being steps from. La Prensa and La Estrella de Panamá reported damages and costs of roughly $77.7 million to $82.6 million, and La Estrella's breakdown attributed $41.3 million to construction deficiencies and $19.8 million to deficient project administration. Later coverage does not settle on one total: an August 2025 piece put it near $65 million and a July 2026 piece at over $85 million. Read the size as large and the exact figure as unsettled.
The detail that matters most on this page is narrower than the money. La Prensa reports the tribunal found a hotel had been built without shareholder authorisation, awarded the hotel site and its improvements entirely to Town Center, and rejected Bern's $61.1 million counterclaim. Bern's position is that the award is void for procedural defects. It filed an annulment action with the Supreme Court in July 2024, and as of July 2026 it said the judicial process was continuing with no final decision. It also says the entities involved are separate from its current operations. None of that is a finding against Generation Tower. It still belongs on this page for two reasons: an award of that size is a solvency question for any counterparty taking your deposit, and a tribunal finding that this group built a hotel without the authorisation to do so sits directly underneath a sales pitch whose entire value rests on a hotel-use permit we could not verify. Confirm which Bern entity actually signs your contract, and check that entity rather than the brand.
The architect is listed by brokers as Mallol & Mallol Arquitectos; the developer's own page does not name an architect, so treat that as broker-sourced. Title status is unknown for this tower. If the difference between a registered deed and a purchase promise is not something you have dealt with before, read our guide on titled land versus Rights of Possession first. Have an attorney pull the finca for the lot, confirm the construction permit with the municipality, obtain the permiso de alojamiento público turístico or the ATP registration in writing and confirm it attaches to your unit, read the deposit-forfeiture terms in the promesa de compraventa, and read the reglamento de copropiedad before it is registered rather than after, because it is the document that will govern whether short-stay letting stays permitted inside the building.
FAQ
Can you legally run an Airbnb at Generation Tower?
That is what it is sold on, and we still could not verify it. Article 21 of Ley 80 de 2012 (Gaceta Oficial 27159-A, 8 November 2012) bans rentals under 45 days anywhere in the distrito de Panamá without a permiso de alojamiento público turístico, with fines from B/.5,000 to B/.50,000 that also apply to advertising the listing. Costa del Este is inside that district.
The developer's current material states that Generation Tower is one of only two Costa del Este condo projects licensed for short-term rentals, and that the 45-day rule does not apply to it. That is more specific than the earlier marketing. It is also still the seller's own statement, and every other source describing the permit traces back to it. We found no public register to check it against.
That gap deserves weight here, because a 2024 arbitration tribunal found the same developer group had built a hotel at Town Center Costa del Este without shareholder authorisation. See the developer question below. Get the permit document itself, with its number, before you pay a deposit.
What does a unit at Generation Tower actually cost?
As of 3 July 2026 the developer's range is $246,000 to $325,000 for fully furnished suites of 43 to 65 m², which is roughly $5,000 to $5,721 per square metre. The developer describes it as the least expensive project in Costa del Este.
Broker quotes sit above that floor and disagree with each other. The Agency Panama published $265,008 to $325,132, which this page previously used; Panama Equity lists a one-bedroom at $280,200; project directories start variously at $273,480, $270,248 and $257,000. Premier Casa's $233,039 to $297,800 and stray figures of $220,400, $181,000 and $174,000 are older-phase pricing. The ceiling everyone converges on, around $325,000, is right. The floor is $246,000 and most brokers are quoting above it.
What is the payment plan?
15 percent at contract signing, 10 percent at six months, 10 percent at twelve months and 5 percent at eighteen months, with the balance due on delivery. That is 40 percent committed during construction against a mid-2027 handover.
This matters because broker listings had circulated two different schedules that both worked out at 30 percent during construction and 70 percent at delivery. The developer's own current terms ask ten points more up front. Developer financing is offered on 50 percent down with the remaining 50 percent over five years after completion. Get the schedule that applies to your unit in writing.
What return can I actually expect?
The developer estimates 8 to 10 percent, and separately puts long-term rents at around $1,500 a month.
Those two figures are worth holding side by side. At the $246,000 entry price, $1,500 a month is a gross yield of about 7.3 percent before maintenance, vacancy, management or tax, and net of those it lands well below 8 percent. So the developer's ROI range only works if short-stay income beats long-let income by a meaningful margin, which depends entirely on the permit being real and on occupancy holding up.
No Panamanian institution publishes per-project occupancy or nightly rates. Anyone quoting you a return on this building, including the developer, is quoting a projection. Ask what occupancy and nightly rate the 8 to 10 percent assumes, and what the management split is, then rebuild the number yourself.
When will Generation Tower be delivered?
Mid-2027, on the developer's current guidance. That is consistent with what brokers say: Panama Equity gives Q4 2027, one broker says mid-2027, and The Agency Panama says estimated 2027. A couple of pages still show 2026 or even 2022, and those are stale. The developer's own site showed a construction photo dated February 2026. Get the current schedule in writing rather than relying on any listing.
What is the Independent Living product?
A separate offering on floors 6 to 11, aimed at older residents and at medical stays, starting from $246,000 for a 43 m² unit. Those floors are wheelchair accessible and come with a nurses station and room service.
The siting is the logic: Hospital Pacífica Salud is about eight minutes away and Tocumen about fifteen. If you are buying this rather than a standard suite, ask who actually staffs and pays for the nurses station, whether that cost sits inside the HOA or is billed separately, and what happens to the service if the building's owners later vote to stop funding it. A nursing service is an operating commitment, not a fixture, and nothing in a purchase contract obliges it to exist in 2035.
Is Generation Tower residential or a hotel?
Both, and that is the point. You buy the unit outright, the same as any Panama City apartment, but the product is a furnished condo-suite of 43 to 65 m² with hotel-style services, three levels of retail and restaurants at the base, and a set of lower floors sold as an Independent Living offering aimed at medical stays. The letting is run by Be Property Management, part of Bern Hotels, which is the developer's own group. It is not a family apartment, and treating it as one will produce a disappointing purchase.
What is the price per square metre?
$5,000 to $5,721, on the developer's current range of $246,000 to $325,000 across 43 to 65 m² suites. The smaller units carry the higher rate, which is normal for a furnished condo-suite.
For comparison in the same district, Bioma runs roughly $4,180 to $5,262 per m², Nogal about $3,908 to $4,000, and Aurum from $3,961. Generation Tower is the most expensive per square metre of the four and the cheapest by ticket price, because the units are small and come furnished. Your money buys less floor area here than in a conventional tower, which is the trade for the permit and the letting programme.
How many floors does Generation Tower have?
Most sources say 42, including Panama Equity, Premier Casa and two project directories, and that is what we have recorded. Other sources disagree: one directory describes 44 levels with units running from level 6 to level 43, a construction forum thread titles it 45 floors, and one article says 27. Treat any single figure as approximate until it is confirmed against the recorded plans.
What are the HOA fees?
$3.50 per m² per month, plus an initial fund contribution of $6 per m² at handover, both according to broker listings. On a 43 m² unit that is roughly $151 a month with a one-off contribution near $258; on a 65 m² unit, about $228 a month and $390 at handover. That is before whatever the rental management programme charges, and we could not find that split published anywhere.
Who is the developer, and is there anything I should know about them?
Empresas Bern, which states 47 years in the Panamanian market and also developed Pino Alto in Boquete, the other short-term-rental-led project we cover. Brokers name Mallol & Mallol Arquitectos as architect, though the developer's own page does not.
There is one matter a buyer should know about. On 24 May 2024 a tribunal of the Centro de Conciliación y Arbitraje de Panamá ruled against Empresas Bern over Town Center Costa del Este, the mall this tower is marketed as being steps from. La Prensa and La Estrella de Panamá reported damages and costs of roughly $77.7 million to $82.6 million, with La Estrella attributing $41.3 million to construction deficiencies and $19.8 million to deficient project administration. Later coverage does not settle on one total, putting it near $65 million in August 2025 and over $85 million in July 2026. La Prensa also reports that the tribunal found a hotel had been built without shareholder authorisation, awarded the hotel site and its improvements entirely to Town Center, and rejected Bern's $61.1 million counterclaim.
Bern says the award is void for procedural defects, filed an annulment action with the Supreme Court in July 2024, and as of July 2026 said the judicial process was continuing with no final decision. It also says the entities involved are separate from its current operations. It is not a finding about Generation Tower. It is still relevant, because a finding about building a hotel without authorisation sits directly under this tower's unverified hotel-use permit, and because an award of that size is a solvency question for whoever holds your deposit. Confirm which Bern entity signs your contract.
Is Generation Tower titled property?
Unknown for this tower. Costa del Este as a district is titled, verified against the Registro Público by our reviewer on 4 August 2026, but this building is under construction and sold under a promesa de compraventa rather than a deed. The individual unit finca numbers will not exist until the horizontal property regime is registered at completion. We did not pull a registry record for the lot and will not imply otherwise. Have an attorney pull the finca for the land and confirm the construction permit with the Municipio de Panamá before any money moves.
