5 photos from the developer
Under construction
Seaside
Marbella, Panama City
from $253k to $305k
- Unit types
- 2
- Smallest unit
- 56 m²
- Bedrooms
- 1
- Status
- Under construction
- Area
- Marbella
Seaside exists to be rented by the night, and in Panama City that is a legal question before it is an investment one. Law 80 of 2012 sets a 45-day minimum stay for residential apartments inside the district of Panama, so an ordinary condo listed on Airbnb is operating outside the law unless the building itself holds a tourism accommodation licence from the Autoridad de Turismo de Panamá (ATP). Seaside is sold as clearing that bar. Empresas Bern's own project page markets the apartments as "Short-Term Rental Approved Units," the project site claims permisos para rentas cortas, and RE/MAX Panama's listing goes further, stating the project holds a hotel licence allowing legal operation on Airbnb and Booking.
We could not confirm any of it. No ATP registration number is published anywhere we looked, and we found no public copy of the reglamento de copropiedad, the co-ownership rules that have to designate a building as tourist accommodation before the licence reaches an individual unit. What you are asked to accept in its place is the developer's standing. Empresas Bern has built in Panama since 1978, files Seaside in the same condo-suites line as Pino Alto in Boquete, and is the group behind The Westin Residences at Playa Bonita.
Weigh that against the rest of the record. Bern lost an arbitration on 24 May 2024, before a tribunal of the Centro de Conciliación y Arbitraje de Panamá, over Town Center Costa del Este. Totals differ across the coverage. La Prensa reported $77.7 million in damages and costs; La Estrella de Panamá reported $82.6 million, itemising $41,263,818.59 for construction deficiencies and $19,753,312.59 for deficient project administration. La Prensa also reported that the hotel site and its improvements were awarded to Town Center after the tribunal found the hotel had been built without shareholder authorisation, and that Bern's own $61.1 million counterclaim was rejected. Bern calls the award void for procedural defects and filed an annulment action with the Supreme Court in July 2024. As of July 2026 Bern said the judicial process was continuing with no final decision, and that the entities involved are separate from its current operations. Ask which Bern entity signs your contract. Then ask for the ATP registration and the reglamento by name, before you price rental income into anything.
Seaside prices and floor plans
| Unit | Beds | Baths | Size | From |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 56 m² — 1 rec, furnished (34 units) | 1 | 1 | 56 m² | $253k |
| 64 m² — 1 rec, convertible to 2, furnished (100 units) | 1 | 1 | 64 m² | $305k |
Where Seaside actually is
Seaside is going up on Calle República de Uruguay, the short run between Avenida Balboa and Calle 50 that has been Panama City's main nightlife strip for two decades. The broker pages are vague about the corner, but the property portals pin it down. A Rent-A-House listing on Compre o Alquile places the project "en calle Uruguay, a una cuadra de la Avenida Balboa," one block up from the avenue, and a second agent gives the address as Calle Uruguay and Avenida Balboa. That matches the Calle 47 corner our own record shows and contradicts The Agency Panama's listing, which says Calle 48. It puts the tower at the bottom of the street, closest to the water, with the bar and club stretch running uphill from there toward Calle 50. The Cinta Costera waterfront and its ciclovía are roughly a five-minute walk downhill.
Most listings file the address under Bella Vista rather than Marbella. Marbella is the adjoining upscale pocket of the same corregimiento, and agents use the two names interchangeably for this block. The tower runs to 31 storeys with three amenity floors near the top, at levels 26 to 28, eight parking levels plus a basement, two high-speed lifts and one service lift, and one parking space per unit. The Spanish amenity list translates to a pool and jacuzzi, a screening room, a games room, a gym, a yoga and Pilates studio, a coworking lounge and a club house, with listings adding a squash court, a rooftop bar, a solarium, a sauna and spa, a climbing wall, a pet park and a zen garden. Units are delivered furnished with appliances included.
What’s included at Seaside
- Cinema
- Yoga and pilates space
- Games room
- Gym
- Pool
- Jacuzzi
- Coworking space
- Club house
Who Seaside suits — and who it doesn’t
Investors buying specifically for short-stay rental income, who want a furnished, equipped unit that can be handed to a management operator on day one. Buyers who will actually demand the ATP registration number and the reglamento de copropiedad clause before signing, rather than accepting "Airbnb ready" marketing at face value. Owners who spend part of the year in Panama and want the apartment earning while they are elsewhere. Anyone who wants to be inside the nightlife strip and counts that as an amenity rather than a cost.
The location is the drawback. Calle Uruguay is Panama City's nightlife strip, the venues do not fill until around 11pm, and weekend nights run late. Short-stay guests come for exactly that, so a rental unit absorbs the noise. Someone living there full time does not. A long-running Panama City residents' guide is blunt that city noise here is "a big problem and at times unavoidable," and its advice is worth following literally: view the unit during the workweek at peak hours, then stand inside for ten minutes with the windows shut and again with them open, and listen. Do that on a Saturday night too, before you sign anything.
Delivery dates conflict across public sources, though the range has narrowed. The Agency Panama, RE/MAX Panama and Panama Equity all indicate 2026, and several agent listings still say "entrega para el 2026." The live project page on Compre o Alquile says the fourth quarter of 2027. Prime Real Estate says 2027. InmoPlus Panama says the first quarter of 2028. Empresas Bern's own page shows the tower under construction in a January 2026 site photograph and publishes no completion date at all. The developer's own sales material gives the start of 2027. The 2026 figures are stale listing copy, since a 31-storey building still under construction in early 2026 is not handing over keys that year. Early 2027 is the developer's answer and late 2027 the cautious read. Get it in writing either way.
Published prices are inconsistent, and there is now an explanation for the pattern. Our range of $253,400 to $304,960 matches the live project listing and the ceiling of what any agent is asking. The older figures still circulating, $232,400 to $243,600 for the same 56 m² model, are not a discount and not a mistake: $243,600 was the developer's own entry price in January 2026, when the units were quoted unfurnished. The developer subsequently decided to deliver every unit furnished and turnkey, and the price moved up accordingly. So a listing showing $243,600 is quoting a real price for a different product. Check whether any quote you are given includes the furniture package before comparing it to anything.
The unit mix is narrow: 134 apartments, 100 of them the same 64 m² floorplan and 34 at 56 m², all one-bedroom layouts, with some 64 m² plans marketed as convertible to two bedrooms. When you sell, you compete against up to 99 near-identical units in your own building, into a resale pool made up largely of other investors. One quote circulating for a two-bed, two-bath at $300,000 does not reconcile with any floor plan the project publishes, so confirm the unit type behind any two-bedroom price you are shown.
The rental numbers are modest once you do the arithmetic. The developer expects $1,200 to $1,500 a month and an ROI around 8 percent. At the $253,400 entry price, $1,500 a month is a gross yield of about 7.1 percent before maintenance, vacancy, management or tax, so the 8 percent figure depends on short-stay rates beating that, which depends on the licence question above. No Panamanian institution publishes per-project occupancy data that would let anyone check it.
And the developer is carrying an arbitration award against it for construction and project-administration failures at Town Center Costa del Este, reported at $77.7 million by La Prensa and $82.6 million by La Estrella de Panamá. Bern 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. Bern disputes the award and says the entities involved are separate from its current operations. That matters twice over on this page, because Bern's standing is also the main reason offered to believe the short-term rental licence.
Before you buy at Seaside
The developer is Empresas Bern, building in Panama since 1978, and the firm behind Pino Alto in Boquete and The Westin Residences at Playa Bonita, both covered on this site. That is a longer public record than most towers on this street can show, and considerably more than we could establish for SilverBay a few blocks away, where no source names a developer at all. The record runs both ways. Bern lost an arbitration on 24 May 2024 before a Centro de Conciliación y Arbitraje de Panamá tribunal over Town Center Costa del Este, with damages and costs reported at $77.7 million by La Prensa and $82.6 million by La Estrella de Panamá. Bern 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. Bern says the entities involved are separate from its current operations. Confirm which Bern entity is the selling party on your promesa de compraventa, and whether that entity is among those named in the arbitration.
Title status is unverified. We have not pulled a Registro Público finca number for this project, so it stays recorded as unknown. Marbella and Bella Vista are long-established titled districts, but that is a pattern across the area rather than a guarantee for this lot, and a pre-construction tower is sold on a promesa de compraventa rather than a deed regardless. If that distinction is unfamiliar, start with our guide to titled land vs. Rights of Possession.
Four things to get in writing before any deposit. First, the building's ATP tourism accommodation registration, by number, plus the clause in the reglamento de copropiedad designating it as public tourist accommodation. Panamanian property specialists describe that co-ownership clause as what makes a tourist PH function, and without it the licence does not reach your unit. Second, the completion date, given that public sources spread it from 2026 to the first quarter of 2028. Third, the monthly HOA figure, since agent listings disagree by a factor of two and the developer publishes nothing. Fourth, the full terms of the Corporate Stays management agreement that the developer names as the rental operator: the fee, the length of the term, whether you are locked in, and who carries the cost when the unit sits empty.
Treat the return figures with suspicion. Listings quote 6.7% to 9%, RE/MAX Panama says "above 8%," and one agent advertises a 7% cap rate. None of them show the occupancy rate, nightly rate or cost assumptions behind the number, and no Panamanian institution publishes per-project occupancy data that would let anyone check it independently.
Finally, note what the portal prices are. The figures on Encuentra24 and Compre o Alquile are asking prices posted by individual agents, not a developer price list, and several are visibly out of date. Ask for a dated developer price sheet and compare.
FAQ
Can I legally rent a Seaside apartment on Airbnb?
That is the whole question with this project. Law 80 of 2012 imposes a 45-day minimum stay on residential apartments inside the district of Panama, so short-stay letting is only legal where the building holds a tourism accommodation licence from the Autoridad de Turismo de Panamá (ATP). Seaside is marketed as having one. The developer advertises "Short-Term Rental Approved Units" and states in its sales material that the short-term rental licence is in place. RE/MAX Panama's listing says the project holds a hotel licence permitting Airbnb and Booking, and agent listings on both Panamanian property portals sell it under headings like "licencia hotelera," "licencia turística" and "Airbnb friendly." The claim is at least consistent across everyone selling it.
We still could not verify it. No ATP registration number is published anywhere we looked, and we found no public copy of the reglamento de copropiedad designating the building as tourist accommodation. Ask for both, by name and by number, before you count on the income.
What does an apartment at Seaside cost?
$253,400 for the 56 m² model, about $4,525 per square metre, and $304,960 for the 64 m², about $4,765 per square metre. Both are confirmed by the live project listing and by separate agent listings, and across 43 Seaside listings on the two Panamanian portals nothing is offered above $304,960. All units are delivered furnished with appliances.
Older listings still advertise the same 56 m² unit at $232,400 to $243,600. Those are not discounts. $243,600 was the developer's entry price in January 2026, when units were quoted unfurnished, before the developer decided to deliver everything turnkey. The gap between the two numbers is roughly the furniture package. Ask what any quote includes before comparing.
Why did the price go up, and is the furniture worth it?
The developer originally quoted the units unfurnished, at $243,600 for the 56 m² as of January 2026, then decided to furnish all units turnkey. The current price for that plan is $253,400, so the fit-out is priced at roughly $10,000 on the small unit.
For a building sold on nightly letting that is a defensible way to buy furniture, since a short-stay unit has to be furnished to earn anything and doing it building-wide is cheaper than doing it alone. Two things to check: whether the specification is actually what you would have bought, and whether the package is optional. If it is compulsory, you are financing furniture over the life of a mortgage, which is an expensive way to own a sofa.
When will Seaside be delivered?
The developer says the start of 2027. Public sources spread wider than that: The Agency Panama, RE/MAX Panama, Panama Equity and several agent listings say 2026; the live Compre o Alquile project page says Q4 2027; Prime Real Estate says 2027; InmoPlus Panama says Q1 2028. Empresas Bern's own page shows the tower under construction in a January 2026 photograph and gives no date.
For a 31-storey building, 2026 does not add up. Early 2027 is the developer's answer and late 2027 the cautious read. Get the current schedule in writing.
What are the HOA fees at Seaside?
$2 per square metre per month on the developer's own figure, which is about $112 on the 56 m² unit and $128 on the 64 m².
That sits at the bottom of what agents have been quoting. Listings show anything from $98 to $220 a month for units of almost identical size, with several showing an obvious $1 placeholder, a spread of roughly $1.75 to $3.45 per square metre. The developer's number is the low end of that, so treat it as a launch rate rather than a settled one and ask for the projected reglamento de copropiedad budget. It matters more here than in a conventional tower, because a building running on nightly guest turnover puts heavier wear on lifts, lobbies and amenity floors than resident occupancy does.
What will a Seaside apartment earn?
The developer expects $1,200 to $1,500 a month and an ROI of around 8 percent, and names Corporate Stays, a large Canadian corporate-rental operator, as the management company.
Run the arithmetic before accepting it. At $253,400, rent of $1,500 a month is a gross yield of about 7.1 percent, and that is before HOA, vacancy, the management split and tax. The 8 percent figure therefore relies on short-stay rates beating long-let rates, which relies on the ATP licence being real. Listings elsewhere quote 6.7 to 9 percent and one agent advertises a 7 percent cap rate, none of them showing the occupancy or nightly-rate assumptions behind the number.
Ask for the Corporate Stays agreement in full: the fee, the length of the term, whether you are locked in, and who carries the cost when the unit sits empty.
How noisy is Calle Uruguay?
It is Panama City's nightlife strip, and the building sits on it rather than on a side street a block back. Portal listings place it one block up from Avenida Balboa, at the bottom of the strip, with the bar and club cluster running uphill from there toward Calle 50. Venues generally do not fill until around 11pm and weekend nights run late. That suits a short-stay rental, where guests are usually out in it. It suits full-time living far less. Before committing, view the apartment at peak hours on a weekday, then again on a Saturday night, and stand inside for ten minutes with the windows closed and then open.
Who is the developer behind Seaside, and does it have legal problems I should know about?
Empresas Bern, a Panamanian group building here since 1978, also behind Pino Alto in Boquete and The Westin Residences at Playa Bonita, both covered elsewhere on this site. That is a longer public record than most towers on Calle Uruguay can show. It is not an unblemished one.
Bern lost an arbitration on 24 May 2024 before a Centro de Conciliación y Arbitraje de Panamá tribunal over Town Center Costa del Este. La Prensa reported the award at $77.7 million in damages and costs. La Estrella de Panamá reported $82.6 million, itemising $41,263,818.59 for construction deficiencies and $19,753,312.59 for deficient project administration. Per La Prensa, the tribunal also awarded Town Center the hotel site and its improvements after finding the hotel had been built without shareholder authorisation, and rejected Bern's $61.1 million counterclaim.
Bern calls the award void for procedural defects and filed an annulment action with Panama's Supreme Court in July 2024. As of July 2026 it said the judicial process was continuing with no final decision, and that the entities involved are separate from its current operations. Ask which Bern entity signs your contract.
How many units are there, and how big are they?
134 apartments across 31 storeys, of which 100 are 64 m² (about 689 sq ft) and 34 are 56 m² (about 603 sq ft). All are one-bedroom layouts, with some 64 m² plans marketed as convertible to two bedrooms. Eight parking levels plus a basement, one space per unit, two high-speed lifts and one service lift. Units are delivered furnished with appliances included.
One quote circulating for a two-bed, two-bath at $300,000 does not match any floor plan the project publishes. If you are shown a two-bedroom price, confirm which plan it refers to and whether it is a converted 64 m².
Is Seaside titled property?
We have not verified title status or pulled a Registro Público finca number for this project, so it is recorded here as unknown. It is also still under construction, meaning units are sold on a promesa de compraventa rather than a registered deed until the building is completed and its horizontal property regime is recorded. Have an attorney confirm both before any deposit.
