5 photos from the developer
Preselling
Selvática
Costa del Este, Panama City
from $289k to $538k
- Unit types
- 4
- Smallest unit
- 62 m²
- Bedrooms
- 1–2
- Status
- Preselling
- Area
- Costa del Este
Selvática does not exist on the internet yet. As of August 2026 there is no page for it on Empresas Bern's own project list, no listing on Encuentra24 or Compre o Alquile, and no broker page anywhere. That is not a warning sign. It is what pre-launch looks like: the building is being sold quietly at a friends-and-family rate ahead of the public launch, and the figures on this page are that pre-launch list.
What you get is a smaller building than the towers around it. The brochure's three floor plans account for 285 apartments at 62, 80 and 110 m², five to a level on the lower floors, with an amenity deck at level 6 built around a splash pad, a pickleball court and a skate track, and a second one on the roof carrying a pool, spa, sauna, jacuzzi and pilates studio. There is a pet spa. The design language is "salvaje por diseño, urbano por elección", wild by design and urban by choice, and the planting and terrace work in the renderings is doing real work rather than decorating a standard tower.
What you should not expect is a discount for arriving first. At $4,600 to $4,678 per square metre, pre-launch Selvática is priced above both Nogal and Aurum, the two Bern buildings already selling in the same district. You are paying for the newer building and the rooftop floor, not for getting in early.
Selvática prices and floor plans
| Unit | Beds | Baths | Size | From |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Modelo A — 1 rec / 2 ba, second bedroom optional after occupancy permit (54 units) | 1 | 2 | 62 m² | $289k |
| Modelo B — 2 rec / 2 ba (140 units) | 2 | 2 | 80 m² | $368k |
| Modelo C — 2 rec / 2.5 ba, corner, third bedroom optional after occupancy permit (91 units) | 2 | 2.5 | 110 m² | $506k |
| 115 m² line | — | — | 115 m² | $538k |
Where Selvática actually is
Selvática sits in Costa del Este with its frontage on Costa del Mar Avenue and Calle Villa Nueva, and the brochure's view diagrams orient the better lines toward the Boulevard de Costa del Este. That is a district-interior position rather than a bayfront one, which matters for what you will actually look at. Costa del Este is in an active building cycle, with Bioma, Aurum, Nogal, Tagua and Generation Tower all under way at once. Ask which direction your specific line faces and what is permitted on the lots in front of it before paying anything for a view.
The district itself is the reason people buy here, and it is covered in full on our Costa del Este area page. In short: planned street grid, a roughly 4 km seafront boardwalk, international schools including King's College and Oxford International, Town Center mall, Pacífica Salud hospital, and about 12 km to Tocumen International by the Corredor Sur. It is one of the few genuinely walkable districts in Panama City. The bay it fronts has a documented contamination problem and is not swimmable, so the water here is a view rather than a beach.
Parking is worth doing the arithmetic on. The brochure gives 330 spaces plus five accessible, against the 285 apartments its floor plans account for. That is about 1.16 spaces per unit. For a district where most households run two cars, ask early how spaces are allocated, whether a second one can be bought, and what it costs.
What’s included at Selvática
- Piscina y área de bar
- Rooftop
- Spa y sala de masajes
- Sauna y jacuzzi
- Gym
- Salón de pilates
- Sala de yoga
- Sala de belleza
- Cancha multiusos
- Cancha de pickleball
- Pista de patinaje
- Kids park y splash pad
- Children's pool
- Baby room
- Coworking space
- Social kitchen
- Áreas de barbacoa
- Jardín zen
- Zona de hamacas
- Pet spa
Who Selvática suits — and who it doesn’t
Buyers who want a smaller, design-led building in Costa del Este rather than one of the 40-to-60-storey towers going up around it, and who like that five apartments to a level means fewer neighbours sharing a lift. Owner-occupiers and long-term landlords, since the unit mix is domestic: one and two-bedroom plans of 62 to 115 m² with real terraces, aimed at couples, small families and professionals working in the district's corporate towers.
It suits buyers with a long horizon and no need for the money in between. Delivery is 2029 or 2030 and the payment schedule spreads 30 percent across three years, so this is a position you hold rather than an asset that starts working. It also suits anyone who values the rooftop wellness floor and the level-6 family deck enough to pay a premium per square metre over the cheaper Bern towers nearby, because that is the actual trade being offered.
It suits short-term rental investors poorly, and families needing three bedrooms from day one poorly. Both are covered below.
The extra bedroom is not built, and the brochure is specific about when it can be. Both convertible plans carry the same footnote: the second bedroom on the 62 m² Modelo A and the third on the 110 m² Modelo C are available "únicamente posterior al permiso de ocupación", only after the occupancy permit is issued. So you take delivery of a one-bedroom or a two-bedroom, and the conversion happens afterwards, once the building has been signed off. That is a materially different thing from buying a two-bedroom.
Ask four questions before you treat the extra room as included. Who does the work and who pays for it. Whether the converted layout appears in the registered horizontal-property plans or only in your apartment. Whether a bank valuing the unit for a mortgage, or a buyer's attorney at resale, will see a two-bedroom or a one-bedroom. And why the sequencing exists at all, given that the same brochure shows the finished layout on its own page. Get the answers in writing rather than from a rendering.
Delivery is four years out and the developer gives two different years for it. The current material says 2029 in some places and 2030 in others. On a purchase where 30 percent of the money leaves your account across 2026 to 2028, a twelve-month slip in the handover is a real cost. If you want a Costa del Este unit that produces income sooner, Nogal is the same developer with a Q1 2027 delivery and a lighter 30 percent construction schedule, and it is already vertical.
You cannot let this by the night, and it is not built for it. Costa del Este is inside the distrito de Panamá, where article 21 of Ley 80 de 2012 (Gaceta Oficial 27159-A, 8 November 2012) prohibits rentals under 45 days without tourist accommodation authorisation from the Autoridad de Turismo de Panamá, with fines of $5,000 to $50,000 that also reach whoever advertises the listing. Nothing in Selvática's material claims such a licence, and the product is plainly residential. If nightly income is the point of the purchase, Generation Tower in the same district is sold on exactly that basis, and our page on it explains what to verify.
There is nothing to check the price against. No portal listing, no broker page and no developer page exists, so the usual cross-check is unavailable. What we can do is compare per square metre inside the district using our own project data: Nogal runs $3,908 to $4,000, Aurum from $3,961, Bioma $4,577 to $7,542 and Generation Tower $5,000 to $5,721. Selvática's $4,600 to $4,678 sits above the two cheaper Bern towers and below the amenity-heavy ones. A pre-launch rate that is not the cheapest number in the district is worth understanding clearly before you sign.
Treat the appreciation projection as marketing. The developer projects a minimum 5 percent a year, roughly 20 percent across the hold. No Panamanian institution publishes a per-district index that would let anyone verify that, and the same district will deliver several thousand competing units between now and 2030.
And the developer is carrying an arbitration award against it, over a project a short drive from this one. The detail is in the section below.
Before you buy at Selvática
Prices and terms, as of 1 August 2026. $288,500 for the 62 m², $368,000 for the 80 m², $506,000 for the 110 m² (the quoted example is apartment 1001), and $538,000 for the 115 m² line. Payment runs $5,000 as an expression of interest, the balance up to 15 percent at contract signing, then 10 percent in July 2027 and 5 percent in July 2028, with the remainder at closing. That commits 30 percent across roughly three years against a 2029 or 2030 handover. Maintenance is quoted at $2.50 per m² per month, about $155 on the 62 m² and $275 on the 110 m². As a live reference point, apartment 809 was reserved at $288,000 on 27 June 2026, which is essentially the list price for that plan rather than a discount off it.
The deposits sit in a trust account, and that is the single most useful thing about these terms. It is worth understanding why. Panamanian practice allows developers to fund construction directly out of buyer deposits, and the loss expat buyers report most often is a pre-construction purchase where the developer did not finish, delivered something different, or failed before completion, leaving very little practical recourse. A trust account is the structural protection against that, but it is only as strong as its release conditions. Ask which institution holds it, on what schedule the developer may draw from it, what happens to your money if the project stalls, and get all of it in the signed contract. Informal assurances about refunds that never appear in the registered document are a well-documented pattern here.
The developer also offers $300,000 at signing returning roughly $30,000 in interest across the build. Have your own attorney confirm what instrument that money actually sits in and who carries the risk, rather than treating it as a bank deposit. If the same deposit is also meant to support a residency application, that is a separate question with separate rules, and our residency guide is the place to start before an immigration attorney confirms it.
Title. Costa del Este is titled land and our reviewer verified that against the Registro Público on 4 August 2026. That is a fact about the district, not about this lot. Selvática has no finca number, the parcel's individual entry in the property register, because the building does not exist. Completed units here are held under the horizontal property regime of Ley 284 de 2022, meaning your own finca plus an undivided share of the common elements, and none of that happens until the building is finished and registered. Until then what you hold is a promesa de compraventa, a purchase promise, not a deed. Our guide to titled land and Rights of Possession explains what that distinction is worth, and the buying process guide walks through the steps in order.
What your attorney should pull: the construction permit and the plano for the lot once filed; the parent finca and confirmation the developer owns it clear of liens; the identity of the Bern entity signing your contract; the deposit-forfeiture and delivery-delay clauses, given the 2029-or-2030 ambiguity; the draft reglamento de copropiedad before it is registered, since it governs the maintenance fee and what you may do inside the unit; and the written position on the post-occupancy bedroom conversion.
One thing to weigh on the developer. On 24 May 2024 an arbitral tribunal seated at the Centro de Conciliación y Arbitraje de Panamá ruled against Grupo Empresas Bern in a dispute with its partners in Town Center Costa del Este, the mall a short drive from this site. La Prensa reported the award at $77.7 million in damages and costs. La Estrella de Panamá reported $82.6 million and published a breakdown putting $41.3 million on construction deficiencies and $19.8 million on deficient project administration. La Prensa also reported that the tribunal awarded the hotel site and its improvements entirely to the Town Center side, having found the hotel was built without shareholder authorisation, and that Bern's $61.1 million counterclaim was rejected in full.
Bern rejects the award as legally unacceptable, alleges evident defects of nullity, and filed an annulment action with the Supreme Court in July 2024. The Sala Cuarta de Negocios Generales had still not resolved it as of August 2025, and in July 2026 Bern said the judicial process continues with no final decision. Bern also says the entities involved have no legal, administrative, financial or operational relationship to its current business units. Nothing there has been finally decided and none of it concerns Selvática. Construction quality is one of the headings in the award, which is why it belongs on the page of a building that will not be finished until 2029. Confirm which Bern entity signs your contract, and what recourse you would have against that entity.
Where to start. Tell us your budget, your timeline and whether you are buying to live in or to let, and we will send you the current Selvática line-up against the other Costa del Este towers at the same money, with the per-square-metre maths done. If the four-year wait does not work for you, we will say so and show you what delivers sooner.
FAQ
What does an apartment at Selvática cost?
Pre-launch prices as of 1 August 2026:
- 62 m² (Modelo A, 1 rec / 2 ba) from $288,500, about $4,653 per m²
- 80 m² (Modelo B, 2 rec / 2 ba) from $368,000, about $4,600 per m²
- 110 m² (Modelo C, 2 rec / 2.5 ba) at $506,000, about $4,600 per m²
- 115 m² from $538,000, about $4,678 per m²
A live reference point: apartment 809 was reserved at $288,000 on 27 June 2026, which is essentially list rather than a discount off it. These are pre-launch figures and the developer describes a friends-and-family rate at this stage, so confirm the current sheet before you commit.
Why can't I find Selvática anywhere online?
Because it has not launched publicly. As of August 2026 there is no Selvática page on Empresas Bern's own project list, no listing on Encuentra24 or Compre o Alquile, and no broker page. The project is being sold quietly ahead of a public launch.
That is normal for a Panamanian pre-launch and it is not by itself a concern. What it does mean practically is that you cannot cross-check a quote against a second source the way you can with a listed project, and there is no resale market to price against. Ask for a dated price sheet, and ask what the public launch price is expected to be, so you can judge whether the pre-launch rate is actually a rate.
Is Selvática cheaper because it is pre-launch?
Not compared with the district. At $4,600 to $4,678 per square metre, Selvática is priced above the two other Empresas Bern buildings selling in Costa del Este right now: Nogal at $3,908 to $4,000 and Aurum from $3,961. It sits below the amenity-heavy towers, with Bioma at $4,577 to $7,542 and Generation Tower at $5,000 to $5,721.
So the pre-launch rate buys you a newer, smaller building with two full amenity decks, not a lower price per square metre than the alternatives. Whether that is worth 16 to 18 percent over Nogal or Aurum depends on how much you value five apartments to a level and the rooftop wellness floor. It is a real trade, and it is worth making it deliberately.
Does the 62 m² really come with two bedrooms?
Not on delivery. The brochure is explicit that the second bedroom on the 62 m² Modelo A, and the third bedroom on the 110 m² Modelo C, are available "únicamente posterior al permiso de ocupación", only after the occupancy permit is issued. You take delivery of the base layout and the conversion happens afterwards.
Before you count the extra room, get four things in writing: who carries out the work and who pays, whether the converted plan appears in the registered horizontal-property plans or only inside your apartment, how a bank valuing the unit or a buyer's attorney at resale will classify it, and why the sequencing exists when the finished layout has its own page in the same brochure. A rendering of a room is not a room you own.
When will Selvática be delivered?
2029 or 2030. The developer's own material gives both, sometimes in the same conversation, and we have not been able to resolve it.
That ambiguity matters more than it looks. Under the payment schedule you commit 30 percent of the price between contract signing and July 2028, so a slip from 2029 to 2030 is an extra year of carrying that money with nothing coming back. Get a single date written into the contract along with the remedy if it is missed. If you need a Costa del Este unit sooner, Nogal is the same developer delivering Q1 2027.
What is the payment plan at Selvática, and is my deposit safe?
$5,000 as an expression of interest, the balance up to 15 percent at contract signing, then 10 percent in July 2027 and 5 percent in July 2028, with the remainder at closing. That is 30 percent during construction.
The developer says deposits are held in a trust account, which is the most useful term on offer here. Panamanian developers are permitted to fund construction directly from buyer deposits, and the loss foreign buyers report most often is a pre-construction purchase where the project was never finished or the developer failed, with little practical recourse. A trust account is the structural protection against that, and it is only as good as its release conditions. Ask which institution holds it, when the developer may draw on it, and what happens to your money if the project stalls. Make sure every answer is in the signed contract, not in an email.
Can I rent a Selvática apartment on Airbnb?
No, and the building is not sold on that basis. Costa del Este sits inside the distrito de Panamá, where article 21 of Ley 80 de 2012 (Gaceta Oficial 27159-A, 8 November 2012) prohibits rentals shorter than 45 days without tourist accommodation authorisation from the Autoridad de Turismo de Panamá. Fines run from $5,000 to $50,000 and reach whoever advertises the listing, not just whoever takes the booking.
Nothing in Selvática's material claims such a licence and the product is residential. Long-term letting is unrestricted. If nightly income is what you are after, Generation Tower in the same district is sold specifically on a short-stay licence, and our page on it sets out what to verify before relying on that.
How big is Selvática and how many apartments are there?
The brochure's three model pages account for 285 apartments: 54 of the 62 m² Modelo A, 140 of the 80 m² Modelo B and 91 of the 110 m² Modelo C. The 115 m² line that appears on the price sheet is not among those three, so the true total may be higher.
The lower floors run five apartments to a level across roughly 436 m² of sellable area, which is a low density by Costa del Este standards. Typical floor plans are drawn for levels 100 to 500 and 800 to 3400, with amenity decks at level 600 and level 3600. Parking is 330 spaces plus five accessible, about 1.16 per apartment.
What amenities does Selvática have?
Two full amenity decks, split by who uses them.
Level 6, family and social: multi-use court, pickleball court, skate track, kids' park, splash pad, children's pool, baby room, hammock zone, barbecue areas, social kitchen, zen garden and coworking space.
Level 36, rooftop and wellness: pool and bar area, gym, pilates studio, yoga room, spa, massage room, sauna, jacuzzi, beauty room and rooftop terrace.
There is also a pet spa. Maintenance runs $2.50 per m² per month, roughly $155 on the 62 m² and $275 on the 110 m², which is in line with Aurum and above Nogal in the same district.
Is Selvática titled property?
Not yet, and it cannot be. The building does not exist, so there is no finca number, the parcel's individual entry in the property register, attached to it.
Costa del Este as a district is titled and our reviewer verified that against the Registro Público on 4 August 2026. Completed units here are held under the horizontal property regime of Ley 284 de 2022, which gives you your own finca plus an undivided share of the common elements. Neither applies to your apartment until the building is finished and registered. Until then you hold a promesa de compraventa, a purchase promise, rather than a deed. Have an attorney confirm the parent finca and the developer's ownership of it before any money moves.
Who is building Selvática?
Empresas Bern, a Panamanian group operating since 1978, whose portfolio includes Torres Miramar (1996), Parque del Mar I in Costa del Este (2010), Playa Bonita Residences (2014) and the LEED Gold Plaza del Este (2016). It is also behind Nogal, Aurum and Generation Tower in this district, Pino Alto in Boquete and The Westin Residences at Playa Bonita, all covered on this site.
One matter belongs on the page. On 24 May 2024 an arbitral tribunal seated at the Centro de Conciliación y Arbitraje de Panamá ruled against Grupo Empresas Bern in a dispute with its partners in 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 and published a breakdown putting $41.3 million on construction deficiencies and $19.8 million on deficient project administration. La Prensa also reported that the tribunal awarded the hotel site and its improvements entirely to the Town Center side, having found the hotel was built without shareholder authorisation, and that Bern's $61.1 million counterclaim was rejected in full.
Bern rejects the award as legally unacceptable, alleges evident defects of nullity, and filed an annulment action with the Supreme Court in July 2024. The Sala Cuarta de Negocios Generales had still not resolved it as of August 2025, and in July 2026 Bern said the judicial process continues with no final decision. Bern also says the entities involved have no legal, administrative, financial or operational relationship to its current business units. Nothing has been finally decided and none of it concerns Selvática, but construction quality is one of the headings in the award and this building will not be finished until 2029. Confirm which Bern entity signs your contract.
