Developer in his Element creating stay-at homes;.

Edward Baquero, managing partner of Coalco International Ltd, has never been one to sit still behind a chicly designed desk wearing a suit and tie for too long.

Whether he has been hobnobbing with celebrities to develop the trendy Beverly Hills lounge, The Gate, or streamlining a virtual wine cellar for his newest project, the country's first urban resort condominium, The Element, the investment strategist's projects have always bore the stamp of the unconventional.

After graduating high school, Baquero traveled for a brief stint in Spain, and upon his return to the United States immediately partnered with a friend on his first real estate investment. The pair bought up a two-family home on the South Shore of Long Island, and created a mother-in-law apartment above the garage. With the single house generating three incomes, Baquero began to realize the potential of the real estate industry and was hooked.

"At that age, you start to look for different things to try and find out what you have an interest in and it seemed to me that real estate was my calling," Baquero said.

He drew his inspiration for the real estate business from his grandfather who created a building in the Dominican Republic in 1920 that still bears his family's name. He wanted to bring that same kind of pride to future generations.

"That aspect of developing, knowing to that my grandchildren would see my work after I'm gone, really appeals to me," said Baquero.

Seeking to acquire more homes and a change of scenery, Baquero moved to Los Angeles, California. On a whim, he branched off into the restaurant business, and created the very successful restaurant/lounge, The Gate. The venue quickly became a premier hangout for celebrities such as Tom Cruise and Janet Jackson. "It was the Studio 54 of its time," Baquero said.

Noting he had licked the flame of that business, Baquero sold the property and journeyed back to New York to attempt to realize dreams of making his mark in the hotel industry. He attended New York University and received his Masters of Science in Property Asset Management and, through a special program, simultaneously received an MBA from NYU's Stern School of Business and Economics and the London School of Economics.

After another spin at the restaurant business, a dinner venue at 26 Hudson Street that peaked financially and was eventually shut down as a result of an eminent domain action, Baquero began investigating other possibilities in the market. He spent all of 1997-1998 plotting his next move.

"I must have looked at 60 different properties in one year," he said.

He served as president and CEO of Landmark Development LLC, an investment and development firm specializing in high-end residential development, through which he took on his first substantial project in New York.

"I put everything I had into that project. It was the first real project in New York coming back from LA. It was also a first of its kind downtown, with state-of-the-art amenities," said Baquero. In 1995, he partnered with Mikhail Kurnev, a Moscow business man with whom he had previously established a friendship based on their common visions for development.

"It was refreshing to find a really smart person to deal with, and we became very good friends," Baquero said of his partner. "Our great partnership came from the deep friendship we developed first," said Baquero.

The two combined forces in 1997 when Coalco International--which holds offices in Russia and Switzerland--established Coalco New York. One of their first major projects together is The Element, a 350,000 s/f condominium with 193 units on West 59th street which they have developed with Brack Capital Real Estate and Continental Ventures Realty, as the worlds First Urban Resort Condomium. 12,000 s/f of The Element is dedicated to the outdoor landscape designed by Quennell Rothschild. A lawn, private sundeck, mediation garden, 60' lap pool, a whirlpool, sauna with massage and treatment room, fitness center, indoor half-court basketball, squash courts and playroom also comprise the outdoor space.

"Most people want trees and grass. We wanted to build a product that a tenant would not need a weekend place to go to, because they had everything they needed right here," he said.

Baquero's family roots provided him with the impetus to stamp his one-of-a-kind signature on another aspect of The Element development, its wine cellar.

"My father is a Spaniard and very into wines. I learned a lot about wine from him," he said. "Instead of using valuable square footage that can be used for other amenities, we created a wine valet," he explained. "We have coupled with Morrell & Co. wines to offer our tenants the opportunity to house their wine collection in Morrell's warehouse. They will store it and deliver it to you, and tenants will be able to see their liquid net worth through the Internet."

Additional projects Baquero and Kurnev have partnered on include The American Can Company at 50 Dey Street in Jersey City, NJ, and Villa Magna in Miami, Florida, both of which are currently under construction.

Baquero is eyeing three more properties in New York for mixed use, commercial, community and retail projects. Though he has made his own home in New York with his wife and two young boys, Baqero's radar is tuned to the Dominican Republic and Cuba for future projects. More than 20 years after converting the home on Long Island, he knows that he has made the right choice.

"I can't imagine doing anything else then what I do today," he said.