A lot has been happening right next to PH Arcadia del Este lately. Where for a long time there was mostly an empty lot, the excavators have now moved in. This is where AURUM is being built, a new residential project by Empresas Bern — and, to me, in a way the sister building of PH Arcadia.
I live at Arcadia myself, so I can follow the progress of the construction site practically from next door. That makes AURUM particularly interesting for this series. Alongside the official project data, it lets me look at a few points from the perspective of a future resident — points that naturally get less attention in real estate brochures.
Three apartment sizes, from 83 to 100 square meters
AURUM is being developed by Empresas Bern, one of Panama's major developers, which also built the immediately neighboring PH Arcadia del Este.
According to Empresas Bern's official information, three apartment sizes are planned: roughly 83 and 88 square meters, each with two bedrooms, and apartments of roughly 100 square meters with three bedrooms.
Further marketing materials cite a total of around 166 apartments across 32 levels. These consist of 21 residential floors, five parking levels, and five levels of shared and leisure amenities. These figures appear consistently across various marketing sources, though the official Empresas Bern project page does not provide this level of detail.
This also sets AURUM apart from PH Arcadia. While Arcadia was built mainly with smaller furnished condo suites for a short-term rental concept, AURUM consists of significantly larger, more classic apartments.
Not a cheap project – not even for Costa del Este
In terms of price, AURUM clearly positions itself in the upper segment.
Current marketing offers start at roughly $311,000 to $324,000 for the smaller apartments. Larger units are currently quoted at around $425,000 to $430,000. The actual prices naturally depend on apartment size, floor, orientation, and availability, and may change during construction.
For an 83-square-meter apartment, the stated starting price alone already works out to roughly $3,750 to $3,900 per square meter. AURUM is therefore not a cheap real estate project, even by Costa del Este standards.
At this price level in particular, I think it's worth looking beyond the floor plan, the pool, and the renderings, and clarifying a few practical questions more closely before buying.
Plenty of amenities spread across several levels
As with many newer projects in Costa del Este, shared amenities play a major role at AURUM as well.
The official project page lists pools, an open terrace, an event hall, and a children's area among other amenities. Various marketing materials go considerably further and describe a total of five levels dedicated to shared and leisure amenities.
These include, among others, a fitness center, a pilates studio, a private cinema, a sauna, a spa, and a massage area, as well as padel and pickleball. According to these sources, a rooftop terrace, a Zen garden, play and children's areas, electric-vehicle charging stations, bicycle and scooter areas, a package station, and a concierge service are also planned.
Since AURUM is still under construction, however, I wouldn't take this long list as a final guarantee of what will actually be delivered. What ultimately matters is what is contractually guaranteed and later actually built.
Progress is visible on site
Construction itself has also moved forward in the meantime. According to Empresas Bern's social media posts, around 60 of the roughly 72 planned piles for the foundation had been completed by the end of July 2026. At that point, the developer put the progress of this work at roughly 82 percent.
That matches the picture on the ground in early September. My photo from September 5, 2026 shows clearly visible earthwork and foundation activity. A shell structure above ground level, however, is not yet in evidence.
I would currently be cautious about the completion date. Various marketing sources cite timeframes from late 2028 to 2029. As long as there is no currently, bindingly confirmed handover date, these figures should be treated as rough guidance rather than fact.
A good location – but how long will the view last?
I personally consider AURUM's location to be good. That is generally true of PH Arcadia right next door as well.
One side currently opens onto a view toward the center, across a park or larger green space. The other side faces the Town Center and the surrounding development sites. You are therefore right in the middle of Costa del Este and still have — at least for now — a surprising amount of greenery in view on one side.
It's precisely the word "for now," though, that matters when buying real estate.
Between AURUM and the Town Center, there are still vacant lots, or lots not yet fully developed. How these sites are built up over the coming years is likely to have a significant effect on what view individual apartments will actually have later on.
Anyone choosing an apartment because of a particular view — and possibly even paying extra for it — should therefore ask as precisely as possible what is planned for the neighboring lots. The view you see today, or the one shown especially attractively in a rendering, is not necessarily the view you will still have in five or ten years.
For me, that does little to change the fundamental residential value of the location. But it can make a considerable difference when choosing a specific apartment within the building.
What the sister building PH Arcadia can teach us
There is one point I would especially urge potential buyers to keep in mind: ask precisely, before buying, how the advertised shared amenities can actually be used later on.
Why I bring this up is shown by the experience at the immediately neighboring PH Arcadia, also an Empresas Bern project.
The purchase contract for my apartment at Arcadia explicitly describes the shared amenities. These include, among others, a pool, a business center, open and enclosed terraces, a bar, a gym, a sauna area, a game area, a rooftop bar, and a squash court.
At the same time, the contract provides for a monthly management and maintenance fee. In our contract, this was set at $3.50 per square meter; it explicitly includes a share for managing the shared amenities.
In practical use, however, one point has emerged that I did not have on my radar when buying: the club hall and the lookout and grilling terrace are locked and not freely accessible. I checked this again in person on September 5, 2026.
Under PH Arcadia's currently applicable rules, reserving the club hall costs 600 balboas for four hours, and reserving the lookout and grilling terrace costs 400 balboas for four hours. Deposits are required in addition.
This explicitly does not mean that the same rules or fees will later apply at AURUM. AURUM will be a separate building with its own owners' association and its own management.
Still, in my view, the experience at the sister building shows which questions buyers should ask before signing a contract:
Which of the advertised amenities can owners use freely at any time? Which areas are locked and require a reservation? What additional fees may apply for those? And who can set or change such fees later on?
Especially when extensive shared amenities are an important argument for buying an apartment, I would want these points explained as concretely as possible.
I'd also take a close look at the glazing
There is another point I know particularly well from personal experience: the noise situation at this exact location.
Overall, I consider the location to offer high residential value. Still, especially at night, noticeable traffic noise can be heard at times. What stands out in particular are individual, very loud motorcycles and modified cars.
This experience is directly relevant to AURUM, because the building is being constructed right next to PH Arcadia. This is therefore not a general statement about traffic noise in Panama, but my specific experience at practically the same micro-location.
Which apartments at AURUM will be affected by this later, and to what extent, cannot be seriously assessed today. Orientation and floor are likely to play a role — but above all, the quality of the windows.
Anyone sensitive to noise should therefore ask precisely about glazing and soundproofing before buying. For a property in this price range, I would not be satisfied with a statement that "high-quality windows" will be installed, but would ask as specifically as possible about the construction and sound insulation.
I also discuss the noise situation at PH Arcadia, and thus at this exact location, in more detail in my book "Auswandern am Beispiel Panama." There, I describe the experience of actual everyday life in the building.
My assessment of AURUM
Overall, I see AURUM positively. The location within Costa del Este is good, the apartment sizes are more interesting for permanent living than the small condo suites of many other new developments, and the expected residential value seems high to me.
However, the prices are correspondingly high as well.
Anyone investing several hundred thousand dollars in an apartment should, in my view, not only ask how big the pool will be or how the rooftop terrace looks in the renderings.
For AURUM, four points in particular would matter to me before buying: How will the currently vacant lots in the surrounding area be developed in the future? How good is the actual soundproofing? Which shared amenities will actually be freely available later on? And what additional costs might arise for using them?
The experience at PH Arcadia explicitly does not mean that things will be the same at AURUM. But precisely because both buildings sit immediately next to each other and come from the same developer, there is a rare opportunity here: you can factor into your buying decision not just a sales brochure, but also the experience of an already existing building in practically the same location.
AURUM is therefore a project whose further development I will certainly keep watching more often from next door in the coming months.
Additional sources
The primary source for the project is listed below this article. For the assessment of individual aspects, the following additional sources were consulted: The Agency Panama – Aurum, A Modern Sanctuary in Costa del Este for the levels, unit count, and prices, Empresas Bern – Arcadia del Este: The Pioneering Short-Term Rental Project in Costa del Este for the concept of the neighboring project, and an Instagram post by Empresas Bern on the status of the pile foundation. This article is also based on the author's own purchase contract for the apartment at PH Arcadia del Este, on the currently applicable rules of PH Arcadia's building management regarding reservation fees and deposits, and on the author's own observations and photography on site on September 5, 2026.
Relevance: From the perspective of a resident of the immediately neighboring PH Arcadia, AURUM shows what matters in a high-priced new development in Costa del Este: the stated prices work out to roughly $3,750 to $3,900 per square meter for the smallest unit, the completion date is still unclear depending on the source, and today's view toward the Town Center depends on neighboring lots that are not yet built up. Using the practical example of the sister building PH Arcadia — with shared amenities that are explicitly described but partly locked and subject to fees, plus noticeable nighttime traffic noise — it becomes clear which concrete questions buyers should clarify before signing a contract.
