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LA GINA, Dominican Republic — Wrigleyville it was not.

A cluster of single-level houses with fading paint rested just off the two-lane highway. Metal bars similar to a prison’s hugged one with cream-colored exterior and white trim, while the windows were boarded up with plywood on another. A dust-laden flatbed truck sat idly nearby.

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But this being the Dominican, baseball was just a short walk away: a Cubs sign tucked into a patch of shrubs and trees. A gravel road lined by tall trees opened up to the team’s glistening training complex spread across 50 acres, barely a year and a half old. It boasts three lush fields, batting cages, locker rooms, dormitories, a weight room and a video room.

“It’s very nice, isn’t it?” said Jose Serra, the Cubs’ Dominican operations director, smiling and looking outside recently from his air-conditioned office.

About 30 years ago, Major League Baseball teams began maintaining year-round facilities here. The Cubs’ complex opened in 2013, and no team’s facility is larger. Its construction was estimated at between $6 million and $8 million, MLB.com reported in 2012.

This complex is where the Cubs hope to mold raw talent into future stars. The team has long been dominant in the Dominican market but in recent years has opened its coffersthroughout the Caribbean. Team Chairman Tom Ricketts commissioned the construction of the new complex. Cubs President Theo Epstein has long been a supporter of building a Dominican cache of players.

Serra, 41, is a big reason why. He signed most of the Cubs’ Dominicans of the last decade, including stars Starlin Castro, Welington Castillo and former reliever Carlos Marmol. (He also signed Felix Pie, but, hey, what scout is perfect?).

His strategy is simple: Scout anytime, anywhere. He said there are few restraints for his half-dozen scouts fanned out across the Caribbean island.

“I’m hungry. I have a group of guys who are hungry too,” said Serra, who grew up nearby and joined the Cubs after four seasons in the minors.

As Serra spoke, members of the Dominican winter league team Estrellas del Orientales practiced outside. As the team’s general manager, Serra benefits from another well for scouting potential Cubs prospects. (Coincidentally, Estrellas is known among Dominicans as their country’s Cubs since they have not won a championship since 1968).

“One thing we love about the Cubs is they love Latin players,” he said. “Theo loves Latin players. So we have that on our side.”