Improvements needed on complex

Sorry it's taken me a while. I said I would contribute my ides to make the complex a better place; so here goes! I know that everything depends on money and we are dealing with the age old Spanish "Mañana, mañana" culture, but I'm a business man and one thing I have learnt is that most successful businesses rely on good old common sense. So I'll try to apply some common sense here.

If it was down to me, here are a few changes I would implement:

1) Paint.. you've probably noticed how dirty and grubby the apartment blocks look when first entering the complex, especially when the sun is not shining! Now this certainly does not give a good impression to potential buyers! It's one of the first things they see. The place looks run down and unatractive. If we want to attract new buyers/investors and improve the general appeal of Terrazas then they should at least keep appearances to a good standard!! Surely a budget for painting of the apartment blocks is part of the community fee's for which we pay!?!? A lick of paint would brighten the place up, attract more buyers and and possibly lead to more revenue for the complex as a whole. Common sense really!

2) Golf practice/putting green facilities - I've already covered this in a seperate post. Pretty stupid how the course has no practice green.

3) Play areas - It's a good 20 minute walk from our apartment to the childrens paly area close to the enterance. Now considering 'families' make up a good chunk of the clientele, it would make sense to have a few more play areas spread around the complex. It really frustrates us to see all the empty car parking spaces in some ridiculous places when these areas could be used far better uses, i.e. Childrens play areas! at the moment our little boy is happy to be pushed to the park in his buggy and the walk is part of the hour out of the apartment but in a few years he won't want to walk all that way.

4) Give us a reason to use the bar! - Firstly I would like to praise Kim Ryan's efforts as the the introduction of flowers around the bar is certainly a step forward and makes the place more attractive to sit. The water fountains are looking good also. These are the kind of steps forward we need to welcome. Its also good to see the bar providing live music, BBQ on Fridays etc but presumably this is just for the summer season?

When my family are staying at Terrazas on holiday we spend around 600-800 euros, during on average a 10 day period. I would say that we spend about 20 euros in total at the bar, the rest we spend in many other restaraunts, bars, resorts etc across the Costa Calida. So this tells me there is a problem somewhere because I should be spending more on my own complex!?

So here are a few ideas that would keep me in the bar:

- upkeep of the water fountains, as mentioned above, I noticed they have been cleaned and are now in use, this is certainly a help and I hope they continue to run them!

- Childrens play areas - again I have already mentioned it, but I feel that families would spend more time at the bar if there was a childrens play area within viewing distance! Parents would be more obliged to sit out the front or back of the bar area if there children could be kept entertained and they could keep an eye on them at the same time! There is certainly plenty of space. It would also help to attract families to visit on holiday!

- Mini golf area - there is plenty of space for a simple mini golf course at the rear of the bar. It could be run by the bar management. Mini golf + a drink 6Euro's or something along them lines as an offer. It would soon pay for itself and attract more people to the bar. I would imagine a lot of golfers would enjoy playing the mini golf after their round on saurines. Groups of men are very competitive you know! This would also be another feature to attract more families to stay on site!

These are the suggestions that crop up each time we stay, I'd love to hear your views on my topics and your additions! then maybe we can shortlist some improvements to move forward with?

J

Have to agree with regards to children's play area near the bar, the painting if I remember rightly was placed on hold because of the Polaris debt to the community I think.

practice area for the golf is something that should of been addressed years ago but the banks won't spend.

i don't see why a bouncy castle of some sort could not be sited near the fountains. My two are to old now but let's try and look after everyone.  

Interesting discussion which highlights the different needs of the various owners at Las Terrazas.

• young owners with children looking for facilities for children.
• active owners who are looking for sports facilities
• not so active owners who are looking for recreation facilities
• those who like peace and quiet and just want the pool, gardens and general facilities maintained and cleaned up

I've probably over generalised but it illustrates the issues we have in relation to income v investment decisions.

Personally, I would love to see a gym with basic facilities such as mats and rollers, weights and benches, exercise bikes, treadmills and cross trainers etc. I realise that this is not high on the agenda of the majority of owners and therefore unlikely to attract investment.

I think this highlights the need to get involved at the community level. Volunteer to be a block president or join or create one of the community action groups.

I also applaud the efforts of Kim Ryan. The commercial centre is much improved. I note there is an aim to raise funds to:

• Tidy up the area a short distance from the security gate where the builders used as a base.  After vacating the area, they  left it in a state. It wouldn't take long to get it tied up making a much better first impression to the approach to the security gate
• Gain access to the empty shop units at the back of the bar and clean all the windows then placing inside white paper with black ink images of people sat drinking as if in a cocktail bar and the likes of . The bar area would then become a very pleasant place to spend your evening rather than going off complex.
•  Approach the farmer further down on the left from leaving the complex, getting the unsightly rubbish heap outside of his farm that is getting larger removed.

All worthy causes and I will be donating my 5 euros to the cause as well as offering ways to make it easier to canvas support and collect donations in the future.

As an aside, each block has a painting fund. All the more reason to get involved in the running of your block and setting and spending of community fees.

Hi,

Each block is responsible for the painting of there own block, this is achieved by the block president creating a fund for this to happen.

Each block has it's own budget, which the president & each resident decides on what to spend the money on when there is enough money available.

Regards

I have to say, I am not aware of any community action groups or fund raising schemes.

Does anyone know where I can find/access these groups?

DelandMax,

Resortalia sent out the details.

I will forward them

Many thanks Duncan. Much appreciated.