Hi Gary,
I have bought on La Recoleta Phase 1 Block 14. I am due to complete nxt year some time. I bought through Parador who were helpful. I'm sure you could get a better deal if you went direct to the builder and negotiated hard. Make sure you have a good bilingual solicitor as the contract documents are almost exclusively in Spanish without translation. I can't remember his name, but there is a very helpful Gomendio rep at the marketing suite - he has good English. Also Alicia is helpful.
I think the overall development is super - build quality and specification appear great. I know there have been some problems on snagging on La Entrada.
The facilities are a bit sparse - although I think there is a shopping mall going in on the main drag. The area could do with a bit of smartening up. The proposed Marina is in Orihuela county so not related to the development. I've heard 2013 but this is only pure guess. It won't come unless they can make money out of it and that will inevitably be driven about their expectations on being able to sell more homes at the sort of price they want.
The hotel and beaches are, I believe, part of the Gomendio Punta Prima plan. Dates for this I have heard are 2009. They may build the hotel soon but the beaches, I think, will not come until the hotel is finished or they sell a lot more homes.
When I was last there in May 2006, the selling rate was about 4 per week - on an overall development of 1900 units it will take 8 years to sell them all! The 1900 includes Panorama Park, La Entrada and La Recoleta as well as the future units on the front. They have been going for about 4 years there.
The prices are expensive but the development is superb and right by the sea. There will be a lot of resale property around though and some may be as good - and you may be able to get a better deal. I think the short term values at Punta Prima are not great but longer term should improve - it's high quality by the sea and there's just not a great deal of that around. I'm sure you can get an apartment for half as much that' would probably only be half as good! Now may not be the best ime to buy but if you can drive a hard bargain then it could be worth going ahead.
There was a slight price premium on ground floor - one cheaper, then each floor more expensive. In my block, floor 4 was released at 150k more than floor 2, and floor 3 not released. When they did eventually release floor 3, the price was 100k more than floor 2. All values in Euro. These are all for south facing direct sea view, albeit behind the low private houses on the other side of the road, to the south.
Hope this is helpful to you
Neil