Caverners Bar Santiago de la Ribera

We've bought on the Condado de Alhama and ended our holiday this week with a visit to PW Head office. The staff were very helpful but was a little put off by three things:

1. They told me that the complete place will take up to TEN years to finish although the Jardines will be complete within two years.

2. They took me to the La Torre resort up the road and was very dissapointed. My reason is that although the appartments and villas we looked at were very nice, the complex lacked any character and didn't appear to have much in the way of facilities and overall a bit of a ghost town. There seemed to be more sales people about than owners. I'm hoping that the Condado will have more to offer and be a bit more lively and more full of people and character.

3. I have heard that the desalination water plant may not be built. I'm not sure if it's even been started but the question to PW staff seemed to have a vague response. Perhaps someone out there could help me with this.

These are just my personal thought and comments based on my recent visit there this week and I would welcome your own thoughts and comments which may (or may not) put my mind at rest.

Regards,

Phil

i think that la torre is too tall and polaris got a little bit greedy in  their planning application there. They seem to be learning from their mistakes as they build as condado will have loads of meeting areas i.e pools and individual town centres for the jardines and naranjos and so on. 70% of the development  is only two floors high allowing a lot more light to the areas, not like in la torre where there seems to be many shadows.

The people have just moved to la torre as well so id imagine it will take time to get to know each other. I personally feel that condado will be fantastic and so what if it takes a few years to build, because it creates a very good rental market for the next 5 to 10 yrs as people will want to rent some one else's apartment while they wait for their one to be built.

it also allow s the people who get in early to build up a nice bit of equity as the phases will become a lot more expensive as the people start to move in.If you wanted to buy a similar apartment on la torre to what you would get on condado you would pay 235k at the moment.

sorry for thinking positive about it.....but life's too short.

Ace....

We were made aware that the build could be up to 10 years but that that might include further development on the Oasis side of the development- there's a lot of land around those two golf courses. The agent commented that as each resort was completed further building would be so far away it 'wouldn't trouble you' so we can only hope he was being honest. As Ace say's that then provides a rental market for those people interested in that. We liked La Torre and the apartments were beautifully fitted out but our personal choice was to be more low level. The agent told us that the Condado ratio of people and buildings is lower per sq metre than on other developments but the design is more community focussed- again we hope he was speaking honestly but our overview of the layout seems to suggest he is.

I'm more concerned with your piece of information about the desalination water plant as I thought that building that was one of the requirements for getting the planning approval (although I dont know where I heard that)

Just on the theme of the water plant the Polaris web site still has quite a range of information under 'getting to know Polaris'  and within that includes

"Construction of the Polaris World desalination plant began in the first quarter of 2006. Awareness is fundamental to protect the environment and preserve the ecosystem in our region. With the purpose of anticipating client needs, the company decided to build a desalination plant that will produce over 56,000 m3 of water per day, enough to supply over 200,000 people for an entire year. This in-house system will also provide enough water to meet the additional needs of regional tourism.

The entire process will also be supplemented with resident wastewater treatment, and subsequent use for green area and golf course irrigation. A selection of low water consumption herb varieties will assist in the optimisation of this resource, and in protecting the environment.

Moreover, a reservoir at La Torre Golf Resort, and water canalisation systems at Hacienda Riquelme Golf Resort are currently under construction. These projects are intended to preserve the environment, and to make the most of our available resources."(www.polarisworld.com)

Plus, their efforts to be a responsible developer are recorded in the Corporate Dossier which also talks about the water plant amongst other things. We have friends visiting soon so will report back if  I get any further.

This message was last edited by JHMurcia on 9/9/2007.

Our friends did visit La Manga and planned to visit Condado and the site office and have a good look around for themselves and ask some questions and take some photo's. However  mid week their villa was burgled,  whilst they were in it, and they lost valuables, camera, passports etc which rather concentrated their minds and they didnt do all the property/development veiwings they planned to do.

So sadly nothing further to add to the water plant query.

Hi

I've just reserved a property on Condado at Jardines and have just returned from an inspection trip. At no time did the agent or Polaris mention that it was going to take 10 years to build. I was told that the main town centre would be the last place to be built so do you know if this means we will need to wait 10 years to have all of the facilities on site?

Gail

The only conversation about the 10 years factor related to the other side of the development around the two further golf courses and wasnt about the Oasis shoping mall.  I think they want that to go ahead as soon as they can as it will bring in trade and customers from outside Condado. It was just an aside in part of a conversation saying only the 'whole' thing could  take up to 10 years. I'm sure if they go ahead with a hotel the Oasis will be a big plus in bringing in clientel.

I have recently seen a couple of posts regarding a Hotel at Condado. Does anyone know if this is planned and would it be another Intercontinental? Regards Dwh2

We noticed the same posts as you did- I suppose it is likely as Condado will be so big and Polaris will want an in on the rental market as much as anyone else. If the golf courses take off in a big way they'd want to be able to offer their 5* Hotel surely, after all not everyone wants to self cater.

Just picking up on a point made earlier about time scales and what will likley be complete and not.  I moved out to La Torre 5 weeks ago and have bought two apartments on Condado.  La Torre is not likely to have a hotel (under construction) until next summer and the town centre is not complete althought a couple of bars and restaurants are open.  El Valle has completed properties and permanent residents on it and all they have is a small bar and golf shop.  The Club House is under construction and as for supermarket, shops, restaurants, hotel (at least 2 years) etc, they are a long way off.  Hacienda Riqueleme have just started completing on phase one - i.e. people signing for their properties.  Here you cannot even get onto the site so people who completed last week can't really use their properties as nothing is ready - no golf, not utilities, certainly no shops, supermarket and again these will take a while to complete.

In summary, although you may complete on your property and have use - for Condado around Dec 2008, the site facilities will likely not be available fo some time therafter.

We think you are right ailmnoty- despite the fact our Polaris rep told us all the Jardines would be released together with 9 holes of golf and the Foro because people would want to be residential and thats what the local council require as a minimum. However we do think that  the golf and Foro would be soon after initial property releases purely because the golf brings people in and that means future puchasers.

In terms of the 'second thoughts' I have a work colleague who has been out independently, to Murcia, in  the last couple of weeks and has decided that they dont want to live/stay on a polaris resort as they appear to be so big. They said they were completely put off by the row after row of apartments  at Condado- little boxes on the hillside' was the comment. They didnt like La Torre - tower blocks? However they are obviously not seeing them at their best - no vision is what I thought., out of season too. Plus we have stayed in similar though not so big on CdS and each 'garden' or block was its own community. The Mira Flores developments are quite enormous on CdS and very successful,  my brother stays on one annually and they are what they are- relatively quiet, lots of facilities and child friendly. Each to their own-and we have tried the remote villa's in the hills. Beautiful without a doubt- remote, yes and that meant a dedicated driver every time we went for a meal, shopping, golf, anything and even with a pool to tempt them that isnt what teenagers and 20 somethings want ( 30, 40 and 50 somethings too and the 70 something found 'remote' very scary!) We also did white villages in the hills all over Spain and I must admit to being persuaded by them but out teens to 70's wanted to be closer to facilites- golf being a biggy- but a Brit mix was popular with them also. Meanwhile me and him outdoors start Spanish lessons in January- gulp!

I would not say that La Torre is like tower blocks, can I just say that Polaris has got the right idea with regard to options!  Some of the resorts are meant to be lived on full time and other resorts are meant for holidays.  La Torre does not have a lot of full time residents but Mar Menor does.  El Valle will have lots of full time residents too and lots of celebs have bought there too.  I would definately recommend the spanish lessons though you have to practice as we find a lot of people in the local towns speak little or no enlglish. If you don't like that idea I would have a serious rethink! These resorts will be fantastic in a few years but buying in phase one does have disadvantages like waiting until things are ready to use like the hotel and restaurants etc.  You do get a better investment though in terms of the price you pay for your property. I suppose there is always a drawback if you buy off plan.  Condado will be amazing when it is finished but lets not kid ourselves, we reckon at least 5 years.

Again you're probably right ailmnoty- 5 years for it all to bed in. We think for us this is the right choice. It doesnt stop you doing little visits to the rest of Spain, so you get it all.   

We cant do the villa in its own garden with pool- two residing semi adult children and 1 who's left home but doesnt aknowledge it and a dependant nanna, divorced brother who's main carer for 3 chldren and has a partner with a child,  see to that. But we have looked at villa's and also townhouses in suburbs and villages and they didnt quite do what our mix of family want /need. Our Polaris rep said to us that whatever you buy the facilites are all there for you and thats the truth. I thought my work colleague wasnt thinking it through as they do want a rentable property and from what  I read elsewhere Condado is now just 11 minutes from the Mazzaron beach on the new roads, which plus the Condado facilties is hard to beat- new airport soon too.

As I wrote earlier ,each to their own.

We're happy ( have heard our Bank Guarentee should be through November too- fingers crossed).