Key Lounges

Sacyr are the building firm that took over the construction of the Arenal Golf site in Benalmádena last summer.

They are a big national building contractors; you may have seen their signs alongside the new motorway junctions around Málaga, which they have been involved with too.

As far as Arenal Golf is concerned, they appear to be a more professional outfit than the previous builders, and seem to take more pride in their work. Their quality control systems are certainly more effective, and they have spent quite some time correcting mistakes of the former company on already built blocks as well as ongoing constructions.
We have just taken possession of a Phase 4 apartment on Arenal, and the standard is certainly higher than on Phase 3 (if snagging lists and general complaints are anything to go by).

Inevitably there are still niggles and annoying delays, this is Spain after all.
However, I don't think you have anything to worry about concerning the appointment of Sacyr as builders (just don't get me started on the subjects of prieneSur in Córdoba and Quermes in the Sales Office though!!!!).

has Sacyr been appointed to finish off phase 1 and the rest of the phases...and if so,,why has this happened? Did priensur drop the ball?

would someone please update on the state of the roads that are being finshed off which I understand need to be sorted before the rest of phase 1 is released.

happy easter everyone

regards

steve

Hi Steve,

I've been to the site this week and they seem to have come to an halt on the road at present, this new construction firm may push this on now. But when I spoke to the people in the sales office they seem to think it would be several months before the rest of us complete not the news I was looking for.

Paul & Linda

Block 15

Please tell me that the miserable Paco and his glum female assistant are no longer employed in the sales office, Lets hope the new company will now appoint a new sales team much along the lines of Antonio Banderas, someone that is pleasing to the eye and has manners which is sadly lacking from the current team. In my honest opinion there is only one man on the planet that can do moody and get away with it and that is Jose Mourinho. Paco comes across like a 15 year old who has a tendency to throwing toys out of his pram!

Sorry to hear that you are experiencing further delays on your completions, it does take me back to last year when we thought we were due to complete and it did not happen until a whole year later. Still, it did finally happen and it is worth waiting for, if that is any consolation. 

There seems to be some confusion about the names of the various companies involved here.

prieneSur are the promotors/developers. They are owned by Caja Sur bank, who bought out the remaining part of the old Arenal 2000 company from Rafael Sanchez Gomez while he was awaiting prosecution for involvement in money laundering and the Malaya corruption case. Caja Sur had previously been majority shareholders in Arenal 2000, but then became sole owners of the Duquesa and Benalmádena projects.
Following their takeover they changed the name of the developers company to Arenal Sur 21, the name of one of the previous partner companies.
Soon after this they changed the name yet again - this time to the current one prieneSur.
Close watchers of the Sales Office and advertising flags on the poles alongside the other prieneSur development in Benalmádena have been kept amused by the regular changes of logo design and livery colour over the past year.

As a bank, not a builder, prieneSur had no experience or expertise in real estate development, and so they had to appoint other companies to help complete their projects.

GERENS are the project management company taken on by prieneSur, and they have overall responsibility for completion of the construction process.

SACYR are the building company appointed (eventually!) by prieneSur to take over the actual building work from the old Arenal 2000 builders(who were all laid off just over a year ago, along with the Sales Office staff ). At the Benalmádena site Sacyr began their work at the end of July, with a small planning team, but wholesale building work didn't restart until September. For all I know, a similar thing happened at Duquesa.

QUERMES are the company who were given the responsibility for sales. Any of you who has visited either of their Sales Offices in Duquesa or Benalmádena will know how unhelpful they have turned out to be - we gave up going in there many months ago after being told too many lies too many times for it to be accidental. Quite what they have done for the last year I don't know, because they certainly haven't been selling apartments and have been completely unable to explain any of the delays we've experienced.

I hope I have got all the above correct.
It has been a very confusing and frustrating time for all concerned with the buying process, but there now seems to be light at the end of the tunnel (I just hope it isn't a train coming the other way!).

Ken.

Hi Ken

I am still confused as to which bank is behind the project since CajaSur seem on most levels to be the sponsors but Caixa Catalunya claim to be also and are sending out offers of mortgages presenting themselves as the sponsors of the project. After checking online and trying to find links between the two I have concluded (maybe wrongly) that they are not the same. But there appears to be some history of questionable practices related to these banks and recent major management changes after investigations by the national Spanish bank authority. My Spanish is not great but it seems a little alarming on the surface.

Rod

ken

thanks for the clarification...i was confused! but i'm not now

thanks again

steve

Although Caja Sur (a church-run bank it seems, with bishops at the top!) are the owners of prieneSur, the developers mortgages are supplied by a range of different banks. In this way the finance required to build the development isn't all with the same institution. This seems to be the norm in Spain.

I think that each separate phase of the development has a different bank to finance the mortgages. On Phase 4 at Arenal Golf for instance, our apartment had its developers mortgage through Caixa Galicia. Advertising boards at the top of the urbanization show that the development is financed by several different banks.

Beware, if you choose not to take the developer's mortgage when you purchase, you may find that you are charged a cancellation fee unless you have already stated in your purchase contract that you do not wish to take up that option.

Ken.

Hi Ken

Just as an update, it is now illegal for the Developer to charge a cancellation fee (normally 1%) if the buyer mortgages elsewhere.

Hi .

When we completed on the 11th March we found that the front gate key would only open the gate infront of the block  where the apartment is situated , My concern is what happens if there is a fault on that gate how are you to  gain entry in to the complex if your key only opens the one gate, I now you could gain enrty via the garage but I would have thought that the key would allow you entry through a number of gates.

Have any one who completed had the same problem  or is that I have a bad key ?

Regards

Robbie / Barbara

Liverpool ,& Duquesa in May   

Robbie you are correct 1 key one gate ,I think eventually you have a code to open the gate when everything is sorted out not sure though my concerns at the moment are the sat dishes and tv we are supposed to get for early completion.WE are over on the 8th April to see what we can sort out ,

Ken Lynn

Hi

It seems that the problem with the front gate is not a one off as have just read Laurden has had problems with there gate , as the key seems to be for only your own portal and will not open any other  I think it may be a good idea that if say people living in different  blocks  where to have a spare key made then they could swap with some one in another block . Then if your gate lock did fail at least you could still gain access through another block , I know you can use your garage to get in but how reliable are they going to be in the first instance.

Any news on the T / Vs we have been promised?

Robbie / Barbara