p THE FOCUS property
The contemporary architecture of Olivos featuring classic inspiration and natural materials adds to the character and timeless appeal of the properties
REAL DE LA QUINTA MARBELLA’S LAKESIDE COUNTRY CLUB
Situated within a green valley just ten minutes from Marbella, Real de La Quinta builds upon a very solid concept of development as it ‘takes the beach to the hills’ to create a new kind of residential community. WORDS MICHEL CRUZ PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF LA QUINTA GRUPO INMOBILIARIO
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ompared to the larger, masterplanned resorts, development in Marbella has always been somewhat ‘bitsy’ – made up of a mosaic of independent projects which, urbanisation by urbanisation, have formed a town. Though the overall effect is attractive, it reflects a form of development that is in essence a purely commercial exercise with limited opportunity for personal involvement and long-term presence.
THE LUXURY OF A MASTERPLANNED PROJECT “Compared to this we’re in a very privileged position,” says Borja Pascual, CEO of La Quinta Grupo Inmobiliario, which has long owned significant tracts of land in the hills above San Pedro Alcántara. “It means that not only do we have the scale to create a true resort and residential community, rather than just individual urbanisations,
but can do it with a sense of commitment, following a clear vision and concept that translates into a master plan into which all the different elements are harmonised and coordinated. What’s more, we don’t just build and leave, but have an on-going relationship with our projects in the form of continued service provision.” This is what the company has been doing for 30 years now in La Quinta, where its presence and daily involvement has continued long after the last phases were developed and sold. “It’s a different kind of development altogether, with a scale of commitment that prescribes not only a high level of dedication to your clients, but also the desire to ensure that what you offer is truly satisfactory.” Indeed, it would be hard for Borja and his team to hide if things went wrong, so they are particularly focused on producing quality in both product
and subsequent service. “We have a longer-term approach that is business-oriented but less outand-out commercial than many developers exactly because we create communities, not just single projects.”
CREATING SOMETHING SPECIAL This is one of the reasons why the La Quinta group develops its projects autonomously. Borja points out that it would have been easier, in the short-term also more profitable, to have simply parcelled up the land and sold it as individual plots to private buyers and larger sections to developers. “But then we’d miss the opportunity to create something truly special here, and that is what we want to do at Real de La Quinta – produce a fantastic living environment that we can all be truly proud of, and which adds value to Marbella as a whole.” The setting of Real de La
Quinta in a broad, green valley with flowing sea and mountain views is truly imposing, providing an ideal country club environment at a short distance from Marbella, and only minutes north of Puerto Banús. “The site offers fantastic opportunities to produce something of unique quality, so we wanted to do it justice and have therefore not rushed ahead and built a batch of apartments or villas but have really studied the possibilities in detail.” In the process it has evolved and grown, not in scale as much as in concept, and become a project with highly distinctive features. “The starting point and indeed focal point of many a Costa del Sol property development has traditionally been a golf course, and indeed, we felt Real de La Quinta needed its own course, but the main focus has become something quite different yet entirely complementary to it.”
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