David,

I am an owner at Perola da Lagoa. I have heard rumours that the
London Investments sales office has been closed and that they
are not maintaining the pool any more. Are you aware of what is
happening? I heard a rumour that they were being taken over by
the company that is planning to build a hotel on the site - is
there any truth in this?

Any info you have would be gratefully received

With best regards

Carl Miller

Hello Carl,

You asked:

>"I heard a rumour that they were being taken over by the
>company that is planning to build a hotel on the site - is
>there any truth in this?"

Rumours of hotels are always good for the sales of houses and
"off plan" properties on golf courses and leisure developments.
And obviously the most successful courses do attract fine
hotels. I tend to take such rumours with a pinch of salt at
least until after the golf course is actually up and running
unless anyone from a hotel chain makes a firm commitment.

We do have some such successes locally. Praia D' El Rey
attracted the Marriott Praia Del Rey Resort after the course
was built and running successfully. CampoReal has the
Westin CampoReal Golf Resort & Spa and of course Bom Sucesso
opened their golf course for business just last month
(September 2008).

Of course Bom Sucesso has PIN (Project of National Interest)
status, which helps smooth any bureaucratic problems and
reassures hotel investors.

Even the more recent Royal Obidos which also has PIN status has
just had heavy machinery clearing the site, but thus far, I
don't see any sign of a golf course on Perola da Lagoa which has
had house construction in process on the site for many years.

The land around Perola da Lagoa has been the subject of some
discussion regarding the "Plano de Urbanização do Turisbel Casalito"
of 1996 and the REN (Reserve Ecologica Nacional) which
you can see details of with a Google search here. (Google should
provide a handy "translate this page" link beside each result if
you don't read Portuguese).

There is also a PDF file on the web site of the Agencia Portuguesa do
Ambiente (file in html here) which details the environmental studies
and the conclusions they came to in 2004 and 2005.

In July 2007 the Gazeta das Caldas reported (here) that António
Lino of London Investments was complaining of the wrongful
demolition of a building beside the lagoon by the "Instituto da
Água" (INAG) and the following week the same newspaper reported
(here) that INAG admitted responsibility for demolishing the
property without authorisation. Lawyers were reportedly
involved.

There is some sign of interest in the project. In the two
articles mentioned above of July 2007, the local newspaper also
reported that London Investments just the week before had
negotiated a contract of sale for the building to Sá Machado & Sons
of Braga for five million euros and that "Sá Machado & Filhos, de Braga"
were planning to restore that particular building as a water-side
golf club forming part of a nine hole course.

However, since these reports I've seen nothing in the local
media about further developments at Perola da Lagoa and
construction there is certainly not as hectic as all the other
developments in the area.

You also asked:

>"I have heard rumours that the London Investments sales office
>has been closed and that they are not maintaining the pool any
>more. Are you aware of what is happening?"

Unfortunately the web site at peroladalagoa.com requires the
installation of a "Flash" browser plug-in which I would not
recommend installing so I don't know whether you have seen
anything useful on that site about their plans. Rather than deal
in rumours I decided to take a look for myself.

I checked the business hours on the other more accessible web
site (here), and then I passed by the sales office, which was
closed during their normal business hours today. I took a look
at the padlocked pool area while I was there. The pool doesn't
look blue (as a salesman would probably want to see it even in
October), it has a definite cloudy greenish tint but the rather
lovely waterfall is still running.

It looks as though the sales office is inactive. There was a
notice pinned to the office door which translates to "for
whatever doubt or question please contact 262 830 130" - and as
that is not the phone number on the London Investments web site
I did a Google search (here) and found that the number is one
also currently showing as advertised by Construções Lino e Santo, S.A.
and a real estate agency on the first floor above that construction
company in Caldas da Rainha.

There is an email address given on the web site (here) but the
one on the sign at the local office is info@peroladalagoa.com
which is different and may also be useful to you.

You also wrote:

>Any info you have would be gratefully received

As the Gazeta das Caldas reported the interest of Sá Machado & Filhos
in buying the projected club house property here for 5 Million Euros
I thought it worth doing a Google search for Sá Machado & Filhos, de Braga (result here) which shows that a company of the
same name is a national civil engineering company.

One of their many projects is a beach development at Atlântico Village
2km to south of S. Pedro de Moel (details here) which suggests
that they may have an interest in developing resorts like
Perola da Lagoa. You might get more info if you ask them?

I hope some of the above is useful to you, and please share anything
you learn with other readers here.

best regards,
David

http://rainha.com/property/