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Falésia d'El Rey site near Praia do Bom Sucesso - Arial View.

Google (copyright terms here)

Falésia d'El Rey is to be located about two miles north of the
beach of Praia D'el Rey, near the beach of Praia do Bom Sucesso,
and represents another property investment of approximately 400
million euros in the area around the Obidos Lagoon.

Óbidos has teamed up with five tourism investors to create an association to manage and promote the brand 'Óbidos' in international markets. The council announced in October that Óbidos is a brand in Portugal that people associate with quality, prestige, and the exceptional; as in the historical center, or innovative events. Now there are more media to project it abroad.

The golf course at Bom Sucesso is a member of IAGTO (International
Association of Golf Tour Operators), which means high standards
of quality. It was opened with a public presentation on
September 27th 2008 (although actually in use since August).

There are 16 styles of villa, each set in approx. 1.3 acres
(5,200 m2) of private gardens and grounds, planted with olive
trees, Jacarandas and pine trees. The villas are designed to
reflect their Portuguese heritage, and each incorporates an
average of 8,500 sq ft (800 m2) of living space.

The exceptional facilities will include an Equestrian Centre
designed by the world's number one lady show jumper, Jessica
Kürten, as well as an exclusive Country Club with a wide range
of amenities, including a restaurant and spa, two swimming
pools, two tennis courts, a sports pitch and a children's play
area.

The championship golf course at Bom Sucesso designed by Donald
Steel is situated just a few hundred yards from the entrance of
the resort where residents will receive special conditions for
membership, green fees and buggy rental.

Hi, I live on "Perola" and nearly 3 years after the pictures in this posting
nothing much has changed here. If anything disappointed owners
as the site is still not finished or maintained, the communal
pool is often closed as not useable as it is usually green and
probably a health risk. Hopefully, as we hear a new investor is
coming in, things can only get better.

Hello David, we have seen your advert and wonder if this house
is still on the market? Can you let us have some more info?

We are at present in S. America and hope to be in Portugal in
March / April of next year. I, realize my enquiries may seem a
bit premature - but we hope to put together a portfolio of
possibilities before we get there. Can you tell me the
constructed area of the villa.. the land area.. when it was
built? Is a floor plan available?

Does it have mains water, septic tank? Are there other villas
close by?

David,

Thank you for maintaining a wonderful web site. The reason I am
writing is to ask, if you happen to know who the major players
are within the development and building groups. I am in the
process of trying to find out who they are myself, and thought
that you may able to help me.

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You didn't say which development you are interested in.

You will find a map in my post entitled "Silver Coast, Oeste
Region or Lisbon Golf Coast?" (click on the link) which shows
the location of most of the developments. If you drive around
the southern (Obidos) side of the lagoon, all those developments
are quite clearly signposted.

The one that is noticeably missing from that map is the one on
the Foz do Arelho (Caldas) side of the lagoon. The planned
development of "Rainha Golf and Spa" will be in Serra do Bouro
on the the Foz do Arelho side of the Lagoa do Obidos which is in
the area controlled by the Camara Municipal of Caldas da Rainha.

The last published information in the local newspapers suggested
that the land acquisition phase was almost completed, so no
doubt if you need a more precise location for this development
you can get some idea from the Caldas da Rainha PDM which is
available at the local council offices.

If not, then perhaps from the lawyer "Álvaro Baltazar da Silva
Jerónimo" who has been engaged in trying to contact some of the
folks who own the land. He is a member of the Municipal Assembly
for Caldas da Rainha - Wikipedia details here.

It is probable that the information on land acquisition is still
commercially sensitive and not easily available?

Hope that helps.

best regards,
David.
http://rainha.com/property/

Regards,
Graciano

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/

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