Alan Wentworth-Harley's Marbella Property Insider

After the great success this valentine’s day  la sala restaurant /bar on Gibraltar’s sunborn yacht hotel is proving to be  popular amongst the stars including premiership footballers and wags , maybe that’s because its part owned by a string of former players in the premier league. La Sala is already the place to be seen and mingle with the stars in Nueva Andalucia, since the show the only way is Essex or life on Marbs was broadcast on ITV Be it seems to have attracted even more customers hoping to catch a glimpse of famous faces. Special offers to stay on the Sunborn Gibralta start from £225 a night which includes a 3 course dinner, 1 nights’ accommodation and buffet breakfast, not bad for those looking for a great place to celebrate a special occasion.

This new development is set to become one of the most exclusive golf projects in Europe. The luxurious project called Valderrama 2 of over 200 hectares , in the Castellar municipality will consist of a  hotel and possibly some residential homes built to the standard in La Zagaleta’s, where homes start from around €3 million. Zagaleta, just outside Marbella, is Spain’s most luxurious residential development with many celebrity residents, while Valderrama’s golf course has known international prestige since it hosted the 1997 Ryder Cup. The Valderrama purchase itself is reported to be €40 million, while the total investment, building another Championship golf complex ‘of the highest level’ is set to reach around €240 million. The project will unfold over the next decade, and La Zagaleta group has expressed its cooperation with the Real Club Valderrama, to preserve the exclusivity that the brand has built up over many years to become a European landmark.

It will be Europe’s largest outdoor swimming pool being similar to the one they have built in Chile. At a cost of €121 million the luxury resort is set to bring the biggest pool in Europe, with 450 homes scattered around it. The hectare and a half sit in Casares, Alcazaba Hills Lagoon will create a huge area for swimmers and for other water sports. Estimated to take eight months to build, some 350 new properties are part of the plans to be built alongside an existing 100 properties, which have sat unsold since 2009. Spelling great optimism for the abandoned development, the scheme plans to target wealthy European tourists, principally British, German and Dutch. The Estepona, Marbella and Mijas property landscape has seen a magnificent year with €376 million of investment scheduled in so far alone.

One of the world’s richest men here in Malaga for a weekend away in style. Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen rolled into Malaga port aboard his 126 metre yacht, Octopus, to attend a business meeting with Pilar Lopez, president of the Spanish arm of the technology giant. With two helicopters, a submarine, swimming pool, music studio and basketball court, the superyacht is the 14th largest in the world. The ship is also known for its annual celebrity-studded parties hosted at Cannes film festival, where Allen and his band play for guests.

A two-day coffee-making championship, with the 17 best baristas from Spain battling it out to be crowned the nation’s finest. Each contestant had 16 minutes to prepare two pairs of coffees, one pair of cappuccinos, one non-alcoholic combination and one alcoholic combination. With over a 300-strong audience watching the entire process. 200 professionals competed in nationwide events to earn a place at this final, held in the impressive Palacio de Congresos, so they have a right to be annoyed if the music’s too loud. “Last year’s winner, who came from Asturias, was sent to Uganda on holiday to learn how they produce coffee beans. This year the prize is a week in Colombia.” The judges are all experts from around Spain, many of whom have previously competed in the event.

A consortium involving a Chinese investment fund, the Spanish construction company Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas (FCC) and the holding company Credit Suisse have presented an offer for the licence for Puerto Banús, according to SUR. The proposed  offer of 200 million has been linked to the possible expansion of the area and according to sources consulted by SUR the deal could be made by the end of the year. Puerto Banus was built in 1970 by José Banús, a local property developer, as a luxury shopping complex and marina. It has since become one of the world’s most famous marinas attracting over 5 million visitors a year and becoming a local haunt for celebrities and the well heeled. The marina has 870 berths and is one of the most expensive marinas in the Mediterranean; the current king of Saudi Arabia, Salman, moors one of his boats permanently there. Puerto Banus is highly ranked alongside some of Italy’s most luxury Marinas such as Marina Grande in Ca...

       H ollywood actor Kevin Bacon has recently taken a short break on the Costa del Sol. The Apollo 13 star found a luxury Mijas villa to bring together his family from around the world. The Bacon family arrived for two weeks of sunshine in a luxury Villa in El Chaparral , costing around €20,000 per week. The 56-year-old father-of-two and his stunning actress wife Kyra Sedgwick, 49, managed to keep a low profile throughout the entire trip, staying in most of the time due to Bacon’s father-in-law being unwell. The Villa has been used by other celebrities, including Jermaine Jackson, earlier this year.