Easing Marbella’s Road Congestion for the Superrich

With the recent surge of superrich buyers from Russia, the Middle East and China comes the deliberation by Marbella’s Town Hall if the journey from Malaga Airport to Marbella’s shores shouldn’t be more comfortable?  Why should Golden Visa holders who invested at least EUR 500,000 into Marbella’s property market be forced to spend time on congested roads? The Town Hall is therefore considering building a heliport on a patch of land next to El Pinillo beach.

On paper at least it makes sense: rich Arabs who like to play polo or riding pure bred horses in Jerez bring their own animals to the resort every year when they come to stay in Marbella for a few months over the summer. Marbella’s thousands of day trippers could also become a valuable revenue stream, for the heliport could offer tourists thrilling helicopter rides to show off the Costa del Sol’s beautiful shores.

Local businessmen and women would also benefit, for the town could do with better connections with Malaga’s airport – in the summer months the route between the airport and Marbella can be very busy indeed. The whole area also needs better facilities from which air ambulance services, maritime rescue and fire control missions can be carried out.

The new heliport will occupy ca. 6,000 square meters outside El Pinillo, but won’t have an impact on local protection nature reserves, the Environment Minister said in a statement issued at the end of March 2014. The project could be under way as soon as AESA, the state air security authority, gives the green light.

The site is to accommodate space for four helicopters and four small cabins for staff. There will also be a parking zone for cars and a small cafeteria. The heliport will be operational from 7.00 to 19.00 hours daily, if everything goes ahead as planned.

How will this affect El Pinillo property?

Up to now El Pinillo hasn’t exactly thrilled international property buyers – there’s little to do and see; the nearest train station, Montemar, is a 25 minute walk out of town and the surroundings hold few scenic spots for climbers, hikers or bikers.

El Pinillo holiday homes start at asking prices of around EUR 399,999 and are typically villas rather than apartments. The average villa has a built floor space of 174 square meters with a per square meter price of EUR 2,856. Villas sit in plots measuring typically 840 square meters. Although most casual visitors don’t seem to regard El Pinillo as a place suitable for permanent residency, the community’s close proximity to Marbella’s amenities has meant that El Pinillo has been earmarked as the site for Marbella’s latest private university and this may well change property investors’ minds.

The MIUC, Marbella International University Centre, will open its doors to students at the onset of the new academic year in autumn 2014. An influx of students looking for cheap accommodation might also serve as a lifeline to Costa del Sol home owners struggling to pay their mortgages, but the multi-million refurbishment of the site may yet turn out to be a costly gamble.

If the new university fails to attract 100 students in the first year, it will not break even and might never open its doors as a result.

Since the centre must prove it can be commercially viable before the Dirección General de Universidades of the Junta de Andalucía will give their final approval, MIUC’s administrators have their work cut out to find 100 students willing to cough up the EUR 18,900 it will cost per annum to study here.
 
MIUC will offer four regular degree courses as well as four one-year masters’ degree courses. In order to drum “local” business and promote MIUC’s various educational facilities and services, the university will hold an open day in May.

Non-EU property investors from China, Russia and the Middle East might look more favourably at El Pinillo as a real estate investment destination. Many are keen to provide their children with a European education and might be tempted to buy an apartment close to MIUC rather than in central Marbella, especially if they can arrive by helicopter or private jet instead of having to suffer congested traffic between Malaga Airport and Marbella.