Marbella’s La Ermita industrial estate – which greets you the moment you drive through Gil’s proud eastern arch – has always been a bone of contention, not to say a blot on the landscape. But now its days are numbered. The town hall have just announced their plans to move all the industrial units to the new La Serranía business park that will be built to the north of the town, behind the La Cañada shopping mall.

Of course a major scheme such as this isn’t about to happen overnight. Especially since no demolition can go ahead at La Ermita until the business park has been completed. That done though, the 500-odd warehouses and workshops currently occupying the prime 1.6 million square metre site – not to mention the car showrooms incongruously lining the waterfront – will make way for green zones as well as residential and commercial areas more befitting the entrance to one of the Mediterranean’s most famous of international resorts.

Undoubtedly the largest and most significant urban redevelopment in Marbella’s history, according to mayor Ángeles Muñoz, “The administrative processes will begin immediately so that construction work on the new business park can start in 2013 or 2014. Also alluding to the ambitious Port Al-Thani marina project – the brainchild of Qatari sheikh Abdullah Al-Thani – she went on to say that “the next six years will see massive private investment in Marbella with capital coming from abroad.”

In stark contrast to the remote Austrian boot camp where they prepared for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, Fabio Capello is bringing his squad to Marbella to limber up for Euro 2012 in which England have been drawn to face Sweden, France and Ukraine next summer and, if they get lucky, in the quarter finals they might even get to take on World and European champions Spain.

According to The Telegraph – and just about every other Sunday newspaper published yesterday – the England team…

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Paseo del Parque, Málaga

It doesn’t make any difference how long you’ve lived on the Costa del Sol, Christmas always has an uncanny knack of sneaking up on you right out of nowhere to catch you unawares, mainly because of the clear blue skies and warm sunshine duping us all into thinking it can’t possibly be December yet!

So if, like me, you still can’t quite believe that the festive season is a mere three weeks away…

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On Tuesday, 6 December – a public holiday in Spain in honour of Constitution Day – runners and athletes from the UK, Belgium, Finland, France, Holland and, it goes without saying, Spain, will be pounding the streets of the capital of the Costa del Sol as they take part in the 2^nd edition of the Maratón Ciudad de Málaga.

Spain’s former long-distance runner, Martín Fiz – who won the 1994 European Athletics Championships in Helsinki and the World Athletics Championships in Gothenburg in 1995 – has also signed-up for the event, along with Spanish runners from 15 of the country’s 17 autonomous communities.

The 42.195km race starts and ends at the Estadio Ciudad de Málaga stadium, next to the Palacio de los Deportes José María Carpena on the western outskirts of Málaga city. With the event featuring on the official calendar of the Real Federación Española de Atletismo, the course comprises two different routes run back-to-back, the first over a distance of 15km and the second 27.195km.

The Marathon kicks off at 9am.

For more than 20 years, chairman and president of DM Properties, Diana Morales, has been a keen observer of the changes taking place in Spain in general and Marbella in particular, especially within the property sector.

Every year we eagerly anticipate reading Diana Morales’ annual Marbella Real Estate Market Report.

This year it seemed to come to us a bit later than usual, I guess because Diana was watching the market carefully and no doubt checking how the land was lying before fully committing to her Report.

We have even waited a few weeks ourselves, for the whole ‘eurozone crisis’ to settle itself back down, before presenting her Report to our own blog and website visitors.

Regardless as ever, whenever it comes, Diana’s Report is always an excellent piece of work and, as every year, we have no hesitation in providing a link to it.

While DM Properties and VIVA of course operate in the same geographical area, our respective markets are, however, quite different…

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In the run-up to the festive season – which in Spain kicks off with public holidays on 6 & 8 December and continues virtually unabated until 6 January – it’s something of a tradition that Málaga is the venue for a show-stopping pre-Christmas spectacular, and this year is no different.

No strangers to the capital of the Costa del Sol, Montreal-based Cirque du Soleil return to Málaga next month with their box office hit production Alegría…

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Residents of Marbella will be going green this weekend… but not with envy! Environmental charity Arboretum are asking for the support of 100 members of the local community to help plant 1,000 trees and shrubs at Finca El Trapiche from 10am until 1pm, where a ‘People’s Forest’ is being created.

The objective is to make use of a deserted scrubland area by turning it into a beautiful nature reserve and is a fantastic way of not only restoring the lost woodlands of the area, as well as conserving species of trees and plants native to Andalucía, but will also result in the creation of an appealing public green area for residents and visitors alike.

“We need 100 people from the local community to get involved and help plant 1,000 trees in just one morning,” says Alejandro Orioli, founder of Arboretum. “The event has been designed so people of all ages can join in. And if you are unable to lend a hand this weekend, then we would really appreciate your support on Twitter (@ ArboretumMrblla), or Facebook (Arboretum Marbella). All you need to do is re-tweet our posts about the campaign, or tweet messages about the project using key words #100personas1000arboles.“

For more information, T. 951 137 210.

It was in early September that we first posted the fabulous news that US technology giant Apple would be opening its biggest store in Spain right here in Marbella – in the La Cañada shopping mall to be exact – and just in time for Christmas, too!

OK, so now we have an official launch date, too: Friday, 25 November, when 5,000 visitors are expected to pass through the doors. And it goes without saying that you’ll find all the innovative services that are the hallmark of Apple stores around the world. Like their One to One, Genius Bar, Workshops, Youth Programs and Business Team, and of course an online appointments service, not to mention the Apple Summer Camp 2012 booking now.

The first Apple Retail Store opened 11 years ago in Virginia. Currently, there are 350+ worldwide.

The new marina will be funded entirely by private investment

It was way back in 2006 that plans to build a marina in La Cala were first drawn up, and at last they’ve just been approved by the Junta de Andalucía, meaning that the municipality of Mijas can now join the towns of Fuengirola, Benalmádena, Málaga, Marbella, Estepona, Manilva and Sotogrande – all of whom have boasted their own yacht harbours for a good many years.

The new marina…

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Launched just last week, Bacardi’s Champions Drink Responsibly campaign serves you up the chance not only to ‘Ace Rafa’ in their online virtual reality game, but also to meet him in Mallorca in 2012… and face him on court!

Unlike most console and online games, ‘Ace Rafa’ features a real version of Rafael Nadal rather than a computer-generated one and the game is brought to life with the 10-times Grand Slam singles champion receiving each serve as though he were playing an actual match with you…

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