Desert Springs Resort Spain & Norway based Ambera are realising the first full-scale ‘Active Adult Community’ in Europe
Desert Springs S.L. is part of The Almanzora Bay Group and the successful developer of the established Leisure Life concept at Desert Springs Resort, Europe’s only international award-winning premium family resort and championship desert golf course, located in Cuevas del Almanzora, Almeria, south east Spain.
Ambera Caravaca S.L. is part of the Ambera Group, a successful property development company whose concept is based on the creation and delivery of an ‘Active Adult Community’ within a contemporary resort style setting, for its existing market of European home owners wanting to spend the major part of the year in the south of Spain.
The concept is based on what in the USA is called an ‘Active Adult Community’ – a proven model with huge success with more than 2,000 communities built, housing over 2 million people that enjoy an active, social and healthy lifestyle. Based on the American model of locations such as Sun City Festival in Phoenix Arizona, Ambera will provide properties of value, designed for all year round living, with both the physical amenities and operational know-how for active living.
Ambera’s headquarters are located in Norway, and they will be directing their marketing activities towards the whole Western European market.
Desert Springs S.L. and Ambera Caravaca S.L. have entered into cooperation and collaboration agreements to enable Ambera to launch the ‘Active Adult Community’ concept at Desert Springs Resort, renowned as a location that is enriching, unique and world-class, that also benefits from the most hours of sunshine in Mainland Europe.
Ambera is now working with its Spanish architects on the design of the first phase of 200 new residential properties and finalising the benefits of what it will mean to be an
Ambera property owner at Desert Springs Resort. The launch of the promotion of Sale of Ambera homes is scheduled for early Spring 2020.
Simon Coaker, Almanzora Group Sales & Marketing Manager commented:
“Desert Springs Resort currently comprises 400 luxury residential homes, an award-winning golf course and academy, a professional quality cricket and football ground as well as numerous other sports and leisure activities and restaurants. It provides Ambera with the unique opportunity to immediately use these existing facilities to offer to its future home owners as well as the scope for immediate development of additional leisure and amenity facilities and activities for all to benefit from. The Almanzora Group is committed to the continual development of the community and residential estate and are excited to be embarking on this new chapter with Ambera.”
Jan Olav Frestad, founder of Ambera (left) with Peter Goodhall, Chief Executive of The Almanzora Bay Group upon the signing of contracts at Desert Springs Resort
Jan Olav Frestad, founder of Ambera said;
“Having looked at over 50 locations on the Mediterranean coast, it was an easy decision for Ambera to select Desert Springs Resort as the ideal Resort and location to launch the first full-scale European active adult community. With all that the Resort has to and will offer as Ambera rolls out its concept, ease of access and its favorable climate conditions, it provides the perfect location to invite people from all over Europe to live an active and social life – especially during the winter months when Northern Europe is experiencing weather conditions that reduce outdoor life substantially.”
Peter Goodhall, , Chief Executive of The Almanzora Bay Group remarked;
“At Desert Springs we developed a masterplan committed to the delivery of a Resort that provided a lifestyle of quality and leisure, with choices of recreation for its home-owners and visitors. It is a masterplan for which Desert Springs has won a number of awards and I am delighted that Ambera have recognized the qualities of Desert Springs Resort to launch their Active Adult Community lifestyle.
Like Ambera, we ourselves believe that buildings and amenities don’t make a community, rather people do, and we both very much view this as the start of a long-term cooperation and collaboration between ourselves. This is a special part of Spain and I look forward to seeing the Active Adult Community lifestyle come to fruition here at Desert Springs.”
Elaborating on his motivation for founding Ambera, Jan Olav remarked;
“I was inspired by the happiness and activity that I saw in active adult communities in the US already 20 years ago and have since then been working to realize my dream: seeing the same happiness amongst Europeans, who can meet in an Ambera project through activities and interest groups – building bridges and new relations.”
“We are not selling plain apartments like the ones that all other projects are promoting – we are selling a lifestyle that according to our research is in great demand in the baby boomer generation!” comments Jan Olav Frestad enthusiastically.
For further information about Desert Springs Resort, please visit; www.desertspringsresort.es
For further information about Ambera, please visit; www.ambera.eu
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NOTE TO EDITORS
About Desert Springs Resort
Opened in 2001, Desert Springs Resort quickly established an international reputation for outstanding quality, attracting discerning golfers, international elite amateur teams and professionals, as well as major international events, including two Spanish Amateur Opens, host to the 2015, 2016, 2018 & 2019PGA Europro Tour Championships and the 2017, 2018 & 2019 2nd Stage of the European Tour Qualifying School.
Resort accommodation is provided in the villas, apartments & townhouses available for holidays and short breaks at Desert Springs Resort. Meals are served in the resort’s Croc Restaurant, part of the family-friendly Crocodile Club that is geared up for a wide variety of leisure activities and the award-winning El Torrente Restaurant at the Club House.
Visiting golfers benefit from resort gated security and full management and services that ensure all aspects of a golfer’s stay are taken care of. These include airport transfers, food hamper deliveries, babysitting and both resort and off-resort restaurant reservations.
Additional background Information
Desert Springs Resort is served by three international airports, Almeria 40 minutes, Murcia/Corvera 70 minutes and Alicante 110 minutes away by car, making the area easily accessible with 2 1⁄2 hour chartered and scheduled flights from all parts of the UK and Ireland, as well easy access from the rest of Europe.
Desert Springs Resort
Facilities already completed and in use at Desert Springs Resort include:
- The Indiana course, a par 72 -18-hole USGA specification golf course, designed by former Great Britain and Ireland Golf Team Captain Peter McEvoy who was inspired by the desert courses of Arizona and California;
- a golf academy whose PGA qualified teaching professionals cater for several international teams, for many of the English County Union’s elite squads; PGA European Tour, PGA Europro Tour and LET players.
- two tennis courts, two padel courts, beach volley ball and two football pitches – one is a full-size grass pitch; the other is designed for five-a-side games;
- a cricket ground with an eighteen (18) wicket square, constructed to ECB standards and specifications open all year round. Complimented by a Marquee pavilion, sightscreens, scoreboard, sprint strips, and associated facilities, it provides an outstanding facility to practice and play cricket.
- a Cricket Academy with facilities that comprise; twenty-four (24) grass wickets and run up with nets, one artificial wicket with nets, a full length artificial grass wicket, a Professional Bola Bowling Machine with 28 ball feeder, requisite training equipment and a specific hard standing area, which provides outside space for facilities such as a free weights gym, stretching mats and a medical area.
- a Spanish colonial style Golf Club House with a lounge, bar, restaurant, locker rooms, TV and reading rooms, and a Ralph Lauren Golf Boutique;
- The Crocodile Club which provides family fun at the heart of the resort with pools, equipped sand play areas, a kid’s battery powered John Deere Gator circuit as well as a Jacuzzi, sun lawns and a pool bar;
- a health and fitness club and spa.
Awards
Desert Springs Resort was awarded Best Golf Resort for Groups in Europe by the 2016 European Group Travel Awards (EGTA). The Indiana Course at Desert Springs Resort has also been recognised as the 6th Best Golf Course in Spain, based on the reviews of players who rated the course on the Leading Courses website. Out of the 345 courses present on this ranking the Indiana Course at Desert Springs occupies 6th place with a score of 8,8/10, and awards Desert Springs Golf Club with the “Outstanding” badge. This distinction is only given to the best 10 courses in the country.
Desert Springs Resort has been awarded the Daily Mail Best Almeria Award and the Bentley International Property Awards for the Best Spain Development and Best Architecture, as well as the Spanish National Madera Verde Prize for Environmentally Sensitive Development, the SICTED award for the distinction of “Commitment to Tourism Quality” and Andalucía’s Premier Tourism prize for 2017, the coveted and prestigious ‘Excellence in Management’ Award.
El Torrente Restaurant has received the New Millennium International Gastronomy Award for the Tourist, Hotel and Catering Industry. This award was created by the Trade Leaders Club with the aim of distinguishing companies from all countries, for the outstanding quality of their products or services.
The climate of the Almanzora coastal region
Desert Springs Resort takes its name from the region’s desert microclimate, which is unique in Europe. It has the warmest winter weather on the continent with an annual average of more than nine hours of daily sunshine and maximum daily temperatures of between 16°C (60°F) and 30°C (86°F) throughout the year. Annual rainfall is less than 200 mm. The Almanzora coastal waters are among the cleanest and warmest in Europe, attracting both fish and diving enthusiasts.
Reader Enquiries:
Simon Coaker Falko Muller-TyI
The Almanzora Group Ambera
Sales & Marketing Manager Founder and CEO
Tel: +34 678 235 716 +47 977 81 303
E: scc@almanzora.com E: falko@ambera.eu
www.desertspringsresort.es www.ambera.eu
