A cornerstone of El Toyo (the luxury residential and commercial area between Almería and Cabo de Gata, and a model for our own Llano Central) was going to be 120,000m2 of shopping – a centre that would rival Murcias Nueva Condomina. A proposal was sent, with a flourish, to Ikea and El Corte Ingles.
Now that reality has settled in, the promotors have quietly asked the Diputación for permission to slightly scale down the proposal. IE, one single Mercadona shop in a corner. Nobody else was interested, and after three years not even one shop space was reserved.
Among other problems (ie credit crunch), representatives of shops pointed out that the main road to the shopping area was “woefully inadequate” – a single lane road that winds through the urbanisations.
El Toyo was built as part of the ‘turn Almería into an important city’ Mediterranean Games and its apartments (as they are now) started out as dormitories for the athletes. The whole place was a disaster from Day One. No one wants to live there, holiday there or shop there.