DEVELOPMENT in Costa Rica hasspread in every shape and direction, bothvertically and horizontally. As condos,hotels and office buildings continue toemerge, so have services to fill their maintenanceneeds and ease the administrativeburdens of these collective environments.Grupo LA, a property administrationservice, for 10 yearshas been catering tothe maintenanceneeds of condos,commercial centers,hotels, warehouses,parking lotsand institutions orindividuals whoown property.“This type ofservice did not existbefore in CostaRica; now there is alot of developmentand it’s easier tobuild vertically, sothere are plenty ofcommon areas andservices, gardens,security and cleaningthat we providefor these buildings,”said IngridHines, assistantmanager.Apart from subcontractingsecurityand cleaning services and engineers formaintenance of condos and buildings,Grupo LA, located in Oficentro La Sabana,in western San José, offers short-termadministration for building or home ownerswho need to travel frequently outsidethe country.“Our maintenance service is meant tokeep property at an optimal level, and isespecially useful for clients who cannotbe around all the time to administrate it,”Hines said.Grupo LA evaluates each project individuallyand charges fees accordingly,said Manuel Coto, property assessmentspecialist.For more info, visit www.grupola.comor call 220-4565.EDWARD Fridovich, manager ofAliter Corporation, a real estate service thathas been in businessfor 20 years in thewestern suburb ofEscazú, said thatcollective maintenanceservices forcondos and buildingsare not commonin Costa Rica.“We providedthis service forcondos about sixmonths ago, andcollected monthlymaintenance fees.But we couldn’t getthem up to our standards.Some peoplewouldn’t pay – peoplearen’t used tothis kind of servicehere,” Fridovichsaid.However, Fridovichexplainedthere has been a“great influx ofpeople within thelast 12-18 months, bringing change and amore sophisticated real-estate market intoCosta Rica.”“In the future, if we find clients whosestandards are up to ours, we might offerour services again in looking for companiesto collect rent or keep the outside andinside of their buildings clean, for example,”he said.For more details, visit www.alitercorp.com or call 289-4200.
