Millionaires’ playground Marbella wants to become a tech hub

Most tourist destinations have signposts pointing to their historical sites. In Puerto Banús, near Marbella on Spain’s Costa del Sol, the signs direct visitors to Bottega Veneta, Bvlgari, Louis Vuitton and Rolex. Yachts line the waterfront, and Ferraris, Lamborghinis and Bentleys cruise the roads.

For decades, Marbella has attracted international money. Europeans, particularly from the U.K. and Scandinavia, bought second homes in the area or settled permanently there in the late 20th century. So too did international fugitives seeking a safe haven from the law, giving the area an alternative moniker: the Costa del Crime. More recently, a wider range of buyers have arrived, and the region has become ostentatiously wealthy, with luxury residences and gated communities multiplying and sprawling into the surrounding hills. 

Now, the city wants to reinvent itself, with a  “2.0” vision that positions the Costa del Sol as a Silicon Valley of Europe, with Marbella as its Palo Alto. Co-working spaces and offices are springing up alongside the apartments and high-end restaurants.

“We’re helping shift the narrative around Marbella from a leisure destination to a serious hub for modern professionals,” said Christian Rasmussen, CEO of business hub The Pool. “I think that the future of Marbella is going to look very different to what it looks like now.”

The Pool is situated on a coastal stretch known as the Golden Mile, a strip that runs from the center of Marbella to Puerto Banús, lined with palm trees, restaurants and luxury resorts. When Bloomberg News visited in mid-May, a large group of Finnish businessmen were deep in discussion in a glass-walled meeting room, while European and Middle Eastern entrepreneurs worked at communal desks in a space decorated with pot plants and abstract paintings on loan from a collector in Madrid. 

The clientele reflects the changing demographics of the city’s immigrants. The real estate market was previously dominated by middle-aged European buyers looking for second homes, but since the pandemic agents are seeing a new generation of younger buyers interested in purchasing a place where they can live and work all year-round, according to Pure Living Properties’ 2025 Marbella market report. While the dominant nationalities of international buyers remain British, Scandinavian, German, and Dutch, there has been a notable increase in interest from the United States, Canada, Poland and the Gulf states.

“After the pandemic, new kinds of people and investors, hotels, came to Marbella, which has increased the quality of the place. It........

© Fortune