Villa del Mar

Villa del Mar rises 31 floors on the corner of Avenida Balboa and Calle Uruguay, in Bella Vista — barrio and corregimiento carry the same name — and was completed in 2011 by Empresas Bern. Twenty-four of those floors hold apartments, stacked above five parking levels, and the property is titled as P.H. VILLA DEL MAR.

Of its 122 titles, 120 are apartments and two are commercial premises. The 120 are the homes: individually titled, and so buyable, financeable and resellable one at a time. The 122 is the ownership group, the number of parties the monthly fee, the repairs and every assembly vote are shared among.

Those two commercial premises sit in the same property as the apartments, and shops under the same roof change the traffic through the building, the hours it keeps, and how the maintenance budget is divided.

The shared area sits at the top of the tower: an infinity pool and a jacuzzi looking over the bay, and an equipped gym. Outside it, the Cinta Costera runs along Avenida Balboa in front of the building and the Hotel Le Méridien stands across the corner, which puts the waterfront promenade one crossing away rather than a drive.