In the mountains of Nosara, set apart from the tourist centers of Guiones and Pelada, a gate flanked by two stone columns welcomes visitors to Mar Azul: a luxury condominium complex comprising 35 properties, where developers built at least seven homes without building permits and, at the time, without legal access to water or electricity.
The initial permit granted by the Municipality of Nicoya was for earthworks and the construction of streets, access roads, and amenities. It was issued in December 2023 to the company Desarrollo Rancho Mar Azul Nosara Limitada, which is responsible for the condominium and is managed and legally represented by Marion Peri.
The development is located in the mountainous region of Nosara.
César Espinoza Díaz, coordinator of the Department of Construction Control and Public Works for the Municipality of Nicoya, granted the permit without the developer having presented to the municipality proof of water availability from the Asada de Santa Marta or from the Water Directorate (DA) of the Ministry of Environment and Energy (MINAE).
Water availability is a basic requirement for granting permits, as established in municipal building codes and in the Building Regulations of the National Institute of Housing and Urban Development (INVU).
In response to inquiries from La Voz, the local government confirmed that there is evidence the permit may have been authorized without verifying the availability of potable water, as confirmed by investigations currently underway within the municipality.
By April 2024—four months after the earthworks permit was issued—at least four houses had already been built and a fifth was 20% complete, as verified by the Municipality of Nicoya during an inspection conducted by the Construction Control Office.
Pie de foto: Acta de visita de inspección realizada el 3 de abril del 2024.
With that permit in hand—the earthworks permit—the company not only built the houses but also sold them for millions. Records from the National Registry reveal that the declared purchase prices reached as high as $942,000.
La Voz spoke with five homeowners within the condominium, who stated that they were unaware of the irregularities when they purchased the homes.
Furthermore, as of press time, La Voz was able to confirm through official documents the existence of seven houses. However, complaints filed with the local government by the families’ owners and attorneys indicate the existence of two more: one house that is 100% complete and another that is under construction.
The maneuvers to secure the well concession… and the construction permits
In May 2024, five months after obtaining the initial construction permit for earthworks, amenities, and access roads, Asada Santa Marta issued three water availability assessments to Mar Azul: one of the water letters denied the possibility of providing water to the 35 subdivisions, and just hours later, the local water authority issued two other documents confirming that water was indeed available for two of them, as recorded in DA official letter DA-UHTPNOL-0208-2026 and in Asada documents F0218, F0221, and F0222.
The treasurer and the administrator of Asada claimed that they do not know the origin of the three letters because they were approved by the water utility’s former president, Adriana Camareno, who passed away on December 22, 2025.
Following the letter denying service, the real estate project requested a concession from the DA to use well CJ-135, which had previously been drilled with the institution’s authorization. The concession was approved to supply the condominium in September 2024, five months after the Nicoya Municipality confirmed that there were already at least five houses.
In Costa Rica, Executive Decree 35271-S-MINAE establishes that to obtain a well-use concession from the DA, applicants must demonstrate that the community’s Asada or the entity supplying water in the area rejected the water availability.
With the well-use concession granted by the Water Authority, the head of the municipal Building Control Department, César Espinoza, justified legalizing six of the houses that lacked building permits (a process known as regularization). “(The concession) covers the water supply for the condominium project as a whole, including the individual properties that comprise it,” he stated in official document MN-DPTSA-CCOP-OFI-086-03-2026.
The process was carried out even though three of the six regularization proceedings filed with the Nicoya Municipality began between June and August 2024, before the developer had obtained the water concession, which was granted in September.
However, the well that was supposed to supply water to Mar Azul—and which the municipality used to justify legalizing the construction permits—was not used by the developer, at least not until August 2025. On that date, the DA conducted an inspection and found that well CJ-135 remained sealed with a cap and did not even have the electrical wiring necessary to pump water.
The homeowners themselves had already reported to the municipality as early as April 24, 2025, that the well was inactive.
If the DA’s and neighbors’ reports that the well in question was not used are confirmed, the regularized building permits issued by the municipality for six of the homes could be invalidated, as the municipality itself explained to La Voz through its press office. “The legal validity of these administrative acts is being analyzed as part of investigations into possible irregularities in their issuance.”
Significant contradictions have been detected between the letters of availability and non-availability issued by ASADA Santa Marta de Nosara (serial numbers F0218, F0221, and F0222), as well as inconsistencies between the water use permit and the physical condition and disuse of the well, revealed by the Tempisque North Pacific Hydrological Unit, which has raised doubts about the veracity of the water supply for the condominium and each unit,” the local government explained.
Although Mar Azul does not have a formal water supply from ASADA, nor did it operate the well licensed by the DA, the developer charged homeowners for the service. La Voz obtained copies of invoices showing monthly charges per home ranging from $16 to $965 (approximately ¢8,500 to ¢490,000). The charges are billed by the condominium’s management company, Grupo ABI Soluciones S.A.
The condominium already had occupied homes even before the drinking water service was brought up to code. Photo: Mar Azul rendering.
The contradiction from Asada of Santa Marta
La Voz asked Asada de Santa Marta directly whether or not it supplies water to the Mar Azul condominium, and the responses received are contradictory.
The manager of the Mar Azul condominium, Catalina Castro, assured the DA of MINAE that Asada de Santa Marta supplied water to seven homes in the condominium. She made this statement on October 3, 2025, in response to inquiries from the agency itself.
Asada’s president and attorney echo Castro’s statement. The treasurer and the administrator contradict them.
On April 14, 2026, Asada’s president and attorney, Rufino Ramírez and Rebeca Montenegro, submitted a letter to the Municipality of Nicoya stating that the condominium was supplied by well GA-334, the same well that supplies the Coyol Restaurant and the Nosara Hills real estate development—two projects owned by Marion Peri. “There are no clandestine connections,” they asserted in the letter.
Asada’s treasurer and administrator, Frehiman Ramírez and Cheiry Acosta, denied the claim. “Mar Azul is not being supplied with water,” they asserted.
The letter submitted to the municipality was a mistake by the attorney, she claims. “We only realized the mistake the attorney made recently.”
Peri donated that well (GA-334) to Asada, and it already has AyA’s approval for use. Although AyA did approve a technical study by Asada—which authorizes the water supply—on July 3, 2025, Ramírez and Acosta say they do not yet have sufficient infrastructure to provide water to the condominium.
When contacted by La Voz, developer Peri stated that they are working on the infrastructure needed to finally connect to ASADA. “We are currently donating the civil works required by the AyA according to the approved technical study (…) Once completed and handed over to ASADA, the condominium will connect exclusively to its system,” the developer explained. This is also confirmed in the letter submitted by ASADA’s president and attorney to the Municipality of Nicoya.
Peri states that they obtain water from well CJ-135, for which the DA granted a concession in September 2024. “At no time has the condominium lacked a legitimate water source,” he asserted.
Electricity is billed, but ICE refuses to provide service
The Mar Azul administration provides electricity and bills residents for the service, but the Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE) confirmed to La Voz that it does not supply power to this condominium.
“To date, the ICE does not provide electrical service to the condominium identified as 5-5370-M-000, nor is there any record of direct service provision,” the institution stated through its press office. Furthermore, they specified that they also do not have “detailed technical information on the condominium development or specific engineering studies that would allow us to determine the availability of electricity for its eventual future service.”
Several complaints filed by the families’ law firm with the Nicoya District Attorney’s Office, ICE, and the Public Services Regulatory Authority (ARESEP) indicate that the homes were connected to a 10-year-old private network and have a meter registered under the name of Nosara Hills, another project by developer Peri. Nosara Hills is located less than one kilometer from Mar Azul and has been investigated by the National System of Conservation Areas (Sinac) for the clearing of one hectare of land.
Since 2018, and on two additional occasions, ICE has informed the Mar Azul developer that the condominium lacked the necessary infrastructure to receive service.
On May 2, 2024, ICE issued its third denial of electricity service via official letter 1153-170-2024, one month after the inspection in which the municipality found five houses in the condominium.
Peri said that ICE has no record of the electrical installation because it was installed before Mar Azul was registered as a condominium. According to him, they have had a power line since 2014. “The parent property 5370-M-000 was created a decade later; the master meter remains in the name of the original parent property (currently a condominium with 35 subsidiary units), which explains why ICE has no record of it,” he said.
As with water, owners receive bills from Grupo ABI Soluciones S.A. The bills show monthly payments ranging from $101.32 to $1,745.24 (approximately ¢52,000 to ¢890,000).
ARESEP has not yet conducted an inspection of the site. “The complaint is being processed, and a site visit is planned,” the institution’s press office told La Voz, nearly 11 months after the complaint was filed.
ICE states that it does not supply electricity to Mar Azul. The developer claims it has had a connection since 2014. Photo: Mar Azul rendering
And construction continues, according to the municipality
The construction of homes without building permits did not stop with the first five houses discovered by the municipality in 2024.
On February 3, 2026, the Construction Control Coordinator, César Espinoza, confirmed the presence of laborers working on Lot 2 (property 5-231596 -F-000), a site he himself had shut down on June 2, 2025, because a new house was being built there at that time without a building permit.
Although breaking seals without authorization is a crime punishable under Articles 314 and 319 of the Penal Code, Peri maintains that the seals were not removed. “False. The seals were not removed. Lot 2 has permit PC-572-2025,” he said.
La Voz confirmed with the Federated College of Engineers and Architects (CFIA) that permit PC-572-2025 for Lot 2 was approved by the Building Control Department on January 16, 2026. However, the Nicoya Municipal Government told the newspaper that it is investigating Espinoza’s actions for possible irregularities in allowing the construction to continue and for failing to take action regarding the breaking of the municipal seals.
Furthermore, the water availability requirement in the permit for Lot 2 is supported by the DA water concession, even though the same institution warned that the concession must be revoked if Asada has the capacity to supply water to the project, as confirmed by the technical study approved by the AyA.
Espinoza has also been under scrutiny by the municipality since April 2025 due to irregularities revealed by La Voz regarding Epic Nosara, the luxury real estate development that obtained building permits without having water availability.
Espinoza’s actions regarding this property had already been flagged by the local government itself since early 2026. The municipality’s then-Director of Planning and Urban Development, Andrea Obando, ordered César Espinoza on April 7, 2026, to shut down the project.
That same month, several homeowners in Mar Azul sent multiple emails to Nicoya’s mayor, Carlos Armando Martínez, with videos showing that construction on the homes was continuing.
The document sent by Obando also demands the closure of Lot 30 (subsidiary 5-231623-F-000). According to neighbors, there is another home on this lot without building permits. As detailed in the municipal file, the house is currently completed and occupied, even though formal complaints against Lot 30 were filed as early as February 2026.
Peri explained that he is simply waiting for the permit to be issued by the Nicoya Municipality, but noted that he has already completed the necessary procedures with the CFIA and made the municipal payment required for its issuance.
Obando, who no longer works for the municipality, told the Sfera Legal team—which represents the property owners—that he had sent the Mar Azul case file to the mayor’s office in order to establish an investigative body to examine Espinoza’s conduct regarding the permits granted for the development.
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