Malaga is known for the Alcazaba, Gibralfaro or its Cathedral. If Hesperia and the Qatari fund Al Alfia manage to move forward with their plans, in not too long it will also be for another building, one that will also mark their skyline: the Port Tower. The project is not new (it has years on the table) and has generated considerable controversy in the city, but its promoters have just made it clear that they are not giving up: after receiving green light of the Port, the companies that are trying to move it forward have organized an event to share dates, data and investments.
Their objective is to demonstrate that they are still committed to building a 144-meter tower in a country, Spain, that stands out for its little hobby by the skyscrapers.
What is the Port Tower? A megaproject which has been in the offices of administrations for almost a decade and (above all) generating debate in Malaga. And the “mega” thing is more than justified in this case. At least if we pay attention to the latest data broken down by their promoters. The idea is to build a skyscraper 144 meters high, 59 meters wide and 19 meters wide at the end of the Levante dock, in the middle of the port, near the maritime station where the cruise ships dock.
The tower will act as a huge hotel 382 roomsbut its promoters they insist in which it will arrive accompanied by a much more ambitious and useful infrastructure for the city that will cover, in total, 54,000 square meters. “The hotel will be located in a currently depressed area, where there is nothing, and we are going to recover that environment for the city and the citizens,” slide from Hesperia, a fundamental piece in its promotion together with the Qatari fund Al Alfia.
Is more information known? Yes. Both about the hotel itself and the urban development that will accompany it. The icing on the cake will be the skyscraper: 144 meters high whose centerpiece will be accommodation focused on the high-net-worth clientele that comes to Malaga. The objective, in fact, is for it to operate as a five-star Grand Luxury hotel and be managed by an international chain (there are already interested parties).
Beyond the hotel, the complex will include a 2,500 m2 auditorium, underground parking, a restaurant, a plaza and a 1.3 km boulevard with viewpoints, a bike path, green areas… The development companies in fact calculate that the complex will cover around 54,000 m2. “It is not a speculative project, it will have a return for the developer, but above all for the city because it creates many public spaces,” investors claim in The Opinion of Malaga.
How much will it cost? There is talk of an investment of about 200 million eurosalthough initially the figure was quite inferior. This high amount (along with the special status of the land) explains why the promoters insist on the “transformative” and social dimension of the project and the return it will have for Malaga.
The reason? To begin with because the promoters they do not rule out qualify for European funds and have support from the administrations. Before even thinking about financing, the project must nevertheless get its future cleared by the Council of Ministers, for which it is key that its public utility be demonstrated.
Why is it news? The initiative is by no means new. A quick search in the newspaper archive arrives to verify that he has been chaining procedures for years, a complex path during which he even changed his star architect: the Valencian José Seguí He moved not long ago to the Londoner David Chipperfielwinner of the Pritzker Prize (the Nobel Prize for architects) in 2023.
In recent weeks, however, the tower has been in the news again for two reasons. The first came in October, when the Port Authority gave the green light to the complex and allowed him to move on to the next stop in his processing: the State Ports table. There they must study it in depth before it reaches the Council of Ministers, which must rule on whether the hotel complex fits into the Levante dike. That is, whether or not it authorizes the hotel use of that space.
The second reason why the tower is being talked about these days is because its promoters, Hesperia and Al Alfia, have organized an act to emphasize that they are not giving up. In fact, the quote served to explain details of the Chipperfield project and outline the schedule managed by the companies: their objective is to resolve the pending issues “in the medium term” to start the works as early as 2026. According to their estimates, the work will last about three years.
Will that be possible? First, the project must overcome certain obstacles. And not all of them have to do with financing. The project needs the green light from the Council of Ministers and Óscar Puente, Minister of Transportation, since has warned that the Executive will not move until it knows the judicial resolution to the appeals presented by the Defendamos Nuestro Horizonte platform and the Academy of Fine Arts of San Telmo, critical of some aspects of the project. They are not the only ones. ICOMOS, linked to UNESCO, has warned also the landscape impact of the tower.
Spain, country of skyscrapers? Although in Spain there are skyscrapers like the Crystal Towerin Madrid, of 249 m, and in Andalusia itself we find the Seville Tower (180.5 m), the truth is that our country does not exactly stand out for its large buildings. Some time ago Skyscrapercenter made a ranking with the nations with the highest number of towers that exceed 150 meters and Spain occupies 32nd place, behind other European countries, such as Germany, France or the United Kingdom. The Malaga tower is a reminder of one of the controversies generated by this type of structures: its impact on the landscape that surrounds it.
Images | Port Authority of Malaga
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