Owners of premises in the Plaça Major underground shopping area are still waiting for news from Palma Town Hall regarding the expropriation of their properties, the town hall having last week presented images of the architectural plan for the redevelopment of the square both above and below ground.
The underground level will be converted into a "square within a square" and most of it will be uncovered. Photo: Patricia Lozano.
Most of the units had tenants. The keys were handed in to the town hall several years ago. But there were others with private owners, and it is they who feel that expropriation offers thus far amount to a rip-off. An initial town hall valuation was 1,880 euros per square metre. A more recent one increased this to just over 2,000 euros. "Still not enough," says one of the owners.
A third offer will in any event have to be made, as the period of validity for the second valuation has expired. "We want a market price. It cannot be that premises are being sold on third-class streets of the city for €5,000 per square metre." The owners argue that, by contrast, their premises are in a "strategic area", the town hall itself having spoken about the Plaça Major in these terms.
"We're not talking about a basement, but rather a shopping mall in the centre of Palma that was doing very well until the very day units were abruptly closed." That was in September 2019.
"The mayor says the redevelopment work will begin in the last quarter of 2026, so we don't know what they're waiting for. We want a fair price." The owners' association is consulting a law firm in continuing negotiations with the town hall, a process that has now been going on for more than five years.
They really have to give very serious consideration to what they do there after thinking g about it I believe that that will not work people don't like stair´s especially modern people if Corte anglaise built a building there and you go down or up a nice restaurant on the top floor a roof top bar and outside bars cafe´s etc could work Mallorca has to become competitive not just bla blah blah those day´s are over the world is much smarter it has to be chic and nice super ice cream etc , it´s a quite high location so they have to use that the square is to big anyway it´s not used effectively , a super serious look need´s to be given .
It's truly absurd that a large retail space such as this lower ground mall is vacant and abandoned in the heart of the capital and has been left to rot for so many years. Someone in the Council needs to get a grip, bang heads together and get this sorted. Things cannot take this long. If this was NY that site would be turned around in a few weeks. In Beijing, it would be days! It doesn't need to be like this in Mallorca. It can be done.
Along with the recent explosion of vaping and cannabis shops, the centre of Palma is going in the wrong direction and a strategy is needed from the Council to attract individual fashion, accessories, homeware and specialist food stores and move away from these downmarket chains of smoking-related outlets taking over the centre.
MPBA (Make Palma Beautiful Again).
Here again we see how COMPLICATED the law is when it come´s to the way things work in Mallorca and Spain there are all kind´s of deals that were made people have passed away and this will take year´s to sort out the plan looks quite good the current situation is HORRIBLE and DIRTY actually SCARY and anything would be a big improvement , don't hold your Breath !
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FredA Corte Inglés store bang in the middle of the Plaça Major?!! Are you serious?!
They really have to give very serious consideration to what they do there after thinking g about it I believe that that will not work people don't like stair´s especially modern people if Corte anglaise built a building there and you go down or up a nice restaurant on the top floor a roof top bar and outside bars cafe´s etc could work Mallorca has to become competitive not just bla blah blah those day´s are over the world is much smarter it has to be chic and nice super ice cream etc , it´s a quite high location so they have to use that the square is to big anyway it´s not used effectively , a super serious look need´s to be given .
It's truly absurd that a large retail space such as this lower ground mall is vacant and abandoned in the heart of the capital and has been left to rot for so many years. Someone in the Council needs to get a grip, bang heads together and get this sorted. Things cannot take this long. If this was NY that site would be turned around in a few weeks. In Beijing, it would be days! It doesn't need to be like this in Mallorca. It can be done. Along with the recent explosion of vaping and cannabis shops, the centre of Palma is going in the wrong direction and a strategy is needed from the Council to attract individual fashion, accessories, homeware and specialist food stores and move away from these downmarket chains of smoking-related outlets taking over the centre. MPBA (Make Palma Beautiful Again).
Here again we see how COMPLICATED the law is when it come´s to the way things work in Mallorca and Spain there are all kind´s of deals that were made people have passed away and this will take year´s to sort out the plan looks quite good the current situation is HORRIBLE and DIRTY actually SCARY and anything would be a big improvement , don't hold your Breath !