Huge Shopping and Leisure Complex in Spain’s Costa del Sol May be Delayed Due to Pandemic

THERE was jubilation in the Torremolinos Council chamber when British developer Intu offered to build a huge new commercial and leisure park in the town at an estimated cost of €850 million.

That was in May last year but finances were clearly a problem for the company as in December it sold its Puerto Venecia shopping centre in Zaragoza and then another centre in Asturias.

The company which relies upon footfall at its UK and Spanish shopping centres as well as rent from stores has suffered further with closures during the Covid-19 pandemic and now it is reported that it is having difficulty in finding nearly €50 million to start works on the roads around the area chosen in order to ensure free movement of vehicles.

One of its partners in this project, the Portuguese Eurofund Group has now indicated that it may well be interested in taking over the entire project which will come as a considerable relief to the Torremolinos Council which anticipated the creation of more than 4,000 jobs in the area and an influx of some 20 million visitors each year.

Intu are not down and out as they still own the prestigious Xanadu centre in Madrid which will soon be back to the ‘new normal’ and has interest or owns some 17 centres in the UK.

Time will tell which company will eventually build this new complex, but it currently looks as if it will still go ahead.