Tom Ewart Smith
SEVILLA authorities have approved the development of the groundbreaking Lagoon City project.
A ‘Caribbean-esque’ resort, centred on a crystal-clear lagoon with artificial white sand beaches will be built in Bormujos, only seven kilometres from Sevilla city.
Around the lagoon, there will be a 200-room luxury hotel, three aparthotel towers, an event center, international restaurants, a sky bar, and a waterfront promenade.
This ‘small city within a large city’ will be accessible to the public via a paid ticket.
The project will be developed by Forty Management, in collaboration with Crystal Lagoons.
The former is a Romanian real estate development company specialising in sustainable and mixed-use urban projects, while Crystal Lagoons is a global leader in artificial lagoon technology.
The first phase of the initiative involved the acquisition of a 120,000 sqm plot of land.
Bormujos City Council approved the development following an investment of €100 million, according to HOSTELTUR, a tourism news outlet.
“Bormujos Town Hall will support this major investment by fast-tracking urban planning documentation, ensuring access infrastructure, creating an exclusive public transport line, and providing medium-term rental apartments for professors and doctors working at the local university and hospital,” the developers have stated.
The initiative is expected to create over 600 jobs and Lucian Azoitei, CEO of Forty Management, believes it ‘will support the local economy and contribute to the long-term prosperity of the entire area’.
The two companies’ previous collaboration has been recognized for its ‘appealing and disruptive innovative urban approach,’ as noted by Jean Pierre Juanchich, Global Business Director of Crystal Lagoons.
There are eight mixed-use Lagoon City projects and 11 Public Access Lagoon projects in six other European countries – Romania, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Poland, Italy, and France.
Forty Management’s Lagoon City in Bucharest, Romania, was opened last year.
For the first time in Central and Eastern Europe, the Crystal Lagoons technology was implemented, and Forty Management hopes to continue its international expansion with this concept over the next decade.
Labelled as ‘green urban reconversion projects,’ the company looks to transform an abandoned or degraded urban space into ‘a vibrant mixed green oasis’ and build a community around it.
According to Crystal Lagoons’ website, such initiatives also reduce the number of trips made to coastal destinations by around 50%, ‘as people can enjoy beach life closer to home’.
Lagoon City Sevilla has begun to take shape, but it is still in the process of obtaining permits and licenses, and the buyer needs to obtain a construction permit within a maximum period of 18 months.
The property transfer was made to the Swiss division of the group, Forty Management AG, and will later be transferred to the local SPV responsible for developing Lagoon City Sevilla.
