IT HAS been billed as the glittering jewel of Malaga’s future skyline – a 144-metre luxury hotel dreamed up by star British architect David Chipperfield.
But six months after his final plans were handed in, not a single person in Malaga has clapped eyes on them.
That hasn’t stopped mayor Francisco de la Torre singing its praises. Pressed on whether he had actually seen the design, the 81-year-old politician admitted he hadn’t – but still insisted it would be ‘beautiful’.
“Any architectural detail that adds beauty to the city must be seen positively,” he declared, brushing aside the awkward fact that neither he, nor even members of the Port Authority’s board, appear to have access to the drawings.
The so-called ‘Puerto Tower’ has been stuck in bureaucratic limbo since March, when Chipperfield – winner of the prestigious Pritzker Prize, architecture’s equivalent of the Nobel – submitted his masterplan. The design is meant to transform Malaga’s Levante dock into a hub of five-star glamour.
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But the only people who’ve actually seen the final blueprint are the promoters themselves. Even unions on the port’s management board have been stonewalled in their requests to view the plans.
The only concrete detail so far revealed? Chipperfield’s proposal includes a landscaped green walkway linking the iconic La Farola lighthouse to the Levante pier – a move that has gone down well at City Hall.
But for now, the tower project remains ‘stalled’ according to the mayor himself, with months of red tape still to cut through before a building licence can even be discussed.
Six months on from the big reveal, Malaga’s multi-million-euro ‘tower of mystery’ remains just that, with no one quite sure what it will look like and when, or even if, it will rise.
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