THE General Directorate of Heritagedepending on the Ministry of Economy, Finance and European Fundsextended until 2 p.m. on September 30 the deadline for submitting bids at the fifth public auction of heritage convened since 2019, during which they were put up for sale. five properties for tourist useincluding three tourist villages closed for more than a decade and two leisure residences.
Although the deadline for submitting bids was originally set for July 31, in response to requests from several potential investors for more time to prepare their proposals, it was decided to grant an extension. In this way, the open the envelopes with the documentation the administrative will take place the same day October 8while the public event for the opening of economic offers will take place on the 22nd of the same month. The award ceremony is scheduled for November, according to the initial plan.
The properties up for auction are: tourist villas of Sierra Cazalla in Seville; Wounded at the source in the Sierra de Aracena and Picos de Aroche Natural Park, in Huelva; and the one located in the municipality of Huescar (Hotel-Villa Pinar de la Vidriera), in Granada. In addition, this fifth auction of public heritage includes the former leisure residences of Siles in Jaén, and that of Pradollanolocated in the Sierra Nevada National Park (Granada).
The total starting price of these five properties is close to 11.5 million eurosin total. The initial amount of each of the properties put up for auction varies considerably, ranging from just over one million euros in the case of the Siles residence, to 8.7 million euros, which serves as the starting price for the lot of the Pradollano leisure residence, which therefore has the highest exit value.
As for the tourist villas, the starting prices vary between 380,000 euros for each of those in Cazalla de la Sierra and Fuenteheridos, up to 970,000 euros, the minimum initial price set for that of Pinar de la Vidriera.
If one of the lots remains empty, the procedure indicates that the the starting price of the second auction is 25% lower that of the first in all cases, with the exception of the Pradollano residence, in Monachil, which would have a minimum initial price 15% lower than that of the first auction.
This fifth heritage auction, carried out on behalf of the Junta de Andalucía, is part of the General Directorate of Heritage’s strategy to valorize the Junta de Andalucía’s unused properties. In 2019, there was no reliable inventory detailing the heritage and its condition, and many properties had been empty and abandoned for years, generating high maintenance and restoration costs, in addition to taxes and unpaid bills.
Since 2019, the Junta de Andalucía raised €137 million through auctions and direct allocations of disused properties, in addition to saving one million euros per year in maintenance costs and taxes. This valuation required a significant amount of work to physically and legally regularize the properties due to abandonment and lack of action for decades.
Savings for public coffers
The Junta de Andalucía has put up for auction the three aforementioned tourist villas, the use of which it had saved in September last year, and which were attached to the commercial company. Red de Villas de Andalucía SAThese had remained closed for more than ten years.
Concretely, these are some villas closed in 2005 (Fuenteheridos), 2006 (in the case of Cazalla de la Sierra) and 2010 (the Hotel-Villa Pinar de la Vidriera). In 2007, all three were incorporated into the Network of Tourist Villages of Andalusia, by the previous socialist government, which planned to exploit them through a mixed capital company. The situation, in none of the three cases, has brought any change to them, remaining closed to the public and in a state of progressive deterioration.
As for the leisure residences, they have remained in operation, although the Andalusian Government has decided to stop operating them directly, due to the interest of specialized tour operators that would allow adding the necessary professionalism, experience and investment in these spaces. With this decision, an end is put to a situation that generated annual losses of more than 14 million euros for the regional funds. An amount that the Council had to deduct from other items, thus removing resources from other chapters and priorities. It is not in vain that between 2015 and 2022, the Council had to spend a total of 108 million euros more than it had earned from the operation of these establishments.
As for the villas closed since 2009, the maintenance during their allocation to the Andalusian Public Tourism Company (EPTA), and then the company Red de Villas de Andalucía, cost the regional administration at least 24 million euros, in addition to the nearly 500,000 euros per year in maintenance.
