The seafront of Palma will be entirely municipal after the purchase of Gesa and two lands adjacent to Endesa as part of an operation that the electricity company and the Town Hall will close for 30 million euros and whose signature will become effective in the coming weeks.
To raise this millionaire sum, the municipal government led by the mayor of the PP Jaime Martinez had to carry out a multifaceted financial operation to be able to secure these funds, which will culminate with the extraordinary plenary session next Monday, October 14.
During this session, the government team will present a modification of the credit granted by the Town Hall in September 2023, for a total amount of 14 million euros.
From this overall, 7.4 million euros intended for investments sports of the Municipal Sports Institute (IME), notably at the new athletics track of Son Moix, They will be used to purchase the Gesa building.
After experiencing the delay in the deadlines for the construction works of this sports infrastructure, given that the previous municipal government of socialist Hila, during the call for tenders for the development of the project, had not taken into account the existence of medium voltage electrical lines which will now have to be buried, the amount intended for this equipment, It will also end up by the sea.
To these 7.4 million euros, we must add the 10 million euros that the government will allocate for the same purpose from the so-called sustainable tourism tax (ITS), better known as the ecotax, and An additional 13.1 million euros which were budgeted this year for the acquisition of the fire station.
Given that at the moment the Town Hall will not be able to purchase the Son Malferit emergency building since it is still in negotiations with the investment fund that owns it, this amount will also be allocated to Gesa, plus 500,000 euros additional amounts that were already in this amount. the municipal accounts of the year for the same operation.
In total, more than 30 million euros will be spent by the Town Hall on purchasing the thirteen floors of the Gesa building, closed for 15 years, which will now be municipal, as well as the entire first line of the popular seafront. from Palma.
This purchase and sale contract, which will materialize soon, will in turn be accompanied by the withdrawal of all legal disputes pending Endesa against City Hall, due to the continued planning changes that previous left-wing governments have undertaken on the seafront. A legal battle lost by the Town Hall which would have a significant economic cost for municipal coffers, of the order of 60 million euros.
After the purchase of Gesa, the path of its rehabilitation will begin, which will include the call for an international competition of ideas to remodel a building whose acquisition and renovation will enrich the cultural offer of the Balearic capital.
But the investment for this will also be millionaire, because its renovation while maintaining the appearance of the emblematic building of Josep Ferragut since it is a listed property of 15,915 square meters is estimated between 35 and 50 million euros, depending on the current state of its structure, something. which at present is still completely unknown.
Even if the mayor dared this year that the work could start in 2025, this objective seems risky today, even if its destination seems already determined: a contemporary art museum sharing the headquarters with the municipal archives, an auditorium, catering establishments, one floor open. exhibition and event projects, an open-air sculpture museum and uses linked to innovation in the arts.
All this with the aim of creating high-level reference cultural equipment so that Palma becomes the European Capital of Culture in 2032.
