Laurence Dollimore
A HUGE commercial centre that would dwarf Marbella’s La Cañada is being planned for Estepona, it has emerged.
The long-anticipated project actually began in 2008, when the-then mayor Antonio Barrientos declared that Estepona would become home to the largest shopping centre in Spain.
The €300m project was spread over 130,000sqm and was planned on a plot of land in an area known as La Lobilla (pictured above).
However the plans were put on the back burner amid the financial crisis which laid waste to scores of construction companies.
But 16 years later and the plans are back on, according to leading Spanish newspaper El Español.
If it goes ahead, the complex will be one of the largest in Spain, including La Cañada in Marbella.
The plans are now being studied by the Department of Environmental Sustainability at the Junta de Andalucia.
They will need to make sure the project does not have any negative effects on the environment, before giving the greenlight to promoters, who are set to include Costasol de Hipermercados SL, Gestora Comercial Hipersol SL, Azata SA and Don Ernesto Franco.
According to the plans, seen by El Español, the new centre ‘will complement the existing gap between the commerical complexes in Marbella and the Campo de Gibraltar, while reducing the pressure on said facilities… especially in the case of Marbella, the La Cañada Shopping Centre and in and around Puerto Banus.”
“It will not only be a matter of proposing a traditional shopping centre, but a new commercial development proposal… which can become the reference point for the westernmost part of the Costa del Sol”, the proposal added.
The proposed site is bordered by the A-7 motorway to the south and southeast, with the Estepona-Genalguacil road on its west side, and more land north and east.
Some 117,814m2 are intended for a large shopping area, with a maximum building coverage of 130,100sqm. This would account for around 46% if the site.
The rest will include public green areas (97,038m2) and other facilities.
The project must get the green light from a string of government departments before going ahead. A date for construction has not been set.
