New ITS campus could delay Seabank towers to 2019

Silvio Debono may not be able to start construction on his proposed high-rise hotel before the completion of a new ITS campus at SmartCity

The new ITS campus at SmartCity will include a 135-room hotel
The new ITS campus at SmartCity will include a 135-room hotel

Seabank Group owned by Silvio Debono was the sole bidder in a tender for a concession on the site of the Institute for Tourism Studies, may not be able to start construction on his proposed high-rise hotel before the completion of a new ITS campus at SmartCity – and that will not be completed before 2019 at the earliest.

This is because the Ministry for Tourism is insisting that the ITS only moves out from its present premises at St George’s Bay once work on a campus and a hotel at SmartCity are completed in 2019. 

ITS plans submitted to the Malta Environment and Planning Authority in February envision the construction of a hospitality campus to cater for 2,500 local and foreign students, a 135-room 12-storey high hotel, government offices, underground parking spaces, a gymnasium, a spa and a rooftop hotel.

The new development will take on land already identified for development in SmartCity.

Sources confirmed that it was extremely doubtful whether a project of this magnitude could be completed in just three years, and that the tender for the concession of the ITS complex was issued prematurely in the absence of a clear plan for the migration to SmartCity.

MaltaToday is informed that the government was considering using an empty school in the interim period, between the commencement of works by Debono’s company, Seaport Franchising, and the construction of the new campus at Smart City.

But this was problematic because ITS includes specially-built kitchens which cost over €500,000 and which were specifically built for ITS. It was impossible to move this equipment to a new interim facility such as an empty school.

MaltaToday is also informed that most ITS students and lecturers are against the move to SmartCity. This is because many of the students work in nearby hotels and will have a big problem to shuttle to and from SmartCity, in Xghajra. On Tuesday, the Malta Union of Teachers held a meeting for its lecturing members at ITS to explain the proceedings of the discussions on the new collective agreement. Sources present at the meeting described an “almost unanimous negative feedback on the move to SmartCity” among lecturers who reported that students were already complaining that it was too far away from the hotels and restaurants where they work as part of their studies.

But the new hotel and the presence of the campus are being seen by the government as a way of channelling investment to the southern part of Malta The new hotel may also create new employment opportunities for the students.  

It is as yet not clear whether the move will be financed through the sale of the present ITS land, which is conservatively estimated at anything between €56 million to €100 million. No minimum price for the ITS land was set out in the tender document issued by Projects Malta, which is responsible for PPP projects under the aegis of the Office of the Prime Minister. 

The Times claimed that Seaport Franchising has offered only €6.5 million for the land but the Seabank Group later pointed out that the offer is  “well in excess” of this amount while the government is saying that negotiations on the project were under way, to ensure the prices paid for the hotel, real estate and commercial components of the project were in line with market standards. Moreover the move to SmartCity may result in greater private sector involvement in the ITS campus. One of the first decisions of the Labour government was to hive off the ITS from the Education Ministry to pass it to the Tourism Ministry, a move which underlined the functionality of the institute to the industry. It has not yet been decided whether the proposed hotel will be run by the private sector or by ITS itself.

A ministry spokesperson replied that the SmartCity hotel’s modus operandi is still being discussed and all models are being explored. “At this stage the most crucial aspect of this project is for ITS to provide the best practical experience to our students and a hotel in the Southern part of Malta to serve the needs within the developing area.”

No reply was given about whether the ITS’s Martin Luther King mini-campus in Pembroke will be retained after the relocation to SmartCity. The mini-campus was upgraded immediately after the election.

The application for the new campus, which covers development over an 11,407 square metre plot in SmartCity, was presented by Projects Malta, the entity responsible for private public partnerships. 

MaltaToday is informed that the government will be seeking amendments to the SmartCity master plan to change development parameters in the area. 

The plots identified for the new development were previously allocated for offices. 

The master plan approved by MEPA in 2010 envisioned a maximum height of 38 metres, which roughly equates to 10 floors. Kalkara was not identified in a planning document regulating tall buildings approved in 2014, among the localities where over-10 storey buildings are allowed. But the proposed hotel rises up to 12 storeys.