31-storey tower proposed next to Muscat Motors showroom

Mizzi Estate Limited has presented a planning application proposing a 31-storey tower comprising offices, a hotel and residential units instead of the Muscat Motors showroom in Gżira.

The application (4284/26), which is still in its initial stages, divides the 4,500sq.m site into three areas: A 2,674sq.m plot behind the showroom designated for high-rise development; the 487sq.m protected showroom, which is to be retained and rehabilitated; and a conventionally developed area separated from the tower by a new road that would provide access from Triq Rue d'Argens to Triq Luqa Briffa.

The proposed project would be a stone's throw away from the 23-storey ST Tower and directly opposite the massive excavation intended for the undeveloped 33-storey Metropolis Tower, which is also set to include a hotel. The nearby GasanMamo office block has likewise been earmarked for redevelopment into a 10-storey hotel. Further up the road, the former Wembley ice-cream factory has already been transformed into an eight-storey office building.

The application foresees the retention and rehabilitation of the existing Muscat Motors showroom, one of the few modernist buildings in Malta granted protection in 2012.

It also includes five levels of underground parking facilities.

According to the plans, the entire complex would be surrounded by an open, landscaped plaza.

A previous application for the site, originally submitted in 2008 and withdrawn a few months ago, had already proposed the use of the Floor Area Ratio (FAR) mechanism, which allows developers to exceed local plan height limitations in exchange for public benefits such as the creation of an open plaza.  The application was withdrawn after a case officer had recommended a refusal due to the failure to present a visual impact assessment and a social impact assessment.