Zaren’s 20-storey business centre shot down

Entrepreneur and PN financier Nazzareno Vassallo’s request to change local plans to accommodate a 20-storey business centre at the former Lowenbrau factory site – as part of the revision of planning policies related to land in the environs of the Marsa Sports complex – has been turned down by The Malta Environment and Planning Authority (MEPA).

Vassallo had called on MEPA to give “a mixed use” designation to the 19,000 square metres of land in Marsa which were previously occupied by the Lowenbrau factory.

The land belongs to Catergroup – a subsidiary of Vassallo Builders Group – but was not included in the area earmarked for changes in policies, due to the expansion of sports facilities in the area in plans issued in November 2010.

But MEPA had suggested that additional land could be considered if this was related to the expansion of sports facilities and their economic viability.

At present, the local plans limits the use of the site in question to industrial uses and storage.

But in his submission to the plan, architect Ruben Vassallo, who represented Catergroup, requested the addition of hotel, banqueting halls and offices as acceptable uses for the site. Catergroup is Vassallo’s catering venture.

Vassallo also proposed the use of the floor area ratio, a planning formula used to gain higher elevation over a smaller parcel of land, to support a ‘gateway mixed use scheme’ that would be complimentary to the development on the Marsa Sports Ground, the Pavi supermarket and land in the vicinity.

Concept drawings showing a 20-storey business centre, retail areas, a supermarket, a function hall and a catering centre were also submitted.

But MEPA turned down the request insisting that the local plan review was exclusively related to the extension of sports facilities like the horseracing track and the golf course, as well as “limited commercial and tourism development to sustain the economic viability of the sports facilities”.

MEPA argued that the proposed uses of the Lowenbrau site were not aimed at widening the range of sports facilities on the site, but simply to increase commercial development without any obvious link to the sports complex itself.

Neither was the scale of the proposed development limited or aimed at sustaining the viability of the sports facilities.

For the same reasons, MEPA also rejected the inclusion of a proposal for two mixed use towers of 17 and 14 floors on land known as l-Istabal in Qormi.

The revisions to local plans approved by MEPA envisage the extension of the Marsa golf course on agricultural land at Ghammieri, which presently forms part of the government’s experimental park.

The revised plans also envisage international facilities for horse racing and equestrian sports like polo, show jumping and dressage, a golf academy, sports facilities for football, handball, softball, tennis, rugby and cricket, an indoor archery complex, an indoor pool and cycling and jogging tracks.

Buildings associated with sports facilities and accommodation cannot occupy more than 60,000 square metres (8% of the site). The bulk of this is expected to be allocated for the grand stand of the revamped racing track and a high quality hotel.