‘Not in public’s interest’ to know rental deal for 12-storey hotel, says Augustinian provincial

The provincial of the Augustinian Order has refused to reveal the revenue his Order will be reaping from the controversial rent of a piece of land for the construction of a 12-storey hotel.

Fr Leslie Gatt told Radju Malta presenter Andrew Azzopardi on Ghandi Xi Nghid that it was “not in the public’s interest” to know how much cash the Augustinians will be receiving from their annual rent from the company that runs the Baystreet complex.

“It is not a matter of how much money one makes out of this. Nobody gives private land away for free.”

It was a statement that raised a blunt riposte from Azzopardi: “I do think it is very much in the public’s interest, Fr Gatt, because what you are about to do will impact deeply on the public.”

The Order has controversially rented out an open space adjacent to its priory in Paceville to the company that runs the Baystreet complex for the development of a 12-storey hotel and office complex.

The story, first revealed by MaltaToday, led Archbishop Charles Scicluna to ask the Church’s environment commission to draw up a report on the matter.

Yesterday Fr Leslie Gatt claimed his Order will safeguard the “community’s pastoral care”, although he was unable to explain properly why renting out the land for a 12-storey hotel extension could contribute to the community’s pastoral care.

“We have always safeguarded the pastoral care of the project, and this project is more holistic than it has been portrayed in the media,” Gatt said, specifically referring to the restoration of the church and the convent, which is no longer housing members of the Order.

“The parking will be widened… the convent will be retained for pastoral reasons… in these last years, this place was literally a gaping hole. People actually told us that we should develop it.”

Gatt has defended the Order’s decision to monetise its property by reaching an agreement with Bay Street Holdings Ltd, which will be renting the land – currently used as a makeshift car park – for an unspecified number of years.

The company, whose owners include George Muscat of GAP Holdings, and Paul Camilleri, has applied for the development of a 12-storey four-star accommodation building and office complex, which will tower over the St George’s Road, and behind the monks’ own convent and St Rita Chapel.

The site will include 246 underground parking spaces.

Gatt said that the income from the lease would allow the Order to further invest in its religious, social and educational efforts and to restore a number of other historic properties it owned around the island.

On Friday the Church’s environment commission said the project focused on the financial returns of a developer rather than took into account the needs of the community.

“The plans should have centred more on the needs of the community than focusing purely on the financial returns that an ordinary Maltese developer would have sought. Such a community-focused process could have led to a totally different project than the one proposed, both in terms of height and use,” the commission said.

The commission concluded that the proposed development was in breach of planning policies linked to high-rise buildings and fresh plans submitted recently were not very different.