Tuesday, 19th August 2008
Developers announce plans to build luxury hotel, apartments on Jerma site
The site of the former Jerma Palace Hotel in Marsascala is to be turned into a five-star hotel managed by an international hotel brand, as well as a number of condominiums and high-end apartments, according to the newly launched website of property developers JPM Brothers.
The company's other major projects include Mistra Heights in Xemxija, Belmonte Heights in Sliema and the A3 Towers in Paola.
The website says JPM has committed itself to build a luxurious landmark in the south of Malta. The Marsascala project, on the 35-tumoli site that it acquired right on the foreshore, also includes a commercial area within the complex.
The four-star Corinthia Jerma Palace Hotel used to be Malta's most prestigious hotel in the south. It closed down in March last year after 25 years in operation, owned by Libyan Arab Foreign Investment Company, which also owned the land, and operated by the Corinthia Group.
Its closure had caused quite an uproar, with residents and the Labour Party complaining about plans to build residences on the site. Since it closed its doors, the hotel, so good for business, has created an immense void within the area the residents claimed.
JPM Brothers also has another ambitious project in the pipeline: the redevelopment of The Palms in St Julians. The project covers 10 tumoli of land incorporating state-of-the-art residences flanked by greenery and landscaped gardens. A number of apartments will also benefit from breathtaking sea and valley views.
A large percentage of the development has been reserved for the creation of a large garden area to create a nature park within the grounds, which will be overlooked by the apartments themselves.
JPM Brothers' new corporate website is www.jpmbrothers.com.mt.
RSS
Comments
Ara tgergirx ghall tat-Tarzna wkoll!
When, in the future children will stare in amazement at a tree, remind them to thank you martin saliba.
Well if you live in the Zonqor area you might probably refrain from asking for a hotel to be built round your corner, in front of your flat or next to your door.
Unfortunately the ex-national pool has been left to degenerate because that is what some people need in order to place an application for building it into flats (which has already been done) and supporting their request with the fact that the state in which it is today is not good.
Unfortunately the pool has been passing from one person to another (no one knows how) and lot of business has been going around (illegally). Parts of the parking area have been occupied, illegally built and closed for restaurant clients!! and all this on public land!!!
Yes Bernard. More work for us construction site workers. We can earn a living and spend our hard earned cash. In turn the places where we spend our cash get to spend it somewhere else and so on & on & on. And you aslo get to earn a living. Can't you people get it thriutgh your thick skulls that if there were none or not enough construction works there wouldn't be any money to spend for anyone?! Construction is the cogs and gears for our economy, so before you ar any one else start complaing just stop and think how it might effect you personaly if as we say in maltese " ir rota ma durx ".
Will we ever be able to have a tower crane free skyline? There's already the ta'monita tower cranes in mscala. :(
P.s. isn't it a shame that st.Thomas tower is hidden?
I am obviuolsy concious of the fact that this 'Private taking the shores' issue isn't a new one...I mean I live in Bugibba and this locality is a classic case of private enterprise taking over the foreshore....
....All I said, and I think you agree with me, is that we should be a bit more cautious with Marsascala since the decay has been so tremendous that unfortunately desperate measures are needed to inject some innovation and energy back in this locality.........I think everyone agrees that, against most expectations, the fact that Wied Il-Ghajn is going to have a new 5 star Hotel owned by an international Hotel company is very good news for those who invested thousands and lost thousands in the businesses there
This is not a political issue. The people of the south deserve a slice of the pie as they all pay taxes! And by the way D.Mintoff never had his own pool . He always swam and still swims at St Peter's pool in Delimara. So why all these lies!!
Are you implying that the business sector and the Marsascala shed crocodile tears over the closing of the Jerma Palace? This hotel generated from reasonable to remarkable trade in several outlets, depending on the nature of the commercial operations.
The right of foreshore access by the general public is not a phenomena restricted to Malta. Maybe you should query what the Majorcan people did to reclaim most of their coastline, and how the United Kingdom, under the patronship of the Duke of Edinburgh, launched Operation Neptune, that sought to protect for posterity miles of Britain's foreshore and coastline.
No one is questioning that issue.
However, at what cost?
I am not talking about Jerma only.
It is obvious that the shoreline is continually getting gobbled up, not only by hotels, but by other businesses.
...don't get me wrong I am not in favour of the shore going to private hands but if it means re-generating a degenarated area than I think a small part of the shore becoming private is a small price to pay. Lets face it Marsascala is a tragedy and needs Private injection more than a claustrophobic needs air!!
.......on the other hand if the new owners leave the shore open to bathers it won't be so bad either......thats what happened with the Libyan owners...............
Yes, the tower got a public road around it and..
its "door" doesn't face the hotel at all.
In front of its entrance there's a "pjazza" which lies between the builings/housing (not the jerma) and the tower.
Infact a few weeks ago, the tower was handed over an NGO -a good move by the government, to place again m'skala/south on the map of tourism.
This news item is about Marsascala, so obviously most of the contributions are focusing on our locality. Thank you for wishing us people of the southeastern part well. I have never ever heard the MHRA or any national constituted body ever complain why Marsascala has been not only ignored, but neglected by the state and its apparatus.
This blaise attitude towards our suffereing has unfortunately given root to another attitude, generally speaking, where the people of southern Malta don't really give a hoot if the people in Tigne suffocate under construction dust, nor if smog, sooth or acid rain falls on the people of Gozo or Mellieha and blinds, maims or paralyzes them.
Unfortunately the attitude is we think too much on a parochial or regional level, rather than on a national scale. To give a more vivid example, calculate the number of historic sites that are left in ruins in southeastern Malta and see the attention given by the state to Mellieha, especially since the new mayor has been sworn in. It is a pity that the trend is going towards the us and them categories.
WItches on broomsticks!!!! : O )
Correct me if I'm wrong but at least one can still see the tower from land unlike the tower which has been submerged by the Corintha and Radisson hotels in Paceville which can only be seen by a fortunate few who happen to be cruising by on some luxary yacht on Sunday....... funny you only mention the one in M'scala. The Jerma should never have closed down in the first place let alone be left to fall in such a state. Good luck to the new developers and good luck to the South
Il-proverbju jghidlek "il-qahba milli jkollha itik", nahseb tfixkilt ma dak li jghid "Ghalhekk il-baqra tinbiegh kollha"
;)
Such news, is great - since the site is simply a ghost town falling down apart, surely whatever will be built (in the design aspect) will look better then the present site.
As for the residents (mostly the those who have been living in M'skala (since the days Jerma run by the Libyans), this news is a relief - since it's closure the South/Mskala lost it's pride when it comes to tourism.
Hopefully an upgrade of St.Thomas bay and the area from St.Thomas to Zonqor Point are in the pipeline.
Plus a project to make "Il-Maghluq" - a nicer place wouldn't be a bad idea.
As they say in Maltese....Il-Baqra milli jkollha jtik..
As to his not commenting on my comments...well..I guess i'll have many a sleepless night.....
Ps...A brincat....Peress li m'ghandi xejn kontrik, jekk trid nikteb dak li ktibt bil-Malti, mhux problema ta....
Iva kif m'inti kuntent QATT u B'XEJN. Negattiv ghall-ahhar. Ejja u kun imqar darba wahda biss kostruttiv, kif jighidu l-Inglizi 'CALL A SPADE A SPADE". Ikber siehbi ghax jaghmillek ferm tajjeb. Mil-lum 'l quddiem mhux se nwiegbek izjed, imma nkompli nsegwik. "...... ma jinbidlu qatt!"
I do not agree with you regarding the Zonqor Point pool re-development. The quasi-abandoned former national swimming pool is in its present state due to this current administration. Had we elected a Labour government last March, chances are that they would have found enough financial resources to improve its condition, making it more appealing to the people of Marsascala.
@D. Mangion
I was a former PRO for the Jerma Palace Hotel. Rest assued that it wasn't in the red. Far from it, its reservations were chalk a block with occupancy rates well over the 85% for most of summer. In my time it employed 225 workers on full time and hundreds of others on part-time in high season. It had a friendly, efficient staff, popular with repeat guests who would define rule out staying in any other resort in Malta. When I moved to a woek with a British holdiay company, I used to have well over 400 guests a week in Marsascala.
@A. Camilleri.
You are wrong regarding Dom Mintoff's allegedly "private pool". He used to swim at Il-Kalanca tat-Tumbrell (known also as St. Peter's Pool), incidentally a favourite swimming spot for Lord Mountbatten in the 1950s.
St Thomas Tower had been constructed because of its important strategic position for the local guards in case of an attack from the Corsairs. A few days ago Fondazzjoni Wirt Artna has acquired the title of the tower. However a hotel across the road where the tower used to have access to the view of the entire environs and off shore area makes people laugh.
Do not be optimistic, no concrete monster is going to rehabilitate the area. Before,
we have to rehabilitate our mentality.
A hotel would be ideal at Zonqor point, instead of the former national swimming pool where there is no historical building next to that site.
As far as I remember only a small strecth near the pool was closed off exclusively for residents. I don't think the beach and shoreline should be restricted more than it was when the Jerma was operational.
At least a development of this nature will uplift Marsascala to where it deserves to be - the jewel of the south!! But wait we now have to see how long this will take to go through MEPA and all the hassles caused by all the usual suspects...I hope there will be access for walking frames and wheel chairs because I'll probably be old and infirm by the time this happens.
However, due to the various, illl say it in maltese,...HNIZRIJIET that happened in Mscala in the past, does that mean that these practises should go on and on?
Access to the entire coastline is a basic right of the citizen. Governments of civilised nations are required by law not to deprive citizens of any part of the coastline unless a government requires it for its own use in the national interest. This is another gross way of how the Maltese government neglects its citizens.
One can still attract tourists and create employment without having to deprive the ordinary citizen of their enjoyment of the coastline. The mentality that the Maltese government had inherited from the British services continued on and on. We were supposed to open up the entire coastline once they had departed, but it didn't happen.
Whilst your relish for partisan comments is undeniable no matter what the cause, I never thought that this should not become a partisan issue.
I shall attempt to answer your comments although I harbour doubts as to your real interest in this matter...
I DO NOT agree with any government in the privatisation of private beachs, be it Mintoff or any other Prime Minister.
However, if you are from the South, you would know that whilst the access was hampered, swimming was allowed for everyone.
The situation today is terrible...even popular bays like Ghadira have become impossible for one to enjoy without paying.
These beaches are crowded by unused sunbeds taking all available space. Numerous hotels have done the same.
You have every right to agree with such concessions. Hopefully, the majority of the Maltese, whatever colour, do not.
As for your partisan comments it is a fact that Peters Pool was always totally accessible to the general public.
Please also note that I have not mentioned the shameful pre electoral contracts regarding illegal beach houses encroaching on public land being made legal.
In favour of that as well are you?
Wherever they can they build more flats! Do we really need any more to add to the thousands of vacant ones that will never be sold or occupied?
What about creating something different from other places, something original or unique, to attract tourists that would complement the whole?
Has anyone put their thinking caps on, or is everyone so bereft of ideas that they can only think of flats, shopping malls, etc; in other words, just more of the same. How boring!!
Site was already given a private beach status by the Hon ex prime minister, winner of the Libyan human rights prize, ex salvatur ta Malta, Leader of the Progressive Socialist Party, Worker's Party, etc etc etc, Perit Duminku Mintoff!
Yeah, workers could afford a swimming pool at the time! Ara hu kien jizvoga go parti difficli milhuqa, St Peter's Pool! Dik saret private beach mal-Gharix :)
Hopefully that contract providing the private beach status can be rescinded. However I don't think they can.
I must say that I have missed Jerma, for more than one reason. Pricing was reasonable, service was fine and it generated business in the South.
What baffles me is...how come nothwithstanding the excellent facilities offered by the experienced Corinthia Group, the hotel failed to be profitable, and now JPM are planning to take over and succeed where the experienced Corinthia Group had failed. Or is this a planned repetition of the Mgarr Hotel story, where an investor takes land, builds a hotel for a temporary 10-year period, then "unintentionally" make it fail in order to reconvert it into apartments ?
Investors building hotels in sensitive areas should be bound to maintain the hotels running, (even at a loss) for at least 30 years. Otherwise no land.
From the picture above, it seems that the coast surrounding the hotel was used as a private beach. Someone might be able to confirm or not. I prefer if it would stay as a private beach, bring more tourists and generate more jobs. You still have a great deal of cost to enjoy freely near this hotel.
Joseph