One of Malta’s oldest hotels to be extended and restored
The planning authority approved a full development permit to build two new wings at the Phoenicia, one of Malta’s oldest hotels.
The permit covers the restoration of the facade and the construction of 41 bedrooms and a landscaped roof.
The property also includes a stable house in St John’s Ditch that was built by the British and which will now be restored.
The hotel property covers an area of about 40,000 square metres of which three per cent is taken up by the main building.
The permit, which was recommended for approval, was granted by the Malta Environment and Planning Authority board against a bank guarantee of €50,000. The board also asked the applicant to pay €109,000 to make good for the loss of 52 parking spaces. The money will be deposited in the Commuter Parking Payment Scheme, a fund used to build car parks and facilities related to public transport infrastructure.
The Phoenicia Hotel was built partly on the place-of-arms – a place outside a fortified town where troops could assemble for defence – just outside Valletta’s main gate.
Plans to build the hotel started in 1935 and British architect William Bryce Binnie was commissioned to oversee the project one year later. The site was hit during World War II, leaving the east side badly damaged. The hotel was opened in 1947 and several alterations were made in the 1960s. Another floor was added in the 1990s.
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c. camilleri
Sep 3rd 2010, 21:03
Had it been for the GWU lead at that time by Anglu Fenech this hotel would have been closed long time ago. The industrial action by the GWU resulted in the lost of jobs of the employees causing much hardships until they found new jobs. Many are of the opinion that the GWU has learned its lesson from the event.
D Vella
Sep 3rd 2010, 19:06
I suppose MEPA has realised that the added floors at the Phoenicia will alter the Valletta skyline. It will be the highest building in the vicinity if the Palace Tower,the Anglican Steeple and the Carmelite dome are disregarded.
a attard
Sep 3rd 2010, 12:17
Hopefully these proposed extensions will not be to the detriment of any green area which by now Malta should be consider sacred due to the lack of them and growing problem of noise and fossil fuel pollution......
M Attard
Sep 3rd 2010, 11:06
Slowly losing all it's charm and becoming just like any other hotel in any other town, in any other Country. Shame that.
Tonio Azzopardi
Sep 3rd 2010, 09:42
MEPA recipient of the Commuter Parking Payment Scheme should seriously encourage private enterprises to invest in an underground car park within the proximity of Hotel Phoenicia and Excelsior.
The ideal site is the Independence Arena. An underground car park can be constructed with the sports complex taking all the top floor area. The south side (‘stand’ area) can also be part of this car park, with the top floors landscaped, with the construction of a garden that would complement the existing ‘The Mall’.
This underground car park will elevate some of Floriana’s residents parking problems which, are getting from bad to worse as more and more activities are organised within the town. Alas, NO ALTERNATIVE solutions are being provided to balance this issue.