Midi considers ideas for Fort Manoel

The Midi consortium is considering turning Fort Manoel into a boutique hotel with 55 suites and a museum on the history and importance of Manoel Island. Its parade ground could then also be used for weddings or large concerts, CEO Ben Muscat said in an interview.

Such ideas, he told The Sunday Times, were still in their preliminary stages. In fact, Midi was also approached by an American University interested in establishing a base in the Mediterranean and using Fort Manoel as a research centre.

“But this will obviously affect what else can be done in the area, so everything needs to be considered.”

Midi is contractually bound to restore all heritage sites at Tigné Point and Manoel Island to the tune of €30 million.

Mr Muscat stressed that such sites require constant maintenance and would not be sustainable unless they were given a commercial use.

He feared that without commercial uses, the island could easily degenerate again and fall victim to vandalism as it had over the years.

400 large tipper trucks of rubbish were removed from the ditch for Fort Manoel when the huge task of restoring the place was launched.

“It was a huge mess,” Mr Muscat recalled.

Plans for Manoel Island include the Mediterranean Marina Village, which will consist of low-rise residential units which are projected to sell at around the same price of the most expensive properties of Tigne' Point.

The village will be fully pedestrianised and will have many facilities including underground parking, a casino, restaurants and shops.

“Nothing will be higher than four floors, except for one building which may have five storeys. Most of the buildings will not be higher than three floors,” he said.

The selling point of this development will be its unique atmosphere.

If some of the preliminary plans are taken on board, a resident of Manoel Island would be able to berth a yacht in the marina and ride on a dinghy to his or her seafront home, disembarking right outside the living room, Mr Muscat said.

Property in Manoel Island will only be put on the market after all the properties in Tigné Point are sold, to prevent the company from competing against itself on the real estate market.d.

Asked if he promised to stick to the plans and not pull unwanted rabbits out of the hat at a later stage, he said:

“If anything has to change, it will be that we build fewer buildings.”

Mr Muscat said that criticism about Tigne' Point could be the result of envy or a, perhaps justified, aversion to developers in general. But he rebutted claims that Tigne' Point is “a stack of boxes” or “rabbit warrens”, saying that "at least it stands out".

Mr Muscat said that Midi does not have "visions of grandeur" and the consortium was not expecting Tigne' Point to go down in history as a gem of architecture.

However, he pointed out, the man who built the Eiffel Tower did not expect his building to become so iconic either.

Mr Muscat said it would have been "silly" to build villas or bungalows in such an area of Sliema, ignoring the cityscape that had come to be associated with this town.

Still, Tigne' Point also provided an alternative to the hustle and bustle of the city, because it was pedestrianised.

The full interview can be seen at:

http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20101128/interview/the-point-with-the-island