Two picturesque townhouses on Rabat’s Saqqajja Hill are set to become a four-storey boutique hotel if an application for development is approved by the Planning Authority.

The application, filed by architect Justin Spiteri on behalf of Keith Grima, seeks to add another two floors to existing buildings on two streets and convert the structure into a boutique hotel.

The plan is to turn two residences, numbered 14 and 15 on Saqqajja Square, and 12 and 13 on St Augustine’s Avenue, into a hotel.

According to the plans submitted to the Planning Authority (PA/09516/18), the hotel will have a swimming pool in the present garden, a bar and restaurant, and at least 47 rooms all with en suite facilities, spread over all floors.

It will have a reception at the front end of the property and a store to the back, which leads on to St Augustine’s Avenue.

The total area of the site is 885 square metres.

The plans have already drawn the ire of Rabat residents who are objecting to the proposal on various fronts, primarily because of how it will ruin the streetscape and the aesthetics of the area.

Objectors held that the application did not fulfil the obligations of a development proposed for a scheduled conservation area, especially in an area which has one of a handful of neo-classical architecture.

They also complained that the hotel would attract considerable traffic and exacerbate the existent parking problem in the area.

Other objectors complained that the proposed development will be an eyesore, no matter how receded the extra floors will be.

While the extra floors might be covered by the tall trees in Saqqajja Square, the same cannot be said for the marred streetscape in St Augustine’s Avenue. The avenue currently has gardens on both sides.

Residents said that according to the local plan, the proposal was in an area that was designated as a two-storey residential area, apart from being in an urban conservation area with high archaeological sensitivity.

This is the second hotel application within a short distance as there is a pending case for a five-star hotel with 110 rooms built over five floors on the area presently occupied by the now-closed Tattingers club and some adjacent properties.