The developers behind the Villa Rosa area project in St George’s Bay have told The Malta Independent on Sunday that they are aiming for “high quality tourism” through their new plans.

Plans to change the proposed development on the land near Villa Rosa in St George’s Bay, St Julian’s, emerged this week. The proposal deals with the Villa Rosa area, Cresta Quay and the Dolphin House and Moynihan House site areas.  The new plans are very different to what was approved by the Planning Authority back in 2018.

In 2018, the PA approved what would have been a low-rise development, but the new plans show a 35-storey tower as well as another large 24-storey building. The development will take place towards the road by the beach. The building of Villa Rosa itself is planned to be restored, with the tall buildings planned to be built down the hill on either side.

The Gross Floor Area of the site is proposed to increase from the 140,994 sq.m. approved back in 2018 to 237,316 sq.m. in the new plans. The developers behind the proposal say that they are going to introduce a lot of public open space and that the new proposal covers a very low built-up footprint.

The application has not yet been filed with the Planning Authority, but the Project Description Statement was filed with the Environment and Resources Authority, showing the proposal. “The proposed touristic project will be creating a signature destination for Malta, by offering a quality tourism destination, which at the same time enriches the local community,” it reads.

Sitting down with The Malta Independent on Sunday, developers Anton Camilleri and Adelbert Camilleri, owners of Garnet Investments Ltd, the company behind the project, explained the reasoning behind their decision to change plans and defended the project.

Aside from changing the style of the development from what was approved, the planned uses have also been modified, with the focus shifting towards tourism.

 

Tourism zone since the 1960s

“The area is a tourism zone and has been that way since the 1960s. Today, the area needs regeneration. While the application for the permit we have was approved in 2018, we had filed it around six years prior to that. However, during that period we began to feel that the project was outdated. But we had already invested so much into it, it would have been a waste to scrap it, so we went ahead with the application,” Anton Camilleri said.

“We decided we wanted to look ahead 10-15 years. When we decided to change our plans, the Paceville masterplan had not come out yet. We wanted to go for something that would attract quality tourism. We were told to wait for the masterplan. Then, the masterplan was published and was scrapped due to controversy,” he said.

Adelbert Camilleri said that the Height Limitation Adjustment Policy for Hotels had come out after the original application had been filed. “With this policy, came the requirement to have an iconic building, with high quality requirements. We are aiming for high quality tourism and with that comes the need for certain facilities. The approved application on site is for a mix of mainly residential, offices and commercial, whereas our plan is to change it to a mix of tourism, ancillary offices and commercial.

 

Project size

The developers were asked about concerns regarding the project’s size.

“There are concerns about every project. If we went ahead with the traditional building style, we would have more of the same we see everywhere, just blocks next to each other, utilising more of the area. When people see a high-rise building, they think it’s ugly at first, but then appreciate the open space. One of the piazza’s will be overlooking the bay and will be as large as Piazza Tritoni,” Anton Camilleri said.

This piazza is planned to be around 11,000 sq.m. in size.

“It will be the largest square in St Julian’s. It will be a big plus for everyone,” Anton Camilleri added.

Adelbert Camilleri said that through the Height Limitation Adjustment Policy for Hotels they could have built more, “but we didn’t as we wanted quality. In addition, part of the land, which we had earmarked for villas in the approved application, will be left as open space.”

The project description statement reads that in total the project is introducing 20,086 sq.m. of public open space. The part where the villas would have occupied would be part of a private open space area.

Asked whether the tower, in addition to the 24-storey building would result in people looking at a mass of a building, they said that the space between the two is quite large.

“We could have gone for 13 storeys all round, but instead went for the 35-storey tower and the 24-storey building, while keeping the rest of the buildings lower. We transferred the storeys from what we could have built in other buildings onto the tower and the 24-storey building,” Adelbert Camilleri said. Anton Camilleri added that the new proposal “covers a very low build up footprint”.

 

Height concerns

The height of the buildings raises concern regarding the potential overshadowing of the beach. The developers assured, however, that they will not ruin the beach. They said that ruining the beach would not be in their interest. Adelbert Camilleri said that the overshadowing might only affect a small part at sunset.

The argument made by some that high rises are ruining Malta and that tourists visit the islands for different reasons than they would if visiting a location like Dubai were put to the Camilleris.

“I don’t agree that high rises are ruining Malta. We have a nice country, with our own culture. I’ve been to Dubai and I would even say that our sea is nicer. But Dubai attracts strong tourism and there is no comparison in terms of value for money. A wine you would pay €50 for here, you would pay €150 there, but tourists still go there. It’s about quality. In addition, Malta is a small country and we can’t have everything. We can either build upwards or build out,” Anton Camilleri said.

“The mistake would be to build more of the same thing we see in the country. St George’s Bay is already committed as an area. Paceville is indicated as a tourism zone. One has to see the high rise in the context of what is already approved. If we have a zone with high rises, it doesn’t mean we will become like Dubai,” he said.

Adelbert Camilleri also doesn’t agree with the statement that towers will make Malta like Dubai. Every country has areas with high rises, he said. “When you have a zone dedicated to high rises, one near another, they complement each other. With the open space, it also adds a lung for the area.”

Back in 2016, plans were leaked to sections of the press showing a development that is similar, but not identical, to the latest proposals. At the time, the application that was approved in 2018 was still going through the PA process.

This newsroom asked the developers whether they went through with the original application in order to use it as a basis to argue that the site is already committed, so that the authorities would allow this final project to proceed.

“No,” Anton Camilleri said. “Going through the PA process costs a lot of money. The work done on the application for the permit cost millions, so we didn’t want to throw it away. Since we had started the process, we wanted to finish it. There were already years of work put into it. When we realised we can make a better project, we began working on it. Also, at that time there wasn’t the Height Limitation Adjustment Policy for Hotels in place. For the permit we currently have, we had applied based on the policies that were there at the time.”

According to the project description statement (PDS), the project will include 1,065 serviced tourism accommodation and hotel units and 65,863 sq.m. of space will be dedicated to such accommodation.

While the PDS indicates that there won’t be any space dedicated to residential, this newsroom brought up the large amount of serviced tourism apartments.

The developers said that quality tourists look for serviced apartments. “There are many types of tourist niches. To have luxury tourism, you need to have luxury rooms with adequate space to accommodate such type of tourist. There are also tourists who would stay for six months or a year,” Anton Camilleri said.

Questioned whether that would equate to residential use rather than tourism, Adelbert Camilleri held that it is for tourism.

The PDS states that the estimated total number of employees after the completion of the proposed development will be 2,259. It mentions that the proposed project will be catering for accommodating a certain number of employees who will be working on the premises. “The proposed development will be introducing a new business operation concept model for Malta since the hotel and also office employees will be availing themselves of accommodation services on site. This amounts to 48% of the total number of employees who will be working within the proposed development,” the document states.

Asked about this, the developers said that many people who work in the tourism industry are not Maltese. Part of the concept is to offer accommodation for these foreign workers. “We can give them a special price to reside on the complex instead of residing elsewhere; living in the area where they work. This concept is referred to as tied accommodation, it is a popular concept abroad,” Adelbert Camilleri said.

 

Traffic

The PDS says that this model will be positively impacting the trip generation in the area since there will be a reduction in the trips required to commute to and from the site.

In terms of parking, the project will include 1,467 parking spaces. As for traffic, the PDS reads that the change in uses within the development means that the same levels of vehicular trip generation in the area that were approved in the 2018 application will be maintained. “Thus, the revised plans will not be creating any additional pressure on the nearby junctions that were studied and modelled for the said approved permit for the site,” it reads.

The plans also indicate the introduction of measures to reduce car use, such as the provision of shared transport to the airport for guests, the provision of shared transportation for the local employees who will be working on site and the provision of ebikes which will be available from the hotel premises.

The tower itself will not be made up of a single hotel but will host two according to the PDS. This is not counting any others that will be located in other parts of the project. The developers confirmed that it won’t be made up of a single brand. They said that they have international brands interested in the project but cannot reveal who they are at this stage due to confidentiality.

Regarding the increase in Gross Floor Area of the project, the developers said that a substantial percentage of it is for facilities and common areas, due to the different brands needing their own amenities, common areas. “We also have over 20,000sq.m. of public open space. There will be additional landscaping from what there is today. Also, in our design we incorporated an internal road that will service the whole complex, thus all services will come through an internal road and not use the road near the bay as today,” Anton Camilleri said.

The developers also assured that the restoration of the Villa Rosa building itself will still take place.

Asked whether they met with the tourism minister or the Prime Minister about the project, Anton Camilleri said: “No, we have only met with the authorities, the ERA and the PA.”

As for when the application will be filed with the PA, they said that they are still finalising the project plans.