Development applications filed with the Planning Authority could turn the area around a single roundabout in Gzira into a skyscraper haven, with three towers planned to be built next to the Empire Stadium.

Three significant projects - two of which are still awaiting a decision from the Planning Authority's Board - may join the already existing ST Tower in the heart of Gzira, close to the old Empire Stadium.

This would make for four towers in an area which is roughly equivalent to three and a half football pitches.

Only one of those towers is in existence right now: Standing at 23 storeys - over 90 metres - high, the ST Tower was approved by the Planning Authority in 2020.  It is an office block, and is also currently the tallest commercial building in Gzira.

The tower's height increased gradually, as the owner - Malta Development Association President Michael Stivala - filed separate applications to increase its height as the project was built.

The building is situated just a stone's throw from what was realistically meant to be Gzira's first high-rise - the Metropolis.

The site for this long-approved development is opposite the old Empire Stadium, and has already been excavated.  Permits for three towers of 13, 27, and 34 storeys respectively were approved in 2009, then renewed in 2014 and again in 2023.

Little work beyond the excavation has been carried out at the site, meaning that it effectively remains a 6,000 square metre hole blotting the locality.  Prime Minister Joseph Muscat had laid the foundation stone for the high-rise just before the 2015 local council elections - but the project has been effectively dormant ever since.

However, a planning application was filed earlier this year diverged from the initial idea of having three towers in the site and instead proposed the idea of a single, bulkier, 33-storey tower which would see the tower incorporate a hotel together with residential and commercial components.

Just across the road from the Metropolis hole sites the historic Muscat Motors showroom, which is now the subject of a different development application which proposes the construction of a 31-storey tower.

The tower would comprise of both a touristic element and a residential element, together with five levels of underground parking, an open plaza, and a "statutory road" which provides access between Triq Rue d'Argens and Triq Luqa Briffa.

Plans filed with the Planning Authority show that the touristic element will include a restaurant and 10 floors of hotel rooms, with each floor comprising of 10 rooms - meaning that the total capacity of the hotel will be of 100 rooms.

The residential element of the development meanwhile will make up the upper part of the tower and will be made up of 16 floors.  Plans show that each floor will consist of two three-bedroom apartments, meaning that a total of 32 apartments will be constructed as part of the development.

This development also includes the rehabilitation of the Muscat Motors showroom.  Built in 1934 in a modernist style, the building was granted Grade 2 protection in 2012.

Right opposite the Muscat Motors building is the GasanMamo insurance head office, which is also subject to a planning application that would see the building of a 10-floor hotel.

That makes it the smallest of these four towers that would dominate the skyline in this area, but the planned three-star hotel will still feature 151 rooms which would host a total of 322 beds.

This site was already set to be seven-storeys high after the Planning Authority approved an office block in March 2023.  The block would have replaced the insurance office and two adjacent residential blocks - but it was never built.

Instead, new plans were filed with the Planning Authority in February 2026.  The developer is GasanMamo Insurance Ltd itself.

The three proposed towers will have a significant impact on the area, not least due to the fact that they are so close to each other.

The Metropolis, Muscat Motors, and GasanMamo projects are overlooking the same roundabout which connects the localities of Msida, Gzira, Ta' Xbiex, and offers a route to the Sliema seafront, while the ST Tower sits just a street away.

This is an area of roughly 25,000 square metres - the equivalent of around three and a half football pitches.

While the ST Tower is a commercial block, the three other proposed towers all include touristic elements, signifying the spread of the tourist area further afield from the known hotspots of St Julian's and Sliema.