Portelli’s Xlendi tower approved by Planning Authority after five year saga

Five years after Gozitan developer Joseph Portelli’s bid to convert an abandoned hotel in Xlendi into a 13-floor residential tower first made headlines, the Planning Authority (PA) approved the massive project with a 9-1 vote in favour.

Though the area does not allow for large towers to be developed since Xlendi is designated as a small urban settlement, the proposed project’s design incorporates a smaller, five floor block facing the bay and an additional seven floors facing the street behind the seafront, with the PA approving the design on the basis that multiple setbacks in the project’s taller building make it conformant to policy for the area.

The PA’s directorate, which was responsible for reviewing the applicant’s submissions, further confirmed this assessment, arguing that the project “complements the nearby streetscape” and is situated within an entertainment priority area that is already significantly committed to development.

The approval of this application means that Portelli will now be able to demolish and excavate the old building and develop a 13-floor building with 46 residential units, 2 penthouses, and 52 underground parking spaces, along with a 180sqm supermarket outlet.

The only minor modifications suggested by the PA’s board were to harmonise the length of each receded floor to make the project’s design more congruent. The applicant’s architect, Alexander Bigeni, committed to making those modifications, meaning the permit is effectively approved.

A couple of residents with a flat that is adjacent to the project’s site were the only objectors who spoke during the meeting.

During their interventions, the couple – who did not name themselves during the meeting – said that they had consulted with an architect who immediately told them to move if the project were to be approved since their building was likely too old to withstand the vibrations produced by such a massive construction site next door.

These same objectors also pointed towards two key issues – the fact that the application for demolition and excavation was only approved because the applicant claimed to want to develop a hotel, and that the application itself was split into two phases for no justifiable reason.

“This area is full of flats. Where is the supply and demand being calculated here? This is going to make Xlendi uglier, and is an insult to every citizen,” one of the objectors said.

While the board sought to reassure objectors that their safety would be assured by the developers’ obligations to assess their property and the Building and Construction Authority’s (BCA) inspection regime, the chair insisted that the board “is obliged to follow policies which are currently in place.”

Even the prime minister himself had uncharacteristically condemned the size and scope of the project, describing it as a development which would inflict “permanent” damage on Xlendi’s once idyllic coastline.

In spite of their concerns as well as the concerns of hundreds of other objectors in the project’s five year lifespan to date, all but one of the board’s members, Romano Cassar, approved the project.