PA set to approve Saqqajja Hill flats by debt-hit clubbing boss

A Planning Authority case officer is recommending the approval of 35 new flats beneath Mdina’s bastions, promoted by clubbing entrepreneur Dominic Micallef, despite major negative visual impacts and a geotechnical report still required before the permit can be issued.

The project would replace the former Tattingers nightclub and neighbouring buildings with a stepped residential complex extending from ground to fifth-floor level, above two basement parking floors.

It follows the court’s annulment of an earlier permit for an 81-room hotel promoted by the same developer.

The applicant is Mdina Property Ltd, represented by Micallef, with former minister Jesmond Mugliett as architect. Plans include a residents’ gym and spa, a small office, 65 parking spaces and a service culvert beneath the road. Villa San Clemente would also be restored as one of the homes.

The site lies outside development-zone boundaries, largely within Mdina’s Urban Conservation Area, and partly within a Category 1 rural settlement. It also partly overlaps the protected former railway tunnel.

The case officer’s report records a “major negative impact” on the view from the Saqqajja-Triq it-Tiġrija junction, a moderate-to-major impact from Triq il-Belt Valletta, and moderate negative impacts from other approaches.

Despite acknowledging that design changes have not eliminated the identified harm, the same officer is still recommending the issue of a permit.

The Superintendence of Cultural Heritage and the National World Heritage Technical Committee accepted the heritage assessment’s conclusion that Mdina’s Outstanding Universal Value would not be threatened.

Yet the report also reproduces policies requiring protection of the conservation area’s character and the designated Area of High Landscape Value.

Strangely, the case officer is recommending that the government-appointed PA board grant permission but withhold its executable version pending approval of an excavation Works Method Statement incorporating a geotechnical report.

Four neighbouring property owners are challenging that sequence.

Architect Hermann Bonnici, representing Anthony Sammut, Alex Abela, Robert Cassar and Carl Zahra, is arguing that the feasibility of the excavation should be established before the board decides.

He identifies risks of settlement, subsidence and lateral ground movement from disturbing clay strata, noting that his clients’ properties lie uphill from the proposed works.

The Mdina local council has separately requested a specialist study of the effects of excavation and building loads on the protected railway tunnel before a decision.

Creditor claims and stalled works

Dominic Micallef’s wider business interests have faced substantial creditor claims, litigation and stalled construction works, making the project riskier.

In 2024, Seasport Ltd was seeking €1.27 million from Micallef’s SEG Concessions Ltd over the sale of Mambo Beach Club at Armier.

The claimant alleged that takings were being diverted between associated companies to avoid paying privileged creditors. The case has not been resolved yet.

Micallef also has a history on eviction action by Aria nightclub’s owner over alleged lease breaches and unauthorised subletting involving Micallef’s companies.

Contractor arrears also halted works at the Valletta waterpolo project in 2022, which was entrusted to Micallef.

He was also in volved in the Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando scandal regarding a Mistra field which was planned to be turned into a nightclub.