Developers persist with high-rise in Naxxar’s former trade fair carpark

New plans have been presented by San Pawl Tat-Targa Investments for the development of two cylindrical blocks of eight and ten floors in the former Naxxar trade fair carpark.

The 136 apartments will be built in an area where five storey developments are normally allowed.

Unlike previous plans, which were sent back to the drawing board by the Planning Authority Board in November 2020, the new development does not include a supermarket and office space, and is exclusively residential. 

The number of apartments will increase from the previously proposed 113 to 136.

The development will also include 327 parking spaces, up from the original 253.

The project is no longer fronted by developer Jean Borg and is being directly developed by San Pawl Tat-Targa Investments Limited which owns Gwejda site.

The company have appointed Edwin Mintoff & Associates as its new architect, and is owned by Virtu Properties Limited and Ziz Limited.

San Pawl Tat-Targa Investments Limited had previously signed a promise of sale for the site with SN Holdings Limited, which in turn assigned the project to SPTT Properties Limited.

Subsequently the promise of sale between San Pawl Tat-Targa Investments Limited and SN Holdings Limited fell through.

A spokesperson for the company told MaltaToday that this was done to present a new concept for the site with “special emphasis on addressing the concerns raised by the respective stakeholders with respect to the old proposal.”

While the project previously consisted of five interconnected blocks, constituting one big building mass with a substantial part of the open spaces being roofed over, the new plans envisage an unroofed open space between the two towers.

The developers still make use of the “floor area ratio” mechanism, through which building heights higher than those envisaged in the local plan, can be permitted if half the area is retained as open space.

The details of the new application, which was presented in April, are not yet available on the Planning Authority’s public information system because ‘the application has not been fully submitted”, but the plans have been submitted during a meeting of the Naxxar local council by its executive secretary following meetings with the developer’s architect.

Although the application had been submitted to the PA more than a month ago, the council was told the developers preferred to submit the plans to the council before submitting them to the Planning Authority.

A spokesperson for the company told MaltaToday that the procedure not to publish applications before all details are submitted is a “standard PA procedure which the applicant cannot influence”.

During the meeting, the council’s executive secretary who took no position on the development, pointed out that although there was room for improvements, the only alternative to such a development would be five storey blocks over the whole site.

Naxxar mayor Anne Marie Muscat Fenech Adami insisted the council should not take a position before holding a public meeting on the issue.  The date of the meeting still has to be agreed with the developer’s architects, but will be held in around two weeks’ time.

During the November 2020 planning board meeting, developer Jean Borg had warned that his group would either get a Tigné-style project, or face having to “build the whole area... with a horrid building looking like a government housing estate”.

A spokesperson for the site owners insisted that “this is not in the style of San Pawl Tat-Targa Investments Limited, the landowner and current applicant”.

In a 2020 meeting, former project architect Christian Spiteri said Borg could have opted for a “conventional” sprawl of 30 low-rise blocks with limited public open space; and that high-rise was the only way to retain more open space. He also claimed the project was ‘inspired’ by artist Esprit Barthet’s depiction of the Maltese skyline.

During the Planning Authority board meeting chairman Vince Cassar – who previously criticised the suitability of high-rise in the area – asked the developers whether they were willing to change plans in view of widespread opposition.

The project is located just 70 metres away from the Grade 1 schedule Palazzo Parisio and the Naxxar urban conservation area.

“How can we approve a monstrosity next to the UCA?” Naxxar mayor Anne Marie Muscat Fenech Adami had asked, warning of the project’s visibility from the recently-restored historical windmill of Naxxar.

A social impact assessment has shown 74% of Naxxar is against the 113-residential unit block, which was to include a 253-space underground garage, together with supermarket, restaurants, offices, day-care centre and gymnasium.

Despite the widespread opposition, including that of PA board members, the project was defended by the PA’s executive chairman Martin Saliba.

Saliba said the project was the result of “months of discussions” between the PA and the developers, and warned the area will face the same traffic impact with a conventional development that lacks open spaces. “We are going towards something innovative, rather than the usual mediocrity,” Saliba said, defending the project as being “balanced”.

Naxxar is not identified as a high-rise site, and ‘medium rise’ developments of up to 10 storeys are allowed on sites of over 4,000 sq.m surrounded by existing or proposed streets.

No such development is allowed inside UCAs, or high-lying areas like Naxxar which is 126m above sea level.