Augustinians defend decision to rent land for 12-storey complex

The Augustinian Order in Malta has acceded to a request by the Curia’s Environment Commission for full disclosure of details of an agreement with a private contractor for the lease of the Order’s land in St Julian’s, to be developed into a 12-floor complex.

The order’s decision to lease out part of its property near the Augustinian convent in St George’s Bay in St Julian’s, and the adjacent chapel dedicated to St Rita, has met with public outcry.

But the order’s provincial Leslie Gatt defended the order’s decision to monetise its property and confirmed that the order had reached an agreement with Bay Street Holdings Ltd, which will be renting the land – currently used as a makeshift car park – for an unspecified number of years.

“There is a rental contract on the land between the Augustinians and Bay Street Holdings Ltd, so no sale has taken place, neither any temporary or perpetual emphytheutical concession,” Fr Gatt told MaltaToday.

Read also: Augustinians rent out St George’s Bay land to Bay Street for 12-storey hotel extension

The company, whose owners include George Muscat of GAP Holdings, and Paul Camilleri, has applied for the development of a 12-storey four-star accommodation building and office complex, which will tower over the St George’s Road, and behind the monks’ own convent and St Rita Chapel.

The site will include 246 underground parking spaces.

The Augustinian Order said the site had been earmarked for regeneration since the 1990s

News that Archbishop Charles Scicluna asked the Church’s Environment Commission to look into the agreement was revealed by Arnold Cassola, former chairperson of Alternattiva, who on Facebook had protested about the move. 

In a statement yesterday, Fr Gatt explained, that as per the agreement with the developer, the convent and chapel will remain a central focal point for pastoral work in the area.

He said that the developer had committed itself to restore the outer facades of the convent and the chapel and to ensure that more than half the site be developed into a public piazza in front of the convent.

Fr Gatt said that, since the 1990s, the order had been considering regeneration options for the site.

Many developers had approached the order over the years, expressing an interest in purchasing the site, and even the convent and chapel themselves, he said. At one time, a commercial agreement for the empty site had been reached with a third party but had fallen through before it was finalised.

Read also: Archbishop asks church commission to look into Augustinian’s St George’s bay deal

Fr Gatt said that the income from the lease would allow the Order to further invest in its religious, social and educational efforts and to restore a number of other historic properties it owned around the island.

Objections have already flowed in, among them from Simon Decesare, a member of the Eden Leisure Group which owns a sizeable chunk of real estate on St George’s Road, among others the Intercontinental Hotel and Eden cinemas.

Decesare said the proposed development would create a large, exposed blank party wall on St Augustine Street, directly in front of the existing hotel rooms forming part of the five-star InterContinental Hotel. This, he said, would have a large negative impact on the hotel.