News for Benalmadena

The real estate group Tremón plans to modernise the Costa del Sol's iconic theme park, Tivoli World, as well as developing adjoining land to create a commercial and leisure centre.

The Madrid firm proposes to create a complex covering more than 152,000 square metres which would include two commercial areas on the east side of the park, as well as gardens and an underground car park with 2,000 spaces.

The new commercial areas would include a hypermarket, a multi-screen cinema, three office blocks, a concert hall and a hotel.

The new commercial areas would include a hypermarket, a multi-screen cinema, three office blocks, a concert hall and a hotel.

The area occupied by the theme park itself is not expected to change although Tivoli would undergo a complete renovation with the installation of 43 attractions. Among them would be an area for extreme stunts demonstrations as well as a mini Formula 1 circuit and an Everest expedition attraction. The entire complex would keep the name Tivoli.

The main obstacle in the way of the developers is the ownership of the park. Tremón bought Tivoli in 2007 from the Cordoba businessman Rafael Gómez, otherwise known as Sandokán, who owns the firm Arenal 2000. This was part of a massive real estate deal that included the sale of some 30 properties across Andalucía, amounting to a total of seven million square metres.

However Gómez alleged that the sale had not been fully completed and took the matter to court. This led to the paradoxical situation in that the park is in the name of Tremón but it is still managed by a company linked to the Cordoba businessman, who was recently sentenced to five years in prison for tax offences.

SUR has learned that Tremón is prepared to go ahead with this new project, with an investment of 300 million euros, as soon as the court dispute is over.

The project, which would transform Arroyo de la Miel, has been welcomed by Benalmádena town hall. The local authority is keen to speed up the adminstrative process, considering the creation of employment and the economic impact of the new centre would be a unique opportunity to revive commerce in the Arroyo area.

The town hall would also gain financially from planning permission fees and other taxes, a welcome cash injection for the local coffers.

Representatives of Tremón have met with the mayor of Benalmádena, Víctor Navas, on at least four occasions, the most recent last week. Among other conditions for a future planning agreement, the council has called for the jobs of the around a hundred staff at Tivoli to be maintained.

The project is expected to create more than 1,600 jobs during its construction, expected to take two years, and 3,300 after completion.

The new park would not require the modification of the PGOU planning regulations, although, as in the case of the complex the developer Intu is due to build in Torremolinos, the access roads could cause administrative complications.

Tremón proposes a number of works to improve road connections from the Costa and Benalmádena Pueblo. The future work to prevent hold-ups at the Arroyo de la Miel exit on the A-7 will also be essential for the Tivoli project, however the central government has included 17 million euros for the improvements in its budget.