Port Authority pauses procedures for proposed skyscraper hotel in Malaga

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The board has decided not to go any further until the two contentious administrative appeals are resolved

Ignacio Lillo

Málaga

Thursday, 18 December 2025, 20:11

The dossier for the proposed skyscraper hotel project in Malaga has officially entered into a phase of indefinite administrative lethargy, which will last for many months. On Thursday, the board of directors of the Port Authority in the city analysed the concession file of the hotel project on the Levante dock.

The Port Authority has decided "not to take any further action in relation to this file at the present time, "in view of existing doubts about the procedure followed and the considerations expressed by Puertos del Estado".

This decision has been adopted "in accordance with criteria of prudence and procedural economy". It involves the suspension of any new procedure until the rulings of the two contentious-administrative appeals that are currently with the High Court of Justice of Andalucía (TSJA) are known, as they will also affect the modification of the special plan for the port.

At this point, in the event that the court rulings are favourable, the Port Authority will reactivate the administrative machinery and the first step will be to request a report from the state attorney's office in Malaga.

Report by the state attorney

The state attorney will be asked to determine, from a legal point of view, whether the basic project that was submitted to the competition (similar to a public tender) in 2016 is "compatible" with the other basic project, submitted subsequently by the promoter group. On the basis of this body's opinion, the port will take the most legally sound decisions, including the possibility of a new call for project competition.

Puertos del Estado has asked Malaga for more documentation to approve the skyscraper and hinted at the possibility of calling a new public competition

These steps follow the decision taken by Puertos del Estado at the end of November, when it returned the file sent a month earlier by the Port Authority of Malaga, with several additions. The legal services of the body dependent on the Ministry of Transport then asked for the project file to be extended with new technical information, "justifying its general interest".

Puertos del Estado did not issue an unfavourable report nor did it reject the initiative, but rather demanded additional formalities to complete the administrative procedure. Moreover, the report contains a suggestion that has now been accepted by the Malaga port managers.

The state department suggests (not obliges) that, "out of a principle of prudence" and given that ten years have passed since the beginning of the process, with three versions of the hotel project offered over the decade, it would be appropriate to reconvene a project competition such as the one that led to the initial award to Andalusian Hospitality (made up of the Qatar fund Al Alfia and Hoteles Hesperia).

If this happens, the tender will have to be published in the official state gazette, allowing any other company to bid for the rights to exploit the plot. It is a procedure similar to a tender (but initiated by a private party rather than the administration). The legal department considers that this "would provide the file with greater legal certainty".

In any case, what has been requested is a strengthening of "the report justifying the public interest of the project, as well as the inclusion of new technical data that would allow for a more detailed assessment of the proposal and facilitate later stages of analysis by the state body".

San Telmo's claims rejected

In the same vein, the board of directors has also decided to reject the request from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Telmo, which had requested to participate as an interested party in the file concerning the concession of the tower.

The decision is based on technical and legal reports, which conclude that the said institution lacks standing in this administrative procedure, meaning the regulations it cited in its application do not apply. Consequently, there is no need to consider the other claims submitted by the cultural institution.