Barcelona’s seafront could maintain part of nightlife that the city council wanted to eradicate. The intention of the State, owner of the land in dispute, is selling spaces dedicated to economic activity under auctiona, with the exception of some pieces that do not include the eight restaurants and clubs located between the Hotel Arts and the Hospital del Mar. This has already been announced to the operators and confirmed to this newspaper. The price of these spaces is millionaire and their future would depend, therefore, on who purchases them, although all operators are interested in continuity.
The Ministry of Finance takes months of negotiations to determine the outcome of the 40 hectares owned by it on the coastal front, a strip of public-land domain with more than 40 businesses that since 1989 has been managed through a 30-year administrative concession at the then request of the Ministry of Development. The cake, which goes from the hospital to almost the border with Sant Adrià, includes vials (such as the Ronda Litoral or streets), parks such as the Nova Icària park and even facilities such as the Mar Bella Pavilion, which will be transferred to the city. But the future of business adds months of controversy, since in the same bag they go from restaurants to discos, the Casino de Barcelona or the MacDonalds of the area.
Last year, when the figure of terrestrial maritime land was modified, they became the responsibility of the State Heritage, which depends on the Treasury. The concessions to the establishments expired and after the announcement with hype that the city council would eliminate all leisure activities on the coast, an extension was granted to make decisions that (after the Alarm State) will end on September 8.
In the second semester
Ministerial sources point out to this newspaper that “the intention -and they have communicated it this way- is to proceed to the alienation, by auction, of the state-owned commercial premises located in the concession area throughout the second half of this year” . But they specify that the Moda Shopping Port Olimpic Center and the five beach bars located beyond the Port Olímpic, in the direction of Besòs, would not be included.
The State in these cases choose to sell the spaces with private activity and cede the spaces for public use to the town councils, which are already regularly in charge of their maintenance. But the situation in Barcelona offers some peculiarities. He Councilor for the Presidency, Jordi Martí, indicates to this newspaper that for the consistory it is strategic to take ownership of pieces such as the five beach bars (Escribà, L’Escamarlà …), given that due to location and in view of the progressive loss of width of coastal beaches. The objective is to give continuity to these licenses, but under the municipal baton.
More controversial are the other pieces that Barcelona claims, the eight listed venues that have a disco license (from Catwalk to Water, through Opium, Shôko or Carpe Diem). But that in most cases they are also day restaurants, with some of the best terraces in the city. The city council put on the table with little success uses such as the expansion of the Higher Center for Scientific Research (CSIC), despite the fact that the establishments are underground (under the Paseo Marítim) and with no more light input than the front that gives its terraces . And that reconverting them would cost a fortune.
More than a thousand jobs
Marti’s balance of arguments also includes the complaints of residents of the Vila Olímpica, fed up with nightlife due to the inconvenience caused in their area by the return of night owls who come to take the metro located in the Olympic district and sometimes settle in their parks. However, the recent closure of the troubled bars and clubs of the Port Olímpic (on the other side of the Arts), which is now managed by the consistory and will be reformed with new uses, will partially ease the pressure in the neighborhood.
But in the opposite sector are the employers and workers affected. More than a thousand alone in that section, who, faced with the possible loss of their jobs, sent a letter a few days ago to the mayor There is Colau pidolizing him to reconsider his intention to change the economic uses of the area. Other arguments were that a city like Barcelona requires nightlife (some of the most international clubs in the city are located there) and that the nighttime problems arising in the area have been due to the alleged lack of police supplies. Several of the premises, in addition, are willing to return to their initial uses decades ago, such as restaurants and nightclubs, without dancing and with shorter hours, as they have already proposed to the city council. For Martí the main objective was to achieve public ownership and then decide.
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