€2.5MM Investment Renovates Old Ruined Hotel Next to the Melgaço Spa

6 September 2017

The former Melgaço spa-hotel, built in the 19th century and currently in ruins, will undergo a €2.5MM renovation and reopen as a four-star hotel, the local town council announced Wednesday.

In a statement, the municipality of Viana do Castelo added that the investment by the Pinto da Costa & Carriço group “will complement the spa,” which is located near the hotel and managed by the same company since July. It is considered to “add value to the region.”

“Construction will be carried out on the property where the Grande Hotel do Pezo was located and which is currently in ruins. The structure was built in the second half of the 19th century, near the spa’s thermal springs. The investment envisioned will be close to 2.5 million euros,” the municipality explained.

According to the socialist Manoel Batista, head of the municipality, the developer will follow “the concept of a boutique hotel, and the new four-star hotel will have about 44 rooms.”

The project to renovate the abandoned hotel, designed by the architect José António Lopes, covers “a property area of 11,900 square meters and an estimated construction area of 4,500 square meters.”

The redevelopment “will be based on the reconstruction of the existing building, now in ruins, and provides for an extension of 1,800 square meters to accommodate the 44 rooms.”

In July, the same group took over the management of the Melgaço spa, located in the parish of Paderne.

The complex, with an approximate area of 59,600 square meters, is owned by the Unicer group, which also bottles water from the springs.

In 2010, the Melgaço town council approved the constitution of a private-public partnership for the full redevelopment of the thermal park, at an investment of 3.7 million euros. The area, of which the spa is a part, is composed of several distinct locales.

Original Story: Diário de Notícias / Lusa

Translation: Richard Turner