Portugal 
Italy 
Greece 
29 March 2018
Tello is requesting that the Exarchs palaces be granted protected status, whose planned rehabilitation includes a hotel.
The Valencia City Council received two requests to open new hotels in one month, as well as two apartment block developments, at least one of which is in Ciutat Vella, Valencia’s historic centre. The requests are currently open to public discussion.
One of the apartment developments is located on three lots of land in the Velluters neighbourhood, at 27, 29 and 31 Bany Street. It is an area where other similar ventures have already opened, in a run-down area of the city centre which has seen a loss of residents in recent years.
The second proposal concerns a new four-star hotel-apartment in an existing building at 28 Corretgeria and 4 Bany Pavesos. The building is a few meters from the Micalet and was used as the headquarters of a hospitality school for years.
Another hotel at 18 Ruzafa, very close to the intersection of Santa Clara Convent Street, is also open for public discussion. In this case, the hotel’s category has not yet been specified. The fourth development is another apartment block, although its location is also as yet unspecified.
The pace of the new developments is an indicator of the sector’s strength in the city. Another hotel is to be built in the Exarch’s palaces, located in Santos Juanes and La Lonja. Yesterday, the City Council announced, through the Councillor for Culture, Glòria Tello, that it intends to request that the Ministry of Culture declare the properties as being of Cultural Interest.
Dating from the fourteenth century, the mansions are part of an urban-planning project, which also impacts some sites where archaeological excavations are being carried out. The application to build a hotel on the premises led to demands by residents and institutions such as the Consell Valencià de Cultura to request that the palaces gain protected status, along with elements such as the kitchens and chapel of San Ignacio de Loyola.
While the request for the conservation of the sites is under consideration, the Department of Urban Development will formally declare the palaces of the Exarchs as a Locally Relevant Property (BRL), a transitional regime in any construction that goes beyond conservation efforts will have to receive prior approval from the Generalitat.
Original Story: Las Provinces – P. Moreno / I. Sunday
Translation: Richard Turner