A Five-Star and Dune Regeneration: Green Light for the Urbanization Project of a Hotel in Las Chapas

José Carlos García

Marbella

The construction of a five-star luxury hotel in Marbella is no longer something exceptional, but its development in conjunction with the regeneration of a natural space that is part of an ecological reserve is not something that seems common either in the second city of the province or anywhere else in the world. The hotel is a project by the investment fund Platinum States, led by Indian Harry Mohinani, and the natural space is the Real de Zaragoza dune, one of the elements that make up the nine systems that became the so-called Marbella Dunes Ecological Reserve in 2015.

The dune regeneration will also come with the channeling of the Real de Zaragoza stream, with actions to protect the coastal front (to enhance its integration with the Promenade), actions aimed at protecting fauna and biodiversity and the conservation of existing trees, in addition to the creation of a new area of public spaces within a comprehensive urbanization project that even includes a bridge to connect with the nearby Golden Beach urbanization. There will also be a new stormwater drainage network, improvements related to drainage and water evacuation, more than a kilometer of stormwater collectors, a bike lane, pedestrian areas, measures on the road network, public services, and areas for coexistence and leisure, as well as new networks for electricity, sanitation, and telecommunications.

All this is the 'toll' that Platinum Estates will have to pay to develop (and revalue) its hotel project, which will involve an investment of 23.5 million euros, according to the urbanization project license approved this Tuesday by the Local Government Board of the Marbella City Council after the action has received all the necessary 'blessings' from the Government of Spain and the Andalusian Regional Government. "It is an initiative that has required a lot of technical work and consensus among the different parties involved," summarized the Mayor of Marbella, Ángeles Muñoz, at the end of the Local Government Board.

The company on dune regeneration: "We are going to have a beach like those in Cádiz, but in Marbella and without the wind"

In fact, the milestone of the approval of the urbanization license comes ten years after Platinum Estates launched its plan to build a resort in this area, specifically on a plot of 162,000 square meters that borders the Marbella Free Time Residence, a property that will be operated by El Fuerte Group through the company Ritusa SA after having obtained the exploitation of this space for the next 75 years, with the possibility of extending it to 99, in exchange for a fee of 5.02 million euros paid to the Junta de Andalucía.

Changes in the project

The course of this decade has meant that the total amount of the operation by Platinum Estates has increased from 250 to more than 350 million euros, that the project will no longer be alongside Marriott and its W brand, but alongside a still-unannounced higher-category firm; and that the number of rooms has decreased from 186 to 150 rooms. All this will be added to 170 'branded residences', the new trend of luxury villas in which Marbella is becoming the European epicenter, as the CEO of Sierra Blancas Estates stated yesterday, and which will have access to the hotel services, of course, to the beach club and to the three restaurants that complete the project.

When all these new details were provided in November 2024, the representative in Spain of Platinum Estates, Juan Luis Segalerva, summarized his project on the coast to SUR as follows: "It is the best beachfront in Marbella because it is a dune. It is not well preserved, nor clean, nor rehabilitated. We are going to have a beach like those in Cádiz, but in Marbella and without the wind."

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