Los Boliches begins its biggest transformation yet: the €48.7 million complex set to reshape this part of Fuengirola

The machinery has already moved into Los Boliches. Fuengirola has begun demolishing the existing facilities at the Santa Fe-Antonio Basilio Stadium this week, marking the first visible stage of a project that will completely transform one of the neighbourhood’s largest public spaces.

This will be far more than a simple stadium refurbishment.

The future Los Boliches Complex will bring together on the same site a three-storey underground car park, a new football pitch, several indoor sports halls, an outdoor swimming pool and Fuengirola’s future courthouse.

The contract has been awarded for €48,766,872, making it the largest municipal investment ever undertaken in the city.

The scale of the development will also be considerable: the current site, which covers just over 13,000 square metres, will expand to approximately 14,500 square metres.

1,070 new parking spaces beneath Los Boliches

Perhaps the part of the project that will have the most immediate impact on local residents is the new car park.

The plans include 1,070 parking spaces distributed across three underground levels, a particularly significant figure in an area where finding a place to park can be difficult for much of the year and even more so during the busiest tourist months.

The size of the future facility is effectively equivalent to creating a major car park beneath the sports complex itself.

There is also one feature of the project that could allow residents to benefit from the infrastructure before the entire development has been completed.

As part of its proposed improvements, the successful contractor has included the possibility of opening the car park as soon as its construction is finished, even if work on the stadium, sports halls or courthouse is still ongoing.

This means the 1,070 parking spaces could become available to the public before the rest of the complex is fully completed.

The Santa Fe stadium will even change orientation

Above ground, the transformation will be almost total.

The current football pitch will be replaced by a new one that will be rotated by 90 degrees compared with its existing orientation.

This change will make it possible to reorganise the site and distribute the various facilities planned for an area where sports, public services and separate access points will all need to coexist.

The new stadium will include spectator stands, changing rooms and auxiliary spaces adapted to the needs of clubs and users.

Football, however, will be only one of the sports accommodated within the future complex.

Hockey, volleyball and a third multipurpose sports hall

The project also includes a major overhaul of the indoor sports facilities.

There will be a renovated hockey hall, the existing volleyball facilities will be maintained and upgraded, and a third multipurpose sports space will be added for other activities.

All three will include stands, changing rooms and storage areas.

The aim of the redesign is to increase the sporting capacity of the site rather than simply replace the facilities that already existed.

A number of shared spaces required for the day-to-day operation of the complex will also be created.

These will include a cafeteria, reception area, first-aid room, technical training classroom, public toilets, storage facilities, plant rooms and maintenance areas.

A rooftop swimming pool covering more than 300 square metres

One of the most distinctive features of the project will be located on the roof of the building.

The design includes an outdoor rooftop swimming pool with a water surface measuring 312.5 square metres.

It will not be intended for sports training or competitions.

Instead, its purpose will be primarily recreational, introducing a new type of facility to a complex traditionally associated with sports such as football, hockey and volleyball.

The pool will also make use of an area that would otherwise have a much more limited function in a development of this kind.

Fuengirola’s courts will also move to Los Boliches

The third major component of the project will be Fuengirola’s new courthouse.

At present, the city’s different courts and judicial services are spread across four separate buildings, a situation that has caused space problems for years and requires both professionals and members of the public to travel between different locations.

The new building is intended to bring an end to that fragmentation.

The future courthouse will cover 7,272 square metres, compared with the approximately 4,300 square metres currently occupied by the existing facilities combined.

That represents an increase of around 60% in available space.

The judicial complex will also have a completely separate entrance from the sports facilities, allowing both areas to operate independently despite sharing the same large site.

A courthouse designed to serve both Fuengirola and Mijas

The importance of the new judicial headquarters extends beyond Fuengirola itself.

The judicial district also serves Mijas and covers a combined population of more than 172,000 residents, without taking into account the substantial seasonal population that this part of the Costa del Sol receives.

The new building will allow the judicial sections and services that are currently dispersed across several locations to be brought together in a single facility.

The planned layout includes areas for Civil matters, Criminal Investigation and Violence Against Women, as well as the Civil Registry, Public Prosecutor’s Office, Forensic Medical Clinic, courtrooms, detainee areas, professional associations and Gesell rooms, among other facilities.

The objective is to ensure that the building has enough capacity not only to meet current requirements but also to accommodate possible future expansion.

Fuengirola Council will build the courthouse and the Andalusian Government will pay to use it

The arrangement surrounding the new courthouse also has an unusual feature.

Fuengirola Town Hall will be responsible for constructing the building as part of the wider complex, while the Andalusian regional government will use it under the agreement reached between the two administrations.

Once it becomes operational, the regional government will pay the council an annual fee of €617,040 for 30 years.

Over that period, the total amount paid will reach approximately €18.5 million.

The building itself will remain municipally owned.

From €50.8 million to a €48.7 million contract

The original tender budget was higher than the amount for which the project was eventually awarded.

Municipal documents initially set a maximum budget of €50.82 million: €1.815 million for drafting and designing the project and around €49 million for the actual construction work.

The successful bid reduced the total investment to €48.76 million.

The contract was awarded to the temporary joint venture formed by Vialterra Infraestructuras and Urbasur Actividades y Servicios.

The winning proposal also shortened the originally expected construction schedule.

How long will work on the Los Boliches Complex take?

The timetable is divided into two main stages.

Planning and technical design will take three months, while construction itself is expected to last 29 months.

The initial project had allowed four months for technical documentation and 32 months for construction, meaning the winning bid shortened both phases.

The demolition work that began on 1 September 2026 therefore marks the physical start of the transformation of the site.

If everything progresses according to schedule, the complete development will take a little over two years to finish, although the car park could become operational earlier.

The site will expand to approximately 14,500 square metres

Accommodating all of the planned facilities will also require changes to the current boundaries of the site.

The area will grow from just over 13,000 square metres to approximately 14,500 square metres, incorporating part of Francisco Rivera ‘Paquirri’ Street, which runs alongside the existing sports facilities.

This expansion will make it possible to accommodate the new football pitch, sports halls, access points, courthouse and the remaining facilities included in the development.

The result will effectively be a site rebuilt almost entirely from the ground up.

A project set to change everyday life in Los Boliches

The scale of the project means its impact will extend far beyond those who currently use the stadium.

For residents of Los Boliches, the most noticeable improvement is likely to be the 1,070 parking spaces, while sports users will benefit from completely renewed facilities.

People who need to attend court proceedings will no longer have to travel between several different buildings and will instead have access to a single judicial headquarters.

The addition of facilities such as the recreational swimming pool will also introduce new uses to a complex that, until now, has been primarily associated with specific sporting activities.

Over the coming months, however, the area will look very different.

The demolition of the former Santa Fe-Antonio Basilio Stadium has opened a new period of construction that will reshape an important part of the neighbourhood before the new complex emerges.

Once work is complete, the same site will need to accommodate more than 1,000 cars underground, a completely renovated stadium, three sports halls, a swimming pool and one of Fuengirola’s most important public buildings.

The final details of the project, its €48,766,872 budget, the planned 1,070 parking spaces and the start of demolition work can be found in the official information published by Fuengirola Town Hall, while further details about the future courthouse are also available from the Andalusian Regional Government.