The Journey of La Torrecilla: How an Estate Expropriated by Gil Will Become the City of Justice in Marbella

Expropriated lands near the Ojén highway were left unused by the Marbella City Council, which almost lost them in court. This marks the journey that began over 30 years ago for the La Torrecilla estate, where from 2026, the long-held aspiration of the locality will start to materialize: the City of Justice.

The story of the plot begins on May 19, 1994, with the signature of the influential Pedro Román acting as the temporary mayor of Marbella, replacing Jesús Gil. Román signs an "act of mutual agreement, expropriation, and occupation" with three companies, Coinsa Constructora Inmobiliaria, Promotora Extremeña, and Edificios Don Gonzalo. The first company owned rustic lands so valuable that they later housed the La Cañada shopping center, while the other two companies owned other assets included in the operation: three apartments and a commercial space in the Mayoral building.

Gil's government received three apartments that were auctioned in 1994, a commercial space that was swapped in 1999, transferred part of a plot to a third party, and never compensated the original owners

The City Council receives two rustic plots in La Torrecilla, the four properties, and a cash amount of just over 15 million pesetas (9 million euros today), while the companies are compensated with a 34,085 square meter plot in La Torrecilla with a net buildable area of 20,110 that allows the construction of 201 homes. The lands they receive still cannot be used for this project, because the urban planning in force at the time designated them for "community equipment" use, to the extent that the expropriation agreement contemplates the payment of interest by the City Council.

The change in the urban planning did not occur, nor did the use by the City Council, despite the fact that the file was extended over time to the point that it contains signatures from Julián Muñoz as the first acting mayor and as mayor, already in 2003. The companies grew tired and ended up filing a lawsuit in 2012. The case reached the Administrative Court number 5 of Málaga, the Superior Court of Justice of Andalusia (TSJA), and the Supreme Court. A ruling from the high court in 2017 settled the matter and partially upheld the companies' approach. In the words of the TSJA: "The agreement must be understood as resolved since the Administration has not fulfilled what was incumbent upon it and the consequence must be solely the compensation for the damage."

Turning the tables

But everything could not go back to the initial situation. The municipal government of Jesús Gil had sold the apartments by auction in 1994, had swapped the commercial space in 1999, part of the lands had ended up grouped in another municipal estate that had been transferred to a third party, and another part already corresponded to public roads.

The companies grew tired, filed a lawsuit in 2012, and the case reached the Supreme Court and was settled in 2020 with an agreement from the Local Government Board

The dispute over the estate that will house the new City of Justice finally comes to an end in July 2020 with an agreement from the Local Government Board by which the City Council turns the tables and ends up keeping them thanks to a compensation to the companies of almost 2.7 million euros, mostly for interest (1.46 million). This is added to the payment to Promotora Extrema of 563,000 euros for the three apartments and the cash payment received by the City Council; 465,000 euros to Coinsa for the two transferred estates; and 200,000 euros to Edificios Don Gonzalo for the commercial space. In total, about 3.93 million euros.