The Crowne Plaza, in Sliema, will be sold for Lm23.3 million and, in addition, the government will also get Lm1.1 million in stamp duty from the sale.
The promise of sale agreement was signed at the end of December, Parliamentary Secretary Tonio Fenech told The Times yesterday.
The Lands Department signed the agreement with Imperial Point Co. Ltd, which was the highest bidder when a call for offers was made last year.
The government had announced in early December that talks with the highest bidder had collapsed at the 11th hour and that it intended to start talks with the second short-listed bidder. After the government wrote to the second highest bidder, Imperial Point Co. Ltd came up with the required funds and asked to sign the contract.
The government had announced in May last year that the bids for the purchase of the Crowne Plaza (formerly Holiday Inn) in Tigné ranged from Lm23.3 million to Lm11.1 million. The highest bid was that by Imperial Point Co. Ltd: Lm23.3 million. Fort Cambridge Ltd had pledged Lm23 million; Nysir Malta Ltd, Lm22.1 million; Hili Property Dev. Ltd, Lm13 million; Schembri & Sons Ltd, Lm12.8 million; Cambridge Const. Ltd, Lm11.5 million and Cambridge Place Ltd, Lm11.1 million.
The Crowne Plaze site covers an area of 25,220 square metres. It includes one of the last remaining military barracks from the early 1900s, the hotel block and the Fort Cambridge heritage site with its surrounding ditches and glacis dating back to the 1880s.
According to a development brief issued by the Malta Environment and Planning Authority, primary acceptable land uses for the site include a hotel, a residential area, a higher-level educational institute or specialised research centre, a high-quality, high-tech establishment involving foreign investment and job creation, or a combination of these. Among the acceptable secondary ancillary uses are specialist retail outlets, food and drink facilities and conference amenities. The brief also calls for a piazza for public use and to act as a buffer between the development and the residential area.
According to the brief, the height of the development is to be stepped down towards the residential area while 60 per cent of the plot ratio is to be built up and the remaining 40 per cent left as open space.
A landscaping scheme is required for all green and open areas as per Mepa requirements.
Owned by the government, the Crowne Plaza was leased to Air Malta, which had told the government it was no longer interested in operating the hotel as it wanted to focus on its core business, civil aviation. The Hal Ferh complex, also operated by Air Malta, was also given back to the government and Mepa is expected to issue a development brief for the area.
The Selmun Palace Hotel, the only hotel still being managed by Air Malta, is expected to be given back to the government later this year, sources said.