Updated 9.38am with right of reply

The balustrades on the front terrace of a 19th century protected villa in St Julian’s have been removed, with residents seeing this as evidence of works taking place at the property despite an appeal lodged against a permit to turn it into a boutique hotel.

Villa Priuli is an elegant property on the Balluta waterfront in St Julian’s that enjoys Grade 2 protection.

A planning permit was granted to turn it into a boutique hotel, entailing interior alterations, the creation of new spaces at street level and former ground floor level, demolition of roof structures and the construction of a new roof level.

Pictures sent to Times of Malta show the balustrades that once lined the front terrace discarded in a pile.

The balustrades have been removed from the front terrace and now lie in a pile.

The permit is currently subject to an appeal by businessman Marin Hili, who lives in the adjacent property.

The appeal board last met on February 3 and a decision is due to be taken at the next session, which has not yet been given a date.

“The villa is scheduled property and the permit is still subject to an appeal,” an architect who evaluated Hili’s appeal said.

“Besides, no commencement notice has been approved by the Building and Construction Authority. For the BCA to issue the commencement notice, neighbouring condition reports have to be submitted together with bank guarantees.”

The architect argued that turning the property into a commercial development would deprive it of all its original value as a prime villa and violate the intrinsic scope of the scheduling.

“Being a scheduled property, the planning application does not specifically state that it will retain its present private use. It is understood that, considering the scheduled nature of the property, the application should have specifically stated that the proposed works would not enable or facilitate the commercial use of the property.

“The proposal disembowels the intrinsic scheduling intention because Villa Priuli was designed, constructed and used as a residential villa,” the architect said.

“The proposed changes and additions are of the most extreme kind. Both the restaurant and the multitude of guest rooms completely neutralise the personalised use of the scheduled property as it was intended to be.”

He added that the introduction of glass doors instead of masonry would go against the spirit of the scheduling and that structural works could upset the entire concept of conservation.

“It is very strange that, in spite of the above reasons, all procedures safeguarding neighbouring scheduled buildings are being disregarded as well.”

In 2016, a businessman from The Netherlands attempted to secure financing to turn the villa into a boutique hotel. However, the Dutchman’s venture ran out of steam.

The property was then sold off to Paceville magnate Hugo Chetcuti, who initiated the current application through his architect.

After Chetcuti’s death, the villa was sold to Virtu Properties who are pursuing the current development of the site.

Property owners: removal is temporary and approved

In a right of reply, a spokesperson for the owners of Villa Priuli said that balustrades were removed temporarily because they posed a serious danger to passers-by, with the removal done with the approval of authorities and a restoration method statement. 

Owners of the property have a full development permit issued by the PA, they said, with the permit not subject to suspension. 

The spokesperson also said that the adjacent property is a commercial office and not a residence, as claimed.