La Laguna licita la demolición del Hotel Neptuno
The Urban Planning Management of the City Council of La Laguna has opened a tender for the subsidiary demolition works of the old Hotel Neptuno tourist complex, built in 1959 next to the Bajamar main road. These works will include the demolition of the building with nearly a hundred rooms, the restaurant, and 15 independent bungalows. The total budget amounts to a maximum of 736,703.85 euros, with a 6-month execution period. The deadline for submitting offers to this tender is April 3rd, and it is estimated that the works could start in the middle of this year, thus addressing the serious security risk posed by this abandoned hotel complex, declared legally in ruin since 2007.
Mayor of La Laguna, Luis Yeray Gutiérrez, celebrates that with this intervention, "the City Council assumes the solution to a long-standing problem in the Northeast Region. Faced with the impossibility of its rehabilitation, the demolition of the old Hotel Neptuno resolves the serious issues of health and safety that the building generates, affecting the living conditions of the neighbors in the area." The Mayor also highlighted "the symbolic nature of this action, correcting what was once an uncontrolled growth of tourism and urban development in the Northeast Region."
The councilor for Territorial Planning and managing director of the Urban Planning Management, Adolfo Cordobés, explains that all costs, "both for the drafting of the project and for the execution of the works, will be passed on to the entity that owns the property." He also announces that, "taking into account the usual necessary deadlines of the contracting board and the subsequent procedures, if a sufficient number of candidates apply and no issues arise, we hope to start the works at the beginning of the summer."
The councilor points out that this process "has involved a long and complex administrative procedure, both due to the nature of the buildings, the changes of owners that have occurred, and the need to resolve the legal appeals filed by them. This conflict has resulted in the constructions and their surroundings deteriorating even further, not only damaging the area’s image but also becoming a risk to the safety of passersby and residents."
In this regard, Cordobés recalls that the legal ruin situation of the complex was declared in May 2019, after which the maintenance of some precautionary measures required during the processing of the file was ordered. The ruin status means that the owner must choose between demolishing the complex or fully rehabilitating it.
A few months later, in August 2019, a change in the ownership of the complex was communicated to the administration. The new acquiring company expressed, on several occasions, the possibility of rehabilitating the complex, but these statements of intent were not reflected in the presentation of the necessary projects.
As a result, in August 2023 and due to the owners’ non-compliance, who neither proceeded to demolish the complex nor to rehabilitate it, the Urban Planning Management carried out the demolition of the building through a subsidiary execution. Once the various appeals were resolved, the provisional settlement of the cost, both for the drafting of the demolition project and its execution, was approved, with charges to the property’s owning entity.
Surface of nearly 7,000 m2
The project, awarded to Grupo Inascan, includes a demolition area of 6,975.5 square meters, consisting of a 6-story hotel, the central restaurant (3 stories), the pool and the 15 bungalows. The technical specifications include compliance with all safety regulations, occupational hazards, and safe and proper management of resulting waste and materials, as well as clearing, pruning, and protection of the natural elements to be preserved.
