The works on the project, which began two months ago, include 571 parking spaces and 8,500 square meters of sports and leisure facilities in the heart of Marbella.
The Marbella City Council and the Junta de Andalucía have given a new boost to the transformation of the África hostel grounds, a project aimed at converting a strategic space in the urban centre into a facility for local residents. The mayor, Ángeles Muñoz, and the councillor for Housing, Youth and Land Planning, Rocío Díaz, visited the works on Tuesday, which are already in the excavation and piling phase to execute the two underground levels.
The initiative, which has a municipal investment of €24.8 million, includes the construction of an underground car park with 571 spaces, of which 80 will be reserved for users of the Inturjoven hostel. The remainder will be allocated between spaces for residents in the surrounding area and a rotation pool, as explained by Muñoz.
The mayor announced that from September, they will work with residents to establish the procedure that will allow them to apply for these spaces, which will be made available to them at the direct cost of construction. For the public rotation parking, a model similar to that of other municipal car parks will be applied, with a fee of one euro for 12 hours.
“From September, we will start working alongside the residents to establish the procedure that will allow them to apply for these spaces, which will be made available to them at the direct cost of construction,” the mayor specified.
Above ground, the project reserves 8,500 square meters for sports and leisure facilities. It is planned to have two 7-a-side football pitches, a multi-sport court for basketball, futsal, handball, volleyball, tennis, and badminton, as well as lawns, trees, areas for outdoor activities, and six picnic tables. A support building for the sports facilities, a drop-off area, and a space for loading and unloading buses on Avenida del Trapiche will also be established.
Councillor Rocío Díaz highlighted the cooperation between administrations to advance the initiative. “It is necessary to combine efforts and seek consensus to improve the lives of residents,” she stated, and argued that “all public land should serve the citizens.”
The Inturjoven hostel, in addition to the 80 parking spaces, will have preferential use of the multi-sport court and its adjacent building during certain time slots, as well as priority in recreational areas during Holy Week and the summer season. The project will also house a new office for the Andalusian Employment Service.
Díaz specified that the facilities of the hostel accommodated 3,884 people between January 1 and August 20 of this year, more than half of whom are under 26 years old, and received guests from 55 nationalities.
The deadline set in the contract is 30 months, although the awarded company has indicated the possibility of expediting it. The City Council's goal is for the project to be completed between late 2027 and early 2028.
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