The Madrid City Council has transferred the main buildings of the Quinta de Torre Arias to the Bank of Spain for 75 years. A local platform has challenged the decree, arguing that the project needs clearer guarantees.
The Madrid City Council has ceded the main buildings of the Quinta de Torre Arias to the Bank of Spain for 75 years, as reported by El Salto. The institution will invest around 26 million euros to rehabilitate buildings that have been unused for nearly fifty years.
The Civic Platform Quinta de Torre Arias has filed an appeal against the transfer decree. Its spokesperson, Daniel Liébana, a municipal gardener at the estate, clarifies that they do not oppose the project:
“We do not want to halt the project; what we want is to improve it.”
The estate, covering 18 hectares and classified as a Asset of Cultural Interest, came into municipal hands through inheritance from the Countess of Torre Arias, who passed away in 2012, with the commitment to designate it as a public park. For four centuries, it was dedicated to agriculture and livestock.
The appeal questions the fragmentation of the complex, which is contrary to its Special Protection Plan, and the lack of economic, environmental, and heritage reports. It also challenges the exemption from fees and a 75-year term without sufficient justification. According to the platform, as they are involved in the file, they did not have a deadline for objections.
“There are still very important urban and heritage decisions to be made.”
Liébana warns that the file includes a new special protection plan and a change of use, aspects that were revealed in early September, with the bidding published in mid-August.
The platform is part of a Citizen Front with three other entities from the district and combines legal action with negotiation. The project includes Espacio Eureka, an educational, exhibition, and interactive centre for financial education, as well as a training centre. The gardens would remain open to the public, and the Bank of Spain would take on their maintenance.
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