Work on the Club de Mar in Palma, Mallorca

Redevelopment will make the club open to the city. | Club de Mar

Andrew EdePalma22/12/2024 18:38
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Club de Mar in Palma was founded in 1972. The aim was to attract yachts from the Côte d'Azur, and so started a process that will now mean accommodating vessels of up to 170 metres. They would still be unusual, but investment of more than 50 million euros has factored in size. The number of moorings for the new Club de Mar has in fact been cut from 575 to 543.

Completion of work is expected during the first quarter of 2025, the current concession lasting until 2044. A request for its extension was made in 2014, the club's director, José Luis Arrom, saying that redevelopment as part of this extension was in the general and strategic interest of the Balearics. It is a "megaproject" that the State Ports endorsed.

Going is the Pelaires bridge, which is to be demolished; another aspect of the work being carried out on the Paseo Marítimo. New buildings will house a social club, a disco club with a capacity of 700, shops and restaurants. A "big name" in gastronomy will be in charge of an international cuisine restaurant; the name, for now, is not being revealed.

One of the main changes is that the barriers have been removed so that the club is now open to the port, the city and the people of Palma. Among the innovations is a system for collecting dirty water and so avoid it being dumped into the sea.

The cost for all this, Arrom explains, is higher than had originally been contemplated. "An increase of thirty per cent", the reasons being delays to the granting of the building licence and the rise in the price of building materials. But it will have been worth it for what is a radical change to the club's appearance.