The Torrevieja Municipal Socialist Group (PSOE) has accused the local government, led by Eduardo Dolón, of failing to protect the town’s municipal heritage.
The opposition group raised the alarm after learning that the local authority has initiated a file to act on a protected municipal building located at number 20 Calle Azorín. However, the Socialists warn that the proposed plans are incompatible with preserving the historic property as it currently stands. They express concern that the ultimate goal may be to demolish it and build a new structure, drawing comparisons to the previous demolition of the “building of the Monjas”.
The building has been in municipal ownership since 2011 but has suffered from a lack of maintenance. The PSOE spokesman, Bárbara Soler, criticised the administration for allowing public buildings to fall into disrepair whilst spending hundreds of thousands of euro renting and refurbishing private properties for municipal offices.
A clash over building dimensions
According to municipal documents reviewed by the PSOE, the existing historic building consists of only a ground floor and a single upper floor. In contrast, the project currently being drafted by the Council proposed a basement, a ground floor, three upper floors, and a penthouse.
“The question is very simple,” Soler said. “How do you restore a building that has a ground floor and one upper floor to turn it into another with a basement, a ground floor, three floors, and a penthouse? What we are criticising is precisely this contradiction. As it is proposed, it is very difficult to see how this action is compatible with conserving the protected building we know today.”
The Socialists state that whilst they cannot confirm the final structural solution the Council will choose, the scale of the proposed transformation is highly alarming. They fear the local government will use years of municipal neglect and the resulting poor state of the property to justify a complete redevelopment.
Historical significance
According to Torrevieja’s official chronicler, Francisco Sala, the 319-square-metre building was constructed at the end of the 19th century by local merchant Ramón Samper, a member of the local bourgeoisie linked to the coastal shipping trade.
Over the decades, the property has held a significant place in the town’s collective memory:
- It initially housed the popular Bazar El Siglo, a landmark local shop selling high-quality imported goods.
- The ground floor was later leased by the Nueva Compañía de Salinas de Torrevieja to serve as the headquarters for a company social group (Agrupación de Educación y Descanso del Grupo de Empresa).
- For years, residents visited the site to buy traditional turrón ahead of Christmas.
- It later became the headquarters for the pensioners’ association (Asociación de Jubilados Unión Democrática de Pensionistas) before its final commercial use as a small bazaar.
Its historical value was officially recognised when it was included in the catalogue of protected buildings under the 1986 General Plan.
Political friction over past management
In response to frequent criticisms from the Partido Popular (PP) regarding the coalition government that managed the town hall between 2015 and 2019, the Socialists countered that the period was heavily restricted by a strict Economic-Financial Plan inherited from a prior PP administration. This plan legally forced the council to prioritise debt reduction and restricted municipal investment.
Soler pointed out that the coalition government left the town hall in a healthy financial position, entirely debt-free and with a treasury surplus of nearly 70 million euro.
“They cannot continue to hide behind a coalition government from eight years ago to justify the abandonment of municipal heritage,” Soler concluded. “Torrevieja deserves a government that conserves its history, not one that lets heritage deteriorate until the only solution offered is a completely different building.”
