Valletta Luxury Properties presents highest bid for Evans Buildings with €78 million offer

Valletta Luxury Properties offers €78 million for Evans Building, making it the highest bid for the public building that dominates lower Valletta

Evan's Building
Evan's Building
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Valletta Luxury Properties has offered €78 million for Evans Building, making it the highest bid for the public building that dominates lower Valletta.

The consortium includes a Maltese hospitality company based in St Julian’s and a high quality foreign hospitality company.

Last week, it was reported that Katari, another bidder, was the top bidder, but BusinessToday can now confirm that Valletta Luxury Properties had the highest bid with a €78 million offer, or €1.2 million a year for 65 years – the length of the concession period. 

Katari spearheaded by Pawlu Attard formerly of GAP has offered €41 million.

The next highest bid of €39 million was made by Iconic Hotel Malta.

Other bids were made by HV Hospitality (€24 million), AX Group (€23 million), and SeaBank Hotel (€21 million).

The Evans Building was formerly known as Evans Laboratories and housed the public health laboratories and several other government offices before being abandoned a few years ago.

The concession is being handled by Malta Strategic Partnership Projects, a government entity responsible for public private partnership.

The four-storey building was built in 1952 to serve as university laboratories and was subsequently used to house a number of government offices, including the Electoral Commission and the passport office.

The site also includes the lost remains of the Chapel of Bones, which is located beneath the ground. The request for proposals was meant to gauge interest from the private sector for a 65-year concession to transform the building into tourist accommodation.

Development on the Evans Building site is presently regulated by the St Elmo and Environs Development Brief 2011, which allows the consideration of total redevelopment of this site. Nevertheless, a decision has been made to retain the external shell of the Evans building while allowing interior modifications.

The concession period is set for 65 years with a minimum initial investment of €13 million and multiple reinvestments along the concession period.

The terms also include the potential restoration of the underground structures within the first part of the concession period. The annual ground rent has been fixed at €146,000.

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