Six businesses located in the Moda Shopping shopping center under the Mapfre Tower in Barcelona’s Olympic Port are under threat. The court case, which has been ongoing since 2019, predicts that restaurants in the area will be evicted between December and January after the Olympic concession ends. Roger Paralors, general director of Barcelona’s Gremi de Restaurant, together with some of the 120 affected employees, signed a letter on Monday to Barcelona’s mayor, Jaume Corboni, asking him to mediate the dispute with the state, which owns the space. “The state wants to auction it off and sell it to the highest bidder. Since then, restorers have been trying to find a solution for its continuation,” Paralles said.
The affected companies, Barnavier, La Rotonda, Barcelona, Faruzzi, Pato Beijing and Burger King, employ more than 120 people. “It makes no sense for the city council to ignore this space just because the owner is the state. Why is something like this happening next door? port olympic The sector is proposing a “consensual and coherent solution” that will allow it to continue in its space, the Gremi director insisted during an appearance.
Barcelona City Council officials explained that the city council has already conveyed to the state the importance of seeking future solutions for this space within the framework of the city’s efforts to renew and improve the Olympic Port. It added that the two governments agree on “the need to ensure that currently closed facilities resume operations as soon as possible and ensure legal certainty.”
The site for the shopping center was opened in 1993, but after the concession was terminated, it was left unused without a contract in place. Only six restaurants remain open, with evictions scheduled for December and January. “Today, the City Council has an opportunity to intervene to find a solution that doesn’t involve eviction,” Parallos said.
The dispute dates back to 2019, when the administrative concession based on the restaurant’s operation was terminated. According to their report, the state did not in any case grant the right of preferential acquisition, contrary to what was offered to the sites of the 12 naval fronts. Mr. Paralors appealed to the “influence” of Barcelona’s city council ahead of the central government, and ruled out asking the Generalitat for mediation, but made it clear that “any help would be welcome.” “No one wins if this space remains empty,” he warned.
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