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Date Published: 02/08/2022

ARCHIVED - The Lagomar ghost building in San Javier will finally be demolished over a decade later

ARCHIVED ARTICLE

Eyesore in La Manga will be slowly dismantled piece by piece over the next six months to avoid damaging the environment

<span style='color:#780948'>ARCHIVED</span> - The Lagomar ghost building in San Javier will finally be demolished over a decade later

The Lagomar building, the so-called ‘edificio fantasma’ or ghost building in San Javier, could finally be demolished after the summer.

The demolition project of the Lagomar already has the requisite permits from the regional authorities to dismantle the unfinished tower.

The only thing missing is the approval of the Coastal Demarcation organisation ‘Costas’ to take the building down.

The Lagomar building began to be erected 50 years ago but was never completed, passing from one owner to another and falling into a state of disrepair in the meantime.

Back in 2011, then Mayor of San Javier Juan Martínez Pastor ordered the building be demolished as it “made this area of the Mar Menor look so ugly”, but the demolition never happened.

Now, more than 10 years later, responsibility for taking down the building has passed to the company Intramanga Turística, a limited company owned by the lawyer and heir to one of the most influential dynasties in the Region of Murcia, Tomás Maestre.

Heir to the once-vast Tío Lobo fortune (of which hardly anything remains), Tomás Maestre will invest 679,000 euros in removing the concrete skeleton of the Lagomar building. Curiously, the building – which is identical to the Doblemar Hotel – was originally going to be constructed by businessman Tomás Maestre 50 years ago.

San Javier Town Hall has declared the building to be in a state of ruin, and a technical report even showed that it is having a negative influence on the surrounding environment.

Furthermore, the Doblemar hotel has been forced to lower the price of its rooms which face onto the abandoned building because it is such an eyesore.

However, the demolition work will not be easy or quick. There will be no spectacular blasting, shovelling or explosions. Rather, in order to avoid damage to the environment, especially to the Mar Menor and the adjoining Doblemar hotel, the project to take down the building will be carried out by progressively cutting off each of its eleven floors. These will be dismantled piece by piece in a spiral from top to bottom, with the help of specialised machines and cranes.

It is estimated that it will take about six months to remove the old concrete structure.

See also: San Javier and other Mar Menor towns will have bus connections to Corvera aiport

Image: Google Maps

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