Port Vell is taking advantage of the celebration of the America’s Cup of sailing to accelerate projects that involve the opening of new spaces. The plots where the bases of the six teams will be located are being handed over so that construction can begin next month with removable structures. Thus, from June they can be used for training, which will last for more than a year. After the competition, which will open on August 22, 2024, these areas will remain for citizen use. Up to that date, 17 immediate actions have been planned for a combined value of 86 million euros (51 million public and 35 million private).
“Barcelona took a leap forward with the opening of Port Vell for the Olympic Games and now the America’s Cup has to start a second phase”, highlighted this Wednesday the president of the Port Authority, Lluís Salvadó. The works, which are concentrated in the docks of Espanya, Barcelona, ??Pescadors, Drassanes and the area of ??the new entrance, are carried out in record time, since the designation of the Catalan capital as the venue for this sporting event took place in March of last year. To expedite them, the urban management of Port Vell, led since January 1 by David Pino, has been endowed with more powers and resources. And the coordination office for the America’s Cup has also been strengthened.
The old Cinesa cinemas have already been demolished on the Espanya dock, an operation that cost 265,000 euros. The base of the Swiss team will be located in the space that has been vacated and will later become a public square, which will mark the beginning of a broader redevelopment that will be undertaken from 2025 to connect this area with the Fusta wharf and Via Laietana. Next door, the Imax will be converted into the America’s Cup House, where this great nautical event will be explained to the people of Barcelona through virtual, fun and informative experiences, taking advantage of the spaces in this building and its theatre, which has been closed since 2014. It is expected visited by 1.5 million people. This facility requires an investment of 4.6 million, will open this June and will be open until January 2025. The Liceu Mar project, which will be built right there, will be left for after the competition. Also in this area, the remodeling of the Maremagnum shopping center (17 million) has begun, which is expected to be completed by the end of the year.
Another area that is being transformed is that of the new entrance, where construction has begun on the elevated boulevard above the docks (1.9 million) that will culminate in the Mirador building where there will be a public terrace with spectacular views on Port Vell, a restaurant and an exhibition area dedicated to the breakwater, in which 3 million are invested. Both performances will be ready in October. In this area, the sheds of the Eastern dock will also be rehabilitated. The works, about to begin, will cost 5.7 million. In addition, the esplanade that was partly going to be for the failed Hermitage will be adapted. Its provisional urbanization –it will be paved, illuminated, landscaped and connected with its surroundings– will remain until new building projects are awarded.
A regular nautical bus line will be created to link the Drassanes quay (Portal de la Pau) with the Llevant quay (new entrance area), an old project that will finally see the light of day. The administration council of the port expects to approve it next month with a budget of 1.1 million. Its exploitation will be done through a private concession. It will be a service designed to decongest land transport. Initially, it has been planned to have optional stops at the docks of Barcelona, ??Espanya, Pescadors, at the Marina del Port Vell and at the heliport. The boats used must be powered by renewable energy. It will be ready for the Copa del América and then it will continue.
Among the other actions planned in this short-term investment package, the construction of the new fishermen’s market stands out, which will be accessed by means of an elevated walkway from which it will be possible to see the activity, and the redevelopment of the surroundings, which will be they plan to finish in February (7.6 million); the development of the Drassanes wharf, where the New Zealand team will be based and which will mean the transfer, this April, of the Baleària operation (2 million), or the rehabilitation of the historic headquarters of the Port Authority in the Portal de la Pau (17.3 million), which plans to have the façade ready in the summer of 2024 to open in 2025 as a center for the dissemination of the port.
