El Port Vell is taking advantage of the celebration of the America’s Sailing Cup to speed up projects that lead to the opening of new spaces. The plots where the bases of the six teams will be are being delivered so that next month they can begin to build with removable structures. So, 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 public use. So far, 17 immediate actions have been planned for a total value of 86 million euros (51 million public and 35 million private).
“Barcelona took a step forward with the opening of the Old Port for the Olympic Games and now the America’s Cup must begin a second phase”, emphasized yesterday the president of the Port Authority, Lluís Salvadó, during the presentation of the action package. The work, which is concentrated in the docks of Spain, Barcelona, ??Pescadors, Drassanes and the area of ??the new mouth, is done in record time, since the designation of the Catalan capital as the venue for this sporting event is produced in March of last year. To speed them up, the Port Vell urban management, led by David Pino since January 1, has been given more powers and resources. And the coordination office for the America’s Cup has also been strengthened.
At the Port of Spain, the old Cinesa cinemas have already been demolished, an operation that cost 265,000 euros. The space he has left free will house the base of the Swiss team, and will then become a public square, marking the start of a wider redevelopment that will be undertaken from 2025 to connect this area with the Fusta pier 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 of this building and its theatre, which has been closed since 2014. It is expected that 1.5 million people will visit it. This equipment requires an investment of 4.6 million, it 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 has begun (17 million), which is expected to be finished by the end of the year.
Another area that is being transformed is that of the new estuary, where construction has begun on the raised embankment above the docks (1.9 million) that will culminate in a building called Mirador, in which there will be a public terrace with spectacular views over the Old Port, 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 port warehouses of the Eastern pier will also be rehabilitated. The works, about to start, will cost 5.7 million. In addition, the esplanade that was partly intended for the failed Hermitage will be adapted. Its provisional development – ??it will be asphalted, lit, landscaped and connected to its surroundings – will be maintained until new building projects are awarded.
To link the pier of Drassanes (Portal de la Pau) with that of Llevant (area of ??the new mouth) a regular nautical bus line will be created, an old project that will finally see the light of day. The board of directors of the port expects to approve it during next month’s meeting 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, ??Spain, Pescadors, the Marina del Port Vell and the heliport. The boats used must run on renewable energy. It will be ready for the America’s Cup and then it will be maintained.
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 via an elevated walkway from which the activity can be seen, and the redevelopment of the area, which is expected to end in February (7.6 million); the urbanization of the Drassanes wharf, where the base of the New Zealand team will be installed and which will entail the transfer, this April, of the Baleària operation (2 million), or the rehabilitation of the historic headquarters of the Port Authority at Portal de la Pau (17.3 million), which expects to have the facade ready in the summer of 2024 and open in 2025 as an information center for the port.
