Malaga frees up Astoria plot for Fundación Unicaja's future headquarters

The plot for the construction of the Unicaja foundation's headquarters on the former site of the Astoria and Victoria cinemas in Malaga's Plaza de la Merced is now available.

After more than a year of discussions and procedures between Unicaja and the city council, the local government has successfully navigated the main obstacle preventing the transfer of the land for this purpose: the termination of the contract with the Barcelona-based architecture firm that won the competition to design the municipal performing arts centres intended for this prime location.

The municipal urban planning department has reached an agreement with Barozzi Veiga to cancel the contract in exchange for financial compensation for the work the architects had completed between August 2024 and February 2025, when Mayor Francisco de la Torre announced the possibility of transferring the Astoria site to Fundación Unicaja for its headquarters.

However, it wasn't until a year later that the procedures for terminating the contract with Barozzi Veiga actually started. That was also when the city council approved a memorandum of understanding with Fundación Unicaja for the transfer of the Astoria site and declared this action to be of general municipal interest. Furthermore, the foundation committed to increasing its financial support for various cultural activities in the city.

On 3 February, Barozzi Veiga sent a letter to the urban planning department inquiring about the status of the 235,407-euro commission it had been awarded and that the city council had suspended.

A month later, on 6 March, the architecture and infrastructure department issued a proposed settlement of the contract with the Barcelona architects. Based on the work completed before the suspension in February 2025, the municipal department calculated a compensation of 46,759 euros for the preliminary studies and 11,318 euros for the contract's suspension of more than eight months. The proposal also stipulated the return of a 9,727-euro guarantee the architecture firm had submitted.

Two weeks later, Barozzi Veiga sent a letter to urban planning accepting this financial compensation, as well as the cancellation of the contract.

The Astoria site is therefore free from the architectural contract that prevented its transfer to Unicaja for the foundation's new headquarters project. Unicaja intends to acquire this land through a 75-year concession to construct a building that would house its headquarters as well as cultural activities in the fields of visual arts, literature, theater and live music.

With the premise of respecting and enhancing the archaeological remains in the subsoil, Unicaja intends to select an internationally renowned architecture firm to develop "a cutting-edge project" to integrate them into the landscape.

The document outlines the objective of constructing a building, which could cost around 30 million euros, with a ground floor plus three floors and an attic. It will include a modular auditorium for up to 500 people, with a surface area of 1,800 square metres.

Additionally, the plan includes 350 square metres for the headquarters, 700 square metres for the cultural activities department and two exhibition spaces of 500 square metres each.

In addition, the plans include an exhibition space on the terrace of up to 440 square metres, a 200-square-metre café on the rooftop and two multipurpose spaces or workshops of 200 square metres each, among other uses. In the basement, where the archaeological remains will be preserved, Unicaja plans an immersive 200-square-metre exhibition space, along with a multifunctional space for 100 people that can serve as a conference or press room.

Deputy spokesperson for the Con Málaga municipal group Toni Morillas reiterated her party's stance that the Astoria site should remain free of construction and that the archaeological remains discovered there should be properly showcased.

"We want to create an open Plaza de la Merced, with unobstructed views of our Alcazaba and Gibralfaro, and to preserve the archaeological sites by creating an accessible space to share the city's history through an interpretation centre. Our proposal involves expanding Plaza de la Merced," Morillas said.

She criticised Francisco de la Torre for changing his stance regarding the future of the Astoria site. This project is the fourth proposed for this plot, which the city council purchased in 2010 for 20.7 million euros.

Over the past 15 years, the urban planning department has considered various projects for this space, including actor Antonio Banderas's theatre, a building for bars and restaurants above an underground auditorium and a municipal performing arts centre.