Malaga's Club Mediterráneo secures 30-year concession and major transformation

The concession covers a plot of 12,102 square metres, including the clubhouse, offices, swimming pools, sports courts, restaurants and other ancillary buildings.

Founded in 1873, Real Club Mediterráneo has drawn up a comprehensive strategic plan to modernise its facilities, ease pressure on its historic site and finance the 30-year extension to its concession.

Under president Antonio Manuel Díaz Villalta, the club, which has 113 employees, more than 3,700 members and over 4,300 people taking part in its sporting activities, is now embarking on the transformation. In theory, the plan will allow the club to freeze membership fees for existing members.

The plan will involve a total budget of nine million euros. Of this, 3.12 million will go towards the initial fee for the concession extension, almost four million towards priority repairs and maintenance at the club's facilities and two million towards developing infrastructure for the marina at the port’s eastern breakwater.

To keep the club financially viable without raising membership fees, its strategy relies on increasing revenue from its facilities, particularly the 12,000 square metres of marina space at the eastern breakwater. It also plans to recruit 800 new members, increasing its membership from 3,700 to 4,500.

The club will bring in the 800 new members in three stages. The first will focus mainly on former members and members' children, particularly people between the ages of 35 and 45 with family responsibilities. The club expects this group to account for half of the target.

The second stage will open membership to the immediate families of existing members. The third will target sporting members, who will receive discounts on the joining fee based on how long they have been affiliated with the club. Once the club reaches its target membership, the management will restore the usual joining fees, creating a financial barrier to regulate access.

To prevent the historic La Malagueta site from becoming overcrowded (it currently accounts for 90 per cent of the club's social and sporting activity) the strategy will redistribute activities across the club's two sites, which together cover 25,000 square metres.

The marina site will host the more intensive activities and target a younger audience. The club plans to build a restaurant in the style of a traditional tasca overlooking the dock, together with a beach bar and a sun-lounger area on the pier.

For sports, a new building will cater for activities such as CrossFit and Hyrox, with changing rooms and an outdoor area. A recently completed structure will house two gyms of more than 400 square metres each: one for general use and another dedicated to elite sport.

The facilities will also include a nautical training school and an auditorium in an existing building. From April to November, the club will install a natural seawater swimming pool in the dock, enclosed by four-metre-deep protective nets.

The traditional clubhouse will undergo a reorganisation focused on the comfort of senior members. The refurbishment of the aquatic facilities will begin with repairs to the indoor pool roof, due to finish by the end of September. The club will then renovate and heat the outdoor pool so members can use it during the winter, while keeping the water at its natural temperature during the summer.

The following spring, the club will turn the indoor gym into a sports centre adapted for older people, offering activities such as Pilates, aquagym, tai chi, balance training and functional rehabilitation. The aim is also to provide older members with their own dedicated social space.

During the same meeting, Port Authority president Carlos Rubio announced that the new freight transport terminal at Los Prados had begun operating.

Following the completion of the site works and the installation of cargo-handling equipment, the terminal now has 23,622.17 square metres of asphalted surface, perimeter fencing, road access, a vehicle storage area and basic lighting, water and electricity services.

The new facility forms part of the Malaga Port's logistics expansion strategy in response to rising operational demand, which has been affected by the geopolitical situation in the Middle East. Its opening will allow containers to be stored, repaired and cleaned outside the port itself, easing pressure on the Noatum terminal and making better use of its operational space.

Finally, the port authority's governing body formally recognised the work of the port police during the shooting incident at Muelle Uno on 22 September. The board highlighted the force's professionalism and its key contribution to security within the port.

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