Green light for major refurb of emblematic Costa del Sol hotel closed for 13 years
The town hall has approved the building permit for work to the Incosol, with an investment of 87.4 million euros
Fifty-two years after its opening and more than thirteen years after its closure, Marbella's Incosol hotel looks set to reopen its doors. The town hall approved the licence for the refurbishment, renovation and extension of the hotel during a council meeting on Tuesday 14 October. Although it has an initial investment of 87.41 million euros, a modification of the project could lead to the final figure being in excess of 150 million euros.
The hotel will continue to be a five-star resort with a health clinic. It will have 168 rooms, 140 of which will be for medical purposes and 28 as a hotel, according to the information provided by the mayor of Marbella, Ángeles Muñoz. It will have aesthetic, wellness, health and longevity areas, in which advanced techniques will be applied, in a building that will also be intelligent and sustainable.
The new Incosol will have 21,300 square metres of wellness facilities, 6,100 square metres of five-star hotel and another 34,000 square metres will be used for open and green spaces and a swimming pool
The project to reopen the Incosol, which was presented in April 2023 at the Real Casino de Madrid, has been in the pipeline for years. In fact, the licence approved by the town hall on Tuesday is the third of its kind, so that this "pioneering hotel dedicated to health" can reopen its doors, in the words of Muñoz.
The first licence was given to remove asbestos and the second to carry out the demolition of the building's interiors, as the building will maintain its structure to "continue to have the essence and spirit" of the old Incosol. In order for the work to begin, the developers must first present the project plans and it is estimated that the duration of the work will be between 18 and 24 months.
Located on a 47,000-square-metre plot in the Río Real residential area, the new Incosol will have 21,300 square metres of health facilities, 6,100 square metres of five-star hotel and a further 34,000 square metres for open and green areas and a swimming pool.
"We are going to recover an icon of Marbella and reinforce our leadership as a reference destination in wellness and advanced health"
The mayor welcomed the arrival of this "strategic project" which "will recover an icon of Marbella, reinforcing the town's leadership as a leading destination in wellness and advanced medicine", as well as in the chapter of luxury hotels, where it is already the Andalusian town with the most five-star hotel rooms. "The town will soon add a new world reference in the hotel-health sector, as we are talking about a major investment that will generate employment and attract international talent, strengthening the positioning of the Marbella brand in this area," stressed the mayor.
With this project Muñoz said, "we continue to promote a model based on quality, innovation and the creation of opportunities," adding, "This ambitious project recovers the essence of Incosol, which is part of the town's history and is now being modernised to continue being an icon in the future."
From a marquis to a count
If the hotel was developed by the Marquis of Villaverde, Cristóbal Martínez-Bordiú, cardiologist, surgeon and son-in-law of Franco and was inaugurated on 6 April 1973 by the dictator,
On 17 April 1973 Stewart Granger, the star of 'King Solomon's Mines', became the hotel's first guest and he was followed by, among many others, Prince Rainier of Monaco and Princess Grace Kelly, Sean Connery, Camilo José Cela, King Fahd and, as immortalised by Joaquín Sabina in one of his songs, a celebrity surnamed Onassis: "Cris, Cris, Cristina, runs an office sitting by the pool at Incosol". The hotel closed its doors under the name of Incosol Hotel Medical Spa on 1 April 2012 when it was owned by Inmobiliaria Amuerga after going into receivership.
