Tomás Olivo, owner of La Cañada in Marbella, takes the first step towards building a large shopping centre in Malaga
The sixth-richest businessman in the country begins the process of transforming the Azucarera site
After years in the pipeline, businessman Tomás Olivo - owner of La Cañada in Marbella and numerous shopping centres across Spain - has taken the first steps towards building a major commercial complex in Malaga city.
The centre is planned for the Azucarera plot, which sits between Avenida de Velázquez and the MA-22. This site connects the Azucarera-Intelhorce axis with the Martín Carpena area and the western seafront. As confirmed by SUR, Olivo’s company, General de Galerías Comerciales, has submitted documentation to the municipal urban planning department to reclassify the land for commercial use.
Currently, Malaga’s General Urban Development Plan (PGOU), approved in 2011, retains the previous 1997 classification for this site. This designates the land for business (industrial) use, alongside a green zone near the MA-22 junction. To proceed, Olivo requires a formal amendment to convert this zoning status from business to commercial.
This modification involves a complex bureaucratic process, including a regional environmental assessment that typically takes one to two years. Despite this timeline, the project design is well underway. It features a collaboration between the studio of local architect Ángel Asenjo and Chapman Taylor, a prestigious British firm established in 1959 known for designing shopping centres in the UK and Qatar.
Olivo selected this long-vacant plot for its prime location in one of the city’s fastest-growing districts. Adjacent to the Málaga Nostrum centre, the area is undergoing revitalization with the arrival of Costco, a new campus for Alfonso X El Sabio university, and a planned Rafa Nadal-branded racquet centre developed by Sierra Blanca. Additionally, new high-end residential developments continue to rise in the nearby La Térmica and El Pato areas.
Current plans indicate the project will cover approximately 65,000 square metres. The complex will feature a ground floor plus two upper levels (reaching three stories in some sections) and nearly 20,000 square metres of green space.
Representing an investment of over €150 million, the centre will house retail shops, a supermarket, and a cinema. Two large basement levels will provide parking for roughly 3,000 vehicles.
While developers hope to fast-track approval and complete the project within three to four years, the necessary zoning change remains a significant hurdle dependent on the environmental review by the regional ministry of sustainability.
One of the main handicaps of the project is the saturation of traffic in the area
One of the main obstacles for this project is traffic, as the site is located next to a main road whereheavy congestion often occurs during peak hours.
The promoters of the project have carried out a traffic study and proposed the creation of roads to channel the traffic that could be generated by this large surface area. However, the reports issued by both the mobility department of the city council and the ministry of transport will be key.
It should be remembered that the objections of both departments have put the brakes on the approval of a new commercial extension of the Plaza Mayor centre , although its owners hope to unblock it by undertaking new road infrastructures.
The PGOU also states that, as a "potentially polluting" activity has been carried out on these soils that once housed an industrial activity, their owners "will be obliged to present a situation report when applying for a building permit for the new authorised uses in the sector". "If, on the basis of this information, the autonomous community declares the land to be contaminated for these uses, the owners will be obliged to take the necessary actions to proceed with its environmental recovery."
Olivo, the 'king' of shopping centres
For years, businessman Tomás Olivo has been aiming to open a shopping centre in the city of Malaga, a place that has so far eluded him after having built a dozen complexes in the Mediterranean and the Canary Islands. Since the construction of the La Cañada shopping centre in Marbella in 1997, Olivo's company has built nine other large shopping centres. In 1998 it started up the Mediterráneo shopping centre in Almería, and in 2000 it opened one in the Barcelona town of Mataró. In 2002, it made the leap to Almeria, with the Gran Plaza de Roquetas de Mar, and a year later it opened the Dos Mares in Murcia, where it also has La Rambla in Cartagena.
In 2008 it opened Las Dunas in the Cadiz town of Sanlúcar de Barrameda, and that same year it expanded its business to Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, where it owns Las Terrazas Outlet and El Mirador Shopping. Likewise, in 2016 it opened the Nevada centre in the municipality of Armilla, which in recent years has become one of the main commercial references in Granada.
The latest update of the 'Forbes' list placed Tomás Olivo as the best positioned businessman from Malaga (albeit by adoption), in sixth place. His estimated fortune has increased by 1.9 billion euros in the last financial year to 4.6 billion euros. Olivo was born in Murcia and has his company headquarters in Madrid, but his life and business have been linked to the Costa del Sol for decades. He is also a major shareholder and director of Unicaja Banco.
There are only two Andalusian fortunes among the 50 largest in Spain and both are in Malaga. The first is that of Olivo and the second is that of the family that owns Mayoral, headed by Manuel Domínguez de la Maza, who remains in 41st place on the list.
