PLANS are afoot by Mallorca Football Club to change the skyline of Palma, and in a big way.
Although still at the drawing board stage, a project has been drafted which will alter the profile of the city and convert the district around the Son Moix sports stadium into the heart of the city. On the point of being presented to Palma City Council, the Son Moix tower is the cornerstone of the club management's dream to offer the title deeds of the Lluis Sitjar stadium to City Hall, in exchange for the go-ahead to build a commercial centre in the current Son Moix parking area. The building will be in the style of the recently inaugurated Agbar tower in Barcelona but with a more pronounced rectangular finish. With floors numbering between 20 and 30, it will be almost 100 metres high and will become the state-of-the-art structure of the Island. The property won't consist solely of flats but will contain offices and a viewing point opening onto a privileged panorama of Majorca and a revolving restaurant on the uppermost floor, similar to The View, located on the 47th floor of the Hotel Marriott Marquis in Times Square in New York. The latter is visited annually by millions of tourists to the Big Apple. Tourism is one of the key objectives behind this ambitious project. The management of the club is beginning to realise that the structure of the football industry is about as solid as a pack of cards and they are going out in search of alternative methods of financing. In order to generate funds for them to make this significant leap forward, the new Board has drawn up the makings of an ambitious project which will see the Son Moix stadium turn into a first-rate leisure centre. For the operation to be a success, the Balearic club has to resolve one of the most contentious and complex issues of its history, the future of Lluis Sitjar. The intention of Real Majorca, at least during the time that Mateu Alemany was president, was to cut its ties with the old football ground at Es Forti.
With the arrival of Vicenç Grande, a new era of negotiation was opened up with the rest of the group of owners.
Of the total of 666 names on the title deeds, Real Mallorca lays claim to 190 of them.
The club has been looking at other Spanish football associations which have opted to follow new routes of financing to ensure their survival; a case in point was the property speculation undertaken by Florentino Perez, president of Real Madrid. Other issues for the club concern the removal of the athletics track, the absence of which would allow the enlargement of the stadium to the tune of some 30'000 spectators, and making season tickets cheaper for club members. The construction of the multi-purpose stadium of San Fernando, which will include modern athletic facilities, could be the solution.
NEW SKYSCRAPER AT SON MOIX IN PALMA IS ON THE HORIZON