Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1496383
9 NEWS maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 5 APRIL 2023 Iconic Savoy Hotel to get two new floors and adjacent six-storey business centre JAMES DEBONO PLANS have been submitted for the development of a business centre on the site of the former Savoy Hotel on top of Rue D' Ar- gens hill in Sliema. The building was granted Grade 2 protection status by the Planning Authority in 2018. The plans submitted by Jean Marc Montanaro, a director of Exalco Properties Ltd, envisage four basement parking levels, a cafeteria on ground floor level and six overlying office floors, including two receded floors on top of the old building and a six-floor extension over an annex building which will be demolished. The plans also envisage the restoration of the existing di- lapidated Savoy Hotel main building and the demolition of both the derelict 'annex' and the disused fuel station within the same site. The project also entails the restoration of a boundary wall and gates and the transforma- tion of the front garden area into a pedestrianised terraced square. Photomontages presented by the developers indicate that the development will be some- what bulkier but will have the same height as adjacent devel- opments. The derelict Savoy Hotel had been sold off for a whopping €12.8 million during an auction held in September 2022. The winning bid was made by Almo Properties Limited, one of the shareholders of the building. The former Savoy Hotel, with its multi-faceted bay windows, is a landmark building at the top of Rue D'Argens that has been abandoned for years. The area is still known by the name of the former hotel today. Project entails restoration of scheduled hotel and its gates and boundary walls, the addition of two receded f loors over the existing building and the demolition of an annex which will be replaced by offices Photomontages showing projected development (right) compared to existing views