JAMES
DEBONO
jdebono@mediatoday.com.mt
12
maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 3 SEPTEMBER 2025
NEWS
10-storey hotel
proposed next
to Augustinian
convent in
Paceville
A ten-storey hotel is being pro-
posed instead of a villa and its
extensive green grounds in the
vicinity of St Rita's chapel and
the Augustinian Convent in
Paceville.
The proposed hotel is less
than 40 metres away from the
top entrance of Villa Rosa. The
area is considered a part of
Swieqi.
The chapel, the convent and
Villa Rosa are listed as heritage
buildings, but they are now sur-
rounded by sprawling develop-
ment in an area once defined by
low-storey villas.
The villas are rapidly disap-
pearing amidst the relentless
expansion of the Paceville en-
tertainment district.
The 12-storey Hyatt Regency
Malta, just metres down from
the proposed new development,
was approved on land owned by
the Augustinian Order in 2018.
The Hyatt had been approved
despite concerns raised by the
Superintendence for Cultural
Heritage and the Archdiocese
of Malta.
Another eleven-storey hotel,
currently under construction,
was approved in 2021 in place
of another nearby villa.
If the new hotel is approved,
it will bring the entertainment
district even closer to Villa Ro-
sa.
The latest development, pro-
posed by Albert Henry Xuereb,
would consist of a 93-bedroom
hotel built on 10 floors above
ground, with five levels below
ground, including a rooftop
pool and complementary ancil-
lary facilities.
The villa marked in red where a 10-storey hotel is being proposed
