The db Group has applied to increase the height of the two already approved residential towers on the former Institute of Tourism Studies (ITS) site in Pembroke.
The company wants to add seven and six floors respectively to each of the two towers, currently under construction.
This will mean that the proposed towers will increase in height from the approved 17 and 18 floors to 23 and 25 floors, respectively. No additional height is being proposed for the approved 12-storey hotel, which will be a Hard Rock franchise.
If approved, these changes will result in an additional 82 apartments over and above the approved 162.
The Institute of Tourism Studies (ITS) site in Pembroke was transferred to db Group as part of a controversial land deal approved by parliament in 2017. The agreement granted the company a 99-year concession to redevelop the prime seafront location into a mixed-use project for a total of 鈧60 million, with only 鈧15 million being paid upfront.
The latest changes requested by db represent the third modification in height for the development. Originally, the project was proposed as a 38-storey tower and a 17-storey hotel, but the permit for this development was later revoked by the law courts.
Subsequently, the company put forward new plans in April 2020 that reduced the size of the residential tower to 31 floors.
A few months later the plans were changed again to accommodate two towers鈥攐ne of 17 floors and another of 18 floors, apart from the hotel. At the time, the db Group said it had 鈥渓istened and acted鈥 after public and institutional feedback, by voluntarily lowering the height and splitting the original tower into two. The company argued this created larger open spaces, reduced excavation by some 58,000 cubic metres, integrated historic structures, and lessened disruption to surrounding residents and traffic.
This proposal was granted approval by the Planning Board in 2021 by a slim majority of five votes to three.
Following the latest application, the Environment and Resources Authority has requested a statement from the Environmental Impact Assessment coordinator to outline whether the proposed changes are likely to affect any of the findings of the previous study. Transport Malta has also asked for more information on how the additional apartments will impact traffic.