Marbella’s La Cañada will soon cement its position as the largest shopping centre in Malaga province, after the council finally approved a long-delayed expansion plan adding more than 20,000sqm of retail space.
The Local Government Board this week granted the €12 million building permit, which will net the municipality around €500,000 in associated taxes.
Two weeks earlier, the board also approved extra spaces in a new underground car park.
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The works – to be located next to the FNAC entrance – will boost the centre’s footprint from 100,000 to 120,000m², though no start date has been confirmed.
‘This is a legal and technical green light that expands the town’s commercial offering,’ said council spokesman Felix Romero.
Built during the GIL era, La Cañada has long battled irregular planning approvals.
Two of its three phases were constructed outside current regulations, sparking decades of disputes over how to legalise them.
In 2019, a planned Primark store promising 200 jobs was blocked when the council denied a permit, citing the 2010 General Plan.
The developer began work anyway, prompting a stop order and fine. Courts later sided with the council.
That deadlock broke when the city amended its urban plan to allow interior expansions that don’t alter a building’s exterior. Under the now-active 1986 PGOM, the La Cañada project can finally proceed.
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