Second Portelli-linked Xlendi development eyes 14-floor hotel on seafront

A second application on the Xlendi sea-front linked to Gozitan developer Joseph Portelli has been filed for a 14-floor hotel that will tower over the popular bay. 

The space is currently occupied by the Xlendi Hotel, a four-storey building that is slated for demolition after the Planning Authority approved an application for the first phase of the project last year. 

NGO Moviment Graffitti had publicly opposed the project, saying that it was clear that the demolition application intended to herald a much greater development that is not in harmony with the surroundings and would ruin the character of Xlendi bay. 

However, the PA’s case officer dismissed the objections on the basis that they were concerned with the second part of the project and were irrelevant to the application at hand and recommended it for approval. 

The new application, PA/05500/22, will take up a tract of 846 square metres in Triq San Xmun and Triq il-Punici in Xlendi. The four-star hotel will have 88 rooms, four basement levels, 14 above-ground levels and will include a pool at roof level as well as an indoor pool. 

The Environment Resources Authority said that while it had no objection to the construction...