Corte Inglés has filed a lawsuit against Promocións Urbanísticos de Mataró (PUMSA), the public company of the capital of Maresme, to declare null and void the contract of sale signed between both companies for the construction of a large-scale shopping center on the plot of former Fàbregas and Caralt factory.
The global distribution group requests the return of the amounts invested to execute the project, including the price it once paid for the purchase of the plot, 24 million euros. A demand that the Mataró government considers unfounded since, as detailed in a statement, “it had the opportunity to build since 2012 and has always looked for an excuse to delay its responsibility.” They also report that "they have always sought the approval of the City Council to sell the property to third parties."
The business group considers that the nullity of the contract is motivated by the ruling of the Superior Court of Justice (TSJC) that requires the restitution of the architectural elements of the old factory in their original location, despite the municipal maneuver to dismantle and move the factory outside the plot to make viable the construction of the center, which was planned as a commercial locomotive in the capital of the region.
The fact that the court decision forces the factory to be restored to its original site, according to El Corte Inglés sources, “makes it impossible to execute the project in accordance with what was agreed in the purchase and sale contract,” becoming, they claim, “radically null.”
The Mataró government believes that the reconstruction of the protected Can Fábregas factory on the grounds of El Corte Inglés “has never been a technical impediment” so that the commercial locomotive project could be promoted and “much less so that it could be build the parking underground.” The property has 9,629 m2 and, according to the City Council, the protected elements of “Can Fàbregas would occupy less than 5% of the surface of the site.”
The municipal government is convinced that the origin of this demand is “the change in the business model of El Corte Inglés”, a company in full transformation that “started years ago the sale of real estate assets” that it considers “non-strategic” with the aim of obtaining new sources of income.
PUMSA announces that they have submitted a request to the court to substantiate the dispute and, in addition, they are considering filing a “counterclaim for breach of contract against the commercial operator.”
