This vast building is just another abandoned relic from Spains past. Another notch on the coffin of its economic dream, another testimony to past folly.
I’m told that it was built by a Catalan couple who had inherited the land from ancestors who passed away in Los Gallardos, although nobody seems to know them personally. Possibly he was an architect. Others say he was a builder.
What does seem certain is that the promoter of the build had two things : a dream to build a stunning five star rural hotel, and a wad load of EU cash.
It seems, from my townhall contacts, that the builders had received a substantial – €1,5 million is the figure I was quoted, this may be inflated, who knows? – FEDER investment fund to build the hotel. They were supposed to match and increase this amount from their own funds.
The plans were good. A luxury rural hotel, next to a luxury complex that was designed by Miguel Gen (of Macenas fame), marketed by Ric Polansky, was designed for next door and approval given for the plans. The AVE would pass nearby. The area was booming. Construction would never end.
But then la crisis hit. And things got tough. And the construction did end. The luxury complex was dropped. The AVE abandoned. The tourists fled. The economy collapsed.
Work on the hotel stopped. Things were sometimes done. Once I remember there was a rush of work, surely it would be finished this time? But the workers left and things stopped again.
Occasional flurries of activities. A nightwatchman was there for a while, then he was downgraded to just a dog, then even the dog left.
And now it is just an empty shell of a building. A vandalised building, the fittings ripped out, the structure damaged, the windows smashed. Left open to the elements, animals colonising the place, it is slowly collapsing.
An empty monument to the futility of past economic glories.