The Municipality of Silves is "evaluating its finances so that the possibility of buying the Fábrica do Inglês can be studied", currently owned by Caixa Geral de Depósitos, revealed Rosa Palma, president of the municipality, in statements to Sul Informação.
Thus, the purchase of the entirety of the Fábrica do Inglês complex is being evaluated, «for the value of the auction", on the 30th of May. On that occasion, Caixa Geral de Depósitos (CGD) bought the property for 2.239.600 euros, while the estate of the Cork Museum, which operated in one of the building's wings, in which Silves City Council was interested, was eventually bought by Grupo Nogueira, current owner of the Alisuper Supermarkets and, in this way, also a major creditor of the bankrupt Alicoop/Alisuper Group, which in 1999 transformed the former cork factory into a restaurant and leisure space.
"Given that we are paying the debt we inherited from the previous executive, we have to evaluate our finances very carefully to know if it will be possible to proceed with the purchase of the property", explained Rosa Palma, adding that it will be, in any case, “a great effort” on the part of the Chamber.
Knowing that the complex is for sale by CGD, and that only the state of the real estate market will be able to delay the appearance of an interested party, the mayor of the municipality expressed her confidence in the "good relations we have with CGD".
The mayor added that the Municipality is also "seeking to obtain the agreement" of the current owners of the Cork Museum collection (the Nogueira Group), "to classify it as being of municipal interest". Because only the building itself was classified a few years ago, leaving out the estate, which is inventoried but not protected by any form of classification.
"By classifying the estate, we are holding the furniture to the property," he explained.
Rosa Palma: we have to evaluate our finances very well to know if it will be possible to proceed with the purchase of Fábrica do Inglês
As regards concentration for the defense of the heritage of the Fábrica do Inglês and the Cork Museum, scheduled for Friday, the 18th, at 11:00 am, the mayor of Silves regrets that she cannot be present on that day, due to commitments “which she had already made before”.
But he argues that it is "legitimate that people show their concern at the fate of the Cork Museum estate and the Fábrica do Inglês building, which are currently in the hands of private individuals."
"There are divergent interests here, but people have every right to show these privates that the population will not let the estate leave there, nor let the Fábrica do Inglês be sold for other purposes," concluded Rosa Palma.
Nogueira Group wants to reopen Cork Museum
João Nogueira, administrator of Grupo Nogueira, assured the Sul Informação that its intention is “to maintain and reopen the Cork Museum as soon as possible”. "I've already explained this to the Chamber and Caixa Geral de Depósitos." However, he added, "the Museum's facilities are not ours, so we are dependent on what CGD can tell us."
The manager even revealed that he had already proposed to Caixa "the lease of the Museum space or its sale". But the answer must have been no.
João Nogueira added that, at the time of the auction on May 30, the auction company informed him that it would have 30 days to withdraw the cork Museum's estate, which it sold at auction for 36 thousand euros. But the administrator of Grupo Nogueira not only did not remove the pieces, but "on the Monday after the auction I had everything closed with wood, reinforced the doors, and collected the most removable pieces into the space", in order to "protect everything the estate'.
“In two days I ended up preserving the Cork Museum's estate better than the City Council in previous years”, he stressed.
"It's only now that we've got the estate that they care and now we're the bad guys," he said.
João Nogueira: Only now that we've taken over the estate do they care and now we're the bad guys
João Nogueira also alluded to an alleged "agreement" that would have been agreed between the City Council and CGD before the auction on 30 May and that would involve "the City Council authorizing the entry of an Aldi supermarket in that space, while Caixa would cede the space from the museum to the Chamber, and as for the rest, it was easy to see. If the Nogueira Group had not kept the estate, Aldi would already be there under construction. Grupo Nogueira came to ruin this whole thing».
The mayor of Silves, however, denies such an agreement and even underlines that "the executive has already taken a unanimous decision not to allow the advance of Aldi or any other commercial surface in the Fábrica do Inglês space."
João Nogueira: We are not here to complicate things, we want to make the Museum work
The director of Grupo Nogueira added, in his statements to the Sul Informação, that “we kept the estate because Alisuper had 7 million euros of debt to be received from Fábrica do Inglês there and we, in that way, were the main creditor. We could not compete with CGD and keep all the property, so we opted to buy the Cork Museum estate. We also bought because we are Silves' biggest employer».
«We are not here to complicate matters, we want to make the Museum work. Now they don't want to play us like little angels”, commented João Nogueira, for whom “the ball is now on their side” (from the Chamber and CGD).
In the midst of all these “divergent interests”, as President Rosa Palma called them, one can only hope that the heritage does not go to waste.
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