The Grand House, formerly Hotel Guadiana, opened its doors this Thursday, February 7th, and is the first 5-star hotel in Vila Real de Santo António.
After a deep requalification contract, the historic Hotel Guadiana reopened, «bringing back the charm and tradition of what was one of the first hotels in the Algarve, inaugurated in the 20s», says the Chamber of VRSA.
The intervention included the exterior and interior renovation of the building, adapting it to the characteristics of a five-star unit, and put an end to the scenario of degradation of this property, which is a visiting card of the city's riverfront and a reference in architectural terms.
Located on the Vila Real de Santo António riverfront, the Hotel Guadiana marked Algarve tourism in the early 1918th century, having been designed by the Swiss-born architect Ernesto Korrodi. It was built between 1921 and 1923 and opened in XNUMX.
Its existence is due to the canning industry Manuel Ramirez, who verified the need to accommodate national and foreign traders in VRSA. Its construction also bears witness to an urban historical evolution and its architecture is characterized by the mixture of various styles in keeping with the taste of the time, showing a transition between the aesthetics of Art Nouveau and Classical Composition.
The rehabilitation operation was carried out by the Municipality of Vila Real de Santo António and the municipal company VRSA SGU, representing a cost of 2 million euros.
It was financed by the Jessica initiative, an investment fund developed by the European Commission in collaboration with the European Investment Bank and the Council of Europe Development Bank.
With the reactivation of the property's original use, the urban planning operation enabled the installation of 31 rooms: 15 doubles, 3 junior suites and 13 single rooms, all with the current standards of comfort and requirement.
The work guaranteed the maintenance of the façade and the main decorative elements of the French-style building, designed by architect Ernesto Korrodi, whose construction dates back to 1918 and 1921.
The contract also included the recovery of a property in Ponta da Areia (the mouth of the Guadiana River) for the installation of the beach club area. The operation of the hotel will in the future integrate the Alfândega building – the first construction in the city -, which will also reserve space for a lounge bar and a set of spa suites.
The hotel and the Beach club will be managed by the Grand House Algarve group, under an exploration contract in which the business entity will pay a monthly rent to the local authority, which will thus recover the amount invested in the requalification of the property.
«The project fully complies with the guidelines of the Detailed Plan for the Safeguarding of the Pombalino Nucleus of Vila Real de Santo António, as well as the measures established in the Urban Rehabilitation Area (ARU) of the Historic Center of VRSA, which was, in fact, the first to be launched in the country», says the City Council.
In parallel with the restoration of the Hotel Guadiana, the VRSA City Council intends to transform the Historic Center into a reference in tourist terms, and a project is also underway – developed in parallel with the Pestana Group – to convert a group of old properties owned by VRSA City Council, in a set of accommodation units.
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