Menorca has 12 unused public buildings.

CitadelMenorca's public administrations have accumulated at least a dozen empty, unused buildings or those awaiting future conversion, some of which have been closed for more than 20 years, a period that has worsened their deterioration. Public projects to give them a second life take as long as construction projects to improve the provision of the services they are intended for, and the public suffers the consequences.

In Mahón, there are five buildings in this situation, and Mayor Héctor Pons took advantage of the presentation of the project for the new National Police station to speak out on the matter and ask that "each administration take responsibility for the properties it leaves behind" in order to avoid accumulating unoccupied public buildings in the midst of the housing crisis.

"We should try not to make the mistakes of the past," says Pons, who believes "it would be good to think about the buildings we're abandoning while making new investments." Therefore, he has made himself available to the Ministry of the Interior to "study urban planning options" and not delay a solution for the current police station, which will be empty in two years.

The opposition PP has taken the lead and proposed converting it into a residence for members of the state security forces, who often have trouble settling on the island due to the increasing difficulty in finding housing at a decent price.

The Virgen del Toro and the Sala Augusta

The case of the police station is not unique. The old Virgen del Toro Hospital has been closed and unused for nearly two decades. Since the new Mateu Orfila Hospital opened, the old nursing home has been accumulating delays and deteriorating. The Regional Ministry of Health is promoting its transformation into a social and healthcare center, a project worth more than €30 million that is encountering multiple technical, procedural, and budgetary difficulties, which have forced the temporary halt of construction. According to the latest estimates, the reopening of Virgen del Toro will not occur until 2028, at best.

The Sala Augusta has also been closed for over 20 years—since 2003. It was used to host festivals and film screenings until aluminosis was discovered and other structural problems arose. The City Council shored it up, and since then, it has been considered as a possible home for the Music Conservatory. In reality, it has neither been renovated nor reopened. The council is in contact with the General Directorate of Housing to try to recover it. "The idea is that it can be converted into a multipurpose space that responds to different services and needs," says the mayor of Maó.

The former Seat factory is located in a prime location, between the Claustro market and Plaza Miranda, with spectacular views of the port of Maó. The City Council appreciated its potential and purchased it in 2018 for €1.2 million. Since then, it has still not been able to make it available to the public. On the contrary, its condition has worsened, and at the beginning of the year the roof had to be propped up. A participatory process established that it should be used for cultural and artistic purposes, but the City Council has not provided any details in this regard either. The mayor, however, says that a preliminary design competition will be launched in the fall to begin its renovation. At least a third of the building must be below ground.

For 20 years, the City Council has been using the former Santiago barracks to give municipal use to what was once a military infrastructure for the Defense Department. It provided the Local Police and the construction brigade until, recently, it moved to the new warehouse built in the industrial estate. The Regional Ministry of Education and Universities has now presented a renovation project for the former barracks with the aim of converting it into the future headquarters of the Adult Education School, where 2,434 students enrolled last year.

To this list of buildings we must also add the former Post Office headquarters, in the center of Mahon, which the Menorca Council bought at the end of the year with European funds for 1.1 million euros. The idea is for it to house public services.

Ciutadella, awaiting construction

In Ciutadella, only the former Fonda Espanya (Fonda Espanya)—on the Maó road—has remained unused for decades. Recently, the City Council has had to shore up and clean the interior of the building while waiting to decide on a use and carry out the necessary renovations.

The problem, says Mayor Llorenç Ferrer, will come to the municipality when the Courts headquarters are finally built, after decades of waiting. Then, both the upper floor of the Post Office building, which currently houses the Labor Court, and the building on República Argentina Street, which houses the Examining Magistrates' Courts, will be empty. In the former case, it has already been decided that new municipal offices will be relocated.

The same will happen with the current Canal Salat health center. The Regional Ministry of Health will build a new one in the Santa Rita area, with an investment of 33.8 million euros. When it comes into operation, the current Canal Salat health center, which has already become obsolete, will be unused. "It's owned by the General Treasury of Social Security. We'll start rethinking what to do when the foundation stone of the Santa Rita health center is laid," says the mayor.

Sa Tanca, a failed business

The most notorious case outside of Maó, surely, is in Sant Lluís. In 2021, the City Council bought the failed privately-run Sa Tanca shopping center, which was built right at the entrance to the town. It cost 1.7 million euros, which the City Council contributed with the help of the Menorca Council. But since then, it has been unable to convince any other administration to secure the financing to launch this infrastructure.

The City Council, led by Mayor Loles Tronch, offered this building to the government to build social housing through the Build to Rent program, but this option was ruled out because part of the structure had to be demolished first, and the government requires the site to be clear and undeveloped before construction could take place.

The PSOE (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party) proposed converting Sa Tanca into a parking lot, but the high cost, close to one million euros, forced the City Council to back down. "There's no money and we haven't been able to provide any solution," admits the mayor, who has managed to include a budget within the Island Cooperation Plan promoted by the Consell, "so that it can at least be conditioned." €54,500 will be spent on replacing 21 metal pillars that are completely eaten away. Taking care of this "death" represents an additional cost for the City Council. Previous municipal reports warned that restoring the building, if purchased, would require an investment of between €8 and €12 million.

Alaior, the municipality that buys the most

Alaior, the municipality that has invested the most in recent years in the acquisition of buildings to strengthen its cultural appeal, has just purchased the Cas Corbo center in the church. Last year, it used European funds to invest another €1.2 million to purchase the land of the former Coinga factory, whose public use will take time to come to fruition—the buildings won't be demolished until next year.

In El Castell, the City Council purchased the old El Salón theater five years ago, which had been closed for a long time. But it has yet to implement the €756,000 investment needed to refurbish it and reopen it to the public.

Ferreries is also taking steps to transform the former American base at Enclusa, abandoned for decades, into a Biosphere Reserve outreach center and a summer camp for the town's children.

The other empty building in the municipality, the one formerly occupied by the Menorca Foundation for People with Disabilities, has been converted into a headquarters for organizations, including the adult education school, the mushroom center, and, soon, the merchants' association.

Es Mercadal also plans to renovate the old Fornells slaughterhouse to become an exhibition hall and a tourist information office. Currently, it is only used occasionally during patron saint festivals or Red Cross activities.