A new development will fill the Estany d'en Mas in Manacor with almost 300 chalets.
This is an old project from 1979 that has been receiving planning licenses from the City Council within a development area according to the 2004 PTM
ManacorJust a few meters from the coast of Manacor, between Punta Reina and Estany d'en Mas, a development project that has been dormant for almost 50 years is now regaining administrative and media attention. This week, the Manacor City Council made the final step by allowing the construction of 77 single-family homes on 800-square-meter plots, on land that was already considered suitable for development since the 2004 amendment to the Territorial Plan of Mallorca (PTM). This number of homes must be added to the 200 that will be ready by the second third of 2026.
The story, however, goes back to the 1970s. Specifically, it was in December 1979 when the first partial plan for the buildable area was approved. At that time, the owners had already ceded 30% of the surface area to the City Council as open spaces and green areas.
Since then, 46 years and ten mayors of all political stripes have passed, yet none have been able or willing to stop the process. This is especially true because planning rights are recognized and because reversing the plan would mean millions in compensation that the City Council could not afford. This newspaper has tried unsuccessfully to contact the mayor of Manacor, Miquel Oliver.
The current project
The Madrid-based developer Tuinar Plots & Houses SL is responsible for developing this 10-hectare development, which includes ground-floor and single-story villas. The architect who designed the villa complex was Rafael de las Heras Serrano, who planned a complex totaling 103,288 square meters in the middle of scrubby garrigue.
According to the conditions of use initially approved by Manacor City Council on March 31, 2011, the project envisioned the possibility of an "intensive hotel zone" with apartment blocks, shops, and even a shopping center. "Independent warehouses or industries, and disturbing factories or workshops" were prohibited.
Ultimately, in 2012, this option was discarded in favor of single-family homes. According to the project report, the initial development work will now last approximately nine months once it begins.
Neighborhood allegations
The project, of course, has not been without controversy. Residents of the adjacent industrial estate have filed complaints alleging the lack of adequate access to the new development. However, over the past few years, the City Council has consistently dismissed them. A meeting is now planned between the Town Planning Commissioner, Núria Hinojosa, the developer, and the residents (represented by former mayor Pedro Rosselló) to try to find a solution to the conflict.
In June 2012, the ordinary plenary session of Manacor City Council provisionally approved the partial plan for industrial estate 6-22 in Estany d'en Mas, or, in other words, the green light granted to the Madrid-based developer Tuinar Plots & Houses SL. for the construction of up to 77 new single-family homes on 800-square-meter plots, just a few meters from the coast.
The governing team, then formed by the PP and AIPC, argued that the land was listed as developable in the 2004 amendment to the Mallorca Territorial Plan, and that the space was a natural growth area, as it was located in the corridor formed by the two tourist complexes located just before the Manacor start. Mayor Pastor even acknowledged 13 years ago that a possible refusal "would entail having to pay compensation that the City Council would not be able to afford. We are tied hand and foot."
The shadow of Terrapolis
The urban planning debate in Estany d'en Mas (Cala Romántica) cannot be understood without recalling the environmental failure of the Terràpolis complex. That development, promoted by Martinsa-Fadesa in 2006 and financed by the Caja de Ahorros del Mediterráneo (CAM), built 200 homes and several complementary services, including a golf course. But with the developer's bankruptcy filing, coinciding with the 2008 real estate crisis, both the 11 villas by the sea and the 189 more inland villas were left unfinished.
After years of neglect, in 2020 the Catalan developer Bidder Newco formally requested the City Council to allow the completion of 45 of the 189 remaining villas next to the stream. A license was granted.
Three years later, the new owners, the Madrid-based holding company Cranborne Ivest SL, approached the Manacor City Council's Urban Planning Department requesting an 18-month extension of the legal deadline for completing the work. They needed more time to complete the plumbing and electrical work on 26 villas (22 semi-detached and 4 detached) after receiving the pending water resources sector reports.
Now, the developer Sonneil is selling the villas (some with private pools) under the name Sunrise Bay Residences for between €387,000 and €842,000 and announces that they will be fully completed during the second quarter of 2026.
