Can Pesquet changes hands while Cort tries to fulfill the promise to make it public

PalmaThe Can Pesquet plot, in Son Sardina, has changed hands while the Palma City Council tries to make effective the promise of the mayor, Jaime Martínez, to turn it into a public space. One year after the mayor announced that Cort had initiated the process to acquire the 1,600 square meters to build a neighborhood center, a library, a square, and study a parking lot, the plot remains private. Now the Consistory assures that it is negotiating with the new owner and that, if there is no agreement, it will resort to expropriation.

Martínez has reiterated this Monday the commitment that Can Pesquet be public. The mayor has assured that Cort is "in the process of reaching an agreement to acquire the plot" and has emphasized that the objective is to make it available to the neighbors to cover the equipment needs of the neighborhood.

The situation, however, is different from what the mayor announced a year ago. After Cort initiated negotiations with Solvia, responsible for the commercialization of the plot, the real estate agency ended up selling the plot to a third party, as explained by the City Council itself. The Consistory maintains that the operation took place even though Solvia knew of the municipal intention to acquire the land.

Thus, the purchase commitment announced by Martínez has not materialized and Cort now finds itself obliged to negotiate with a new owner or to resort to expropriation to ensure that the plot finally has the public use that had been announced.

A promise questioned by the neighbors

The change of ownership comes after months of complaints from the associative fabric of Son Sardina, which accuses Cort of having failed to fulfill the commitment made to the town.

The neighbours recall that the creation of a public square and a public centre in Can Pesquet is a historic demand that they conveyed to the mayor and the deputy mayor Lourdes Roca at the beginning of the legislature.

In May 2024, the municipal plenary session approved, with the support of the PP, the commitment to acquire the plot. Subsequently, the neighbours requested information on the status of the proceedings and assure that they had even been promised a meeting to explain the situation.

The lack of news led to various mobilizations and a signature collection that achieved more than 1,000 adhesions in four months. Now, the presence of a Solvia banner on the same plot to market it has increased, according to the associations, "the discredit towards the policies, by action and by omission, of the current City Council".

Cort recovers the expropriation route

Faced with this situation, Martínez has announced that, if it is not possible to reach an agreement with the current owner, the City Council will initiate an expropriation procedure.

"Can Pesquet will be public," insisted the mayor, who defended his "firm political will" to fulfill a demand that, as he admitted, has not been able to materialize for years.

The municipal project foresees that the plot can host a neighborhood center and a library, currently located in premises rented by Cort. It also plans to create a new public square and is studying the construction of a car park to alleviate the parking deficit in Son Sardina.

The City Council assures that the entire process will be carried out with the participation of the town's associations and entities, which will have to agree on the needs and characteristics of the future facilities.

MÉS accuses the PP of "letting" Can Pesquet "go to waste"

The case has also provoked criticism from MÉS per Palma, which accuses Martínez of having allowed the plot to end up in private hands after promising that the City Council would buy it.

The ecosegular councilor Miquel Àngel Contreras has summarized his criticism with a phrase: "Martínez promised it. The PP has let it go." According to Contreras, the mayor generated "an expectation for all of Son Sardina and has not fulfilled it" and now "he has to explain why".

MÉS considers that the facilities demanded by the neighbors "are not privileges, but spaces to build a town", and calls for a solution that guarantees that Can Pesquet ends up in the hands of the citizens.

The party also blames the PP for having eliminated, according to their interpretation, the urbanistic protection that during the last legislature reserved certain spaces for future public facilities. According to Contreras, this protection made it possible to limit speculative expectations on plots like Can Pesquet.

"We protected spaces so that they would end up in the hands of the citizens. The PP removed this protection and then took too long to buy Can Pesquet. The result is clear: what was supposed to be for Son Sardina is now private," he stated.