The Barcelona City Council announced the purchase of the building of the former Méliès cinemas for 4 million euros. The purpose is to use it for social housing. The property is located at Villarroel 102 between Consell de Cent and Aragó.
The movie theaters that operated there were closed more than two years ago, right in the middle of the pandemic, and are no longer in use. It will now be part of the municipal housing stock.
The municipality acquired the building from Coral Holmes SL in exercise of the right of first refusal, according to the urban development regulations of the Modification of the General Metropolitan Plan.
For its part, the text of the government commission specifies that the Institut Municipal del Habitatge y Rehabilitació de Barcelona will be in charge of the management and administration of the construction.
The objective is for the property to be used for affordable social rental housing.
The history of the former Méliès cinema building
The property is a 1920 construction consisting of a first floor and four floors with a total built area of 1,731 square meters.
For their part, the Méliès cinemas opened their doors in 1996 with Billy Wilder’s “The Big Carnival” and were open to the public for 24 years. In July 2020 they closed in the midst of the pandemic.
The director Carles Balagué was the author of this initiative that sought to screen classic titles in theaters, carrying out a great pedagogical work during the years of operation.
Covid accelerated the closure of the cinema, which had already accumulated several problems associated with the repair of the property. As a result, it remained under constant repair.
In addition, by the summer of 2011, the Méliès suffered a fire causing it to stop operating for more than six months.
City Hall purchases for social housing
In addition to the purchase of the building of the former Méliès cinemas, the purchase of another property for social housing was also confirmed.
It is an eight-story building in the neighborhood of El Congrés i Els Indians (number 29-35 of Puerto Príncipe street), for a value of 1,904,300.00 euros.
With these recent purchases, the City Council is committed to expanding the public housing stock in the city.
Barcelona is currently in great need of social renting due to the increase in the number of people requiring social emergency housing.
Records indicate that until the beginning of 2021, the municipal government made several investments. There are about 900 purchases of homes from years ago for about 70 million euros and in order to avoid the expulsion of neighbors in speculative processes.
By the first half of 2022, the investment had already reached 130 million euros represented by 1,228 homes in the city. The properties have been acquired at strategic points in the city.
