PLANS to redevelop the site of Debenhams Olympia shopping centre on the Limassol coastal road are moving forward and the construction of the high rise Aura development of luxury apartments should be completed by the end of 2022.
Designed by the award-winning British architectural design and engineering firm of Foster + Partners, the cost of building Aura are estimated at €108 million, while the demolition of the current building will cost around €500,000.
The 197 metre high rise Aura tower will be the tallest in Cyprus and will comprise 137 two-to-four-bedroom apartments and a five-bedroom penthouse with panoramic views of the Mediterranean.
The building will be raised 23.9m from ground level, creating the impression that it is floating high above the landscaped gardens below. Spanning 7,000 sqm and 200m long, the gardens seamlessly connect the beach and the park creating an urban communal space that is accessible for all of Limassol.
According to reports, the project is part of a loan restructuring agreement between the Cyprus Trading Corporation Plc (CTC) and the Bank of Cyprus. The aim is to transfer the site to the bank after the required licences for Aura‘s construction have been approved. With licences in place the site should have a higher value, benefitting both CTC and the Bank of Cyprus that could reasonably expect to sell it at a higher price with licences in place.
The Ermes Group has announced that the Debenhams Olympia department store in Limassol is fully operational and will continue to function normally until 2020.
The Limassol Aura high rise does not seem to have been designed in sympathy of its fellow architectural structures in the area. It’s design seems to have been from an architect’s office without taking into account what the coast line and surrounding area will look like . The brief seems to owe more on how many apartments could be built on the site that its adverse effect on the area.
Unless Limassol is bidding to end up looking like some of the high-rise monstrosities built in the 1960s on the Costa del Sol which I don’t think they are, I believe they will put tourists off from the region, as they have done in some Spanish resorts where the developers became greedy. Most people do not want to stay in a region of high- rise tower blocks with natural wind and shade distorted.
If you have to have a high- rise tower block ( that incidentally looks to me like an ice lolly) , it should be set back as far from the coast line as possible and preferably in a business city centre.
Furthermore, anyone contemplating buying an apartment is advised to check with an independent fire authority as to how the occupiers can make a quick escape if the exits are blocked and if the material used to build it has been independently fire and smoke emission tested if they want to sleep peacefully at night
Deanna. Yet another ugly, out of place carbuncle to join Building One, Trilogy and a plethora of other skyscrapers which are blighting the Limassol to Amathus sea front. But this is just part of a larger picture of uncontrolled high rise building which is taking place all over the town.
Another office block, already 10 storeys high has sprung up, 50 meters from the beautiful old church of Ayios Nicholas, dominating the church and surrounding woodland. Needless to say, getting information about this building is proving exceedingly difficult. Certainly there is nothing about it on the builder’s website. Perhaps the Mayor or the Archbishop might care to comment on how this concrete monolith came to be built on this environmentally sensitive spot.
Horrendous.