The Governing Council of the Cabildo de Lanzarote has bought El Mercadillo de Arrecife for 2.54 million euros (2.72 million with taxes) from the Lanzarote businessman Juan Francisco Rosa. This has been confirmed by La Voz through the minutes of the session.
In an extraordinary session held on November 19, the institution presided over by Oswaldo Betancort unanimously approved the purchase from the company BTL Lanzarote SL, managed by Rosa, of this property located on León y Castillo street, number 14. The acquisition was made through a "negotiated without publicity" procedure.
Although this agreement occurred more than two months ago, the first island institution has not publicly reported it.
The Cabildo justifies its purchase in a strategy to promote "enogastronomic" tourism and the primary and agro-industrial sector of the island. In addition, it argues that its location is "good" due to its proximity to cruise tourism that the capital receives.
Likewise, in the previous legislature, the Cabildo initiated the procedure to declare this property as an Asset of Cultural Interest and protect it. Thus, according to the suitability report on which the first island institution relied to acquire it, "it is a building with outstanding heritage values".
In this sense, it adds that "the development of a commercial, restoration and promotion activity of the island's agricultural industry" is "compatible" with the heritage values of the property and can "impact" its maintenance and conservation.
As La Voz had already reported, the company Hotel Princesa Yaiza SL, owned by Rosa, had commissioned an appraisal of El Mercadillo at the beginning of 2024 that valued the 19th-century building at more than 2.5 million euros. This valuation included two conditions: that the property be unoccupied and that it is not protected.
At the time, sources from the Cabildo stated that this decision was based on the institution's possibility of buying properties "of heritage interest or historical and cultural values" to preserve heritage.
