More than 20 years of waiting and an unresolved judicial setback in between. On the land surrounding the Metropolitan stadium, built for an Olympic Games that never was, the skeleton of the aquatic center remains half-built, designed for Olympic athletes to do swimming or water polo tests. The plot is one of those that the capital’s City Council gave to Atlético de Madrid – more than 200,000 meters of public land – for 75 years to build part of what was baptized as City of Sports. To carry it out, the Madrid City Council approved a special plan that would allow, specifically on that plot of the ruined building, lodging uses. That is, a hotel could be built, among other buildings. Last December, the region’s Superior Court of Justice (TSJM) because allowing a hotel “represents a radical transformation of the public purpose of the plot.” The City Council appealed to the Supreme Court. The mayor, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, presented this Tuesday a new project for the area, which no longer includes the controversial hotel, and a municipal spokesperson assures that what is presented now does comply with current urban planning regulations.
On the plot, of about 66,000 square meters, it is planned to build a concert pavilion with capacity for 20,000 people, a capacity slightly larger than that of the Movistar Arena, a university campus for higher education and vocational training for more than 2,300 students, run by the private Alfonso indoor and outdoor pools. The cost, more than 360 million euros, will be borne, like the execution of the works, by Barsento SLU, a joint company created in 2024 by Atlético de Madrid, the entertainment company Live Nation and Oak View Group, a stadium construction giant.
The mayor has not specified when the works on this mega complex will begin, he has only announced that they will do so “soon” and that they will extend until the end of 2030, when the pavilion, the private university and the sports center will join the City of Sports, also under construction and planned by the club. In fact, everything proposed this Tuesday by Almeida is part of a private initiative by Atlético that it presented, through Barsento, in January 2025 for the construction and exploitation of the area. “There was an urgent need to provide a solution to the aquatic center; the solution came from the hand of Miguel Ángel [accionista mayoritario del Atlético de Madrid]”said the mayor during the presentation of the project.
The City Council accepted this initiative, considering that it complied with the regulations and the general interest, and put the administrative machinery in motion. Yes, so that during the public information period alternatives could be presented. According to the Madrid City Council, none were presented and the Works and Equipment area prepared the specifications to put the project out to public tender. The deadline for submitting offers ended on January 30 and “has led to the awarding of the concession, which will last 75 years” to the joint company created by the club, which will pay a total fee of more than 141 million euros.
