The Pestana Pousadas Group’s investment in Vila Real de Santo António, where it is creating a hotel from three historic C18th buildings in the city centre, should be completed by the end of 2019.
The €3 million development, overlooking Marquês de Pombal square, is using three adjacent buildings that are owned by the Council and its trading subsidiary, Sociedade de Gestão Urbana EM, SA.
The project presentation ceremony was held today, Wednesday 21st November, involving Luís Castanheira Lopes, president of Pousadas de Portugal, and Conceição Cabrita, mayor of Vila Real de Santo António.
The 57-room project will generate 30 jobs, and, "is based on the history of Vila Real de Santo António, creating a new tourism segment based on heritage and local culture," the company announced.
The mayor of Vila Real de Santo António stressed the, "particularly important moment for the projection of the county as a tourist destination, given that it is a differentiating and quality project."
"In a space of only a year, we will open two five-star hotels, a goal never before achieved, and fully renovate historic properties that were in danger of collapse," added the mayor.
The Vila Real de Santo António hotel will be the fourth historic Pousada for the region and Pestana’s 17th hotel in the Algarve.
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Vila Real de Santo António was founded after the 1755 Lisbon earthquake, and expanded from 1774 using the same architectural and construction techniques employed in the reconstruction of Lisbon after the disaster.
The city was erected in only two years and completed in 1776. Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, the 1st Marquis of Pombal, was responsible for the design of the town in a Pombaline orthogonal grid which he also used during the reconstruction of Lisbon.
In a pioneering technique, entire buildings were prefabricated in areas outside the town and transported to their final locations for assembly, permitting the fast and methodical construction of the city.
See also: 'Work starts on new Historic Pousada for Vila Real de Santo António'
