Alicante based company “Aerovillage” has submitted a proposal to Spanish airport authority AENA, to transform the old terminal building at Alicante airport, most recently known as Terminal 1, into an “outlet” shopping centre with over 100 stores, with 40 million euro in investment and the creation of 650 jobs.
The centre would cover all three floors of the unit, including the basement, with a total area of 40,000 square meters of space, in which 109 units would be created, with shops and restaurants, a hotel, indoor karting and aviation and Formula 1 simulators.
The initiative fits into an EU directive that seeks to promote smaller, more isolated areas, scattered over a wide area, as well as satisfying AENA´s need for satisfying the use of buildings with a reduction in traditional airport based activities.
Plans had previously been drawn up to reopen the terminal building as a compliment to the new and existing terminal hub, but AENA technicians have decided that with the current terminal, with capacity to serve 25 million passengers a year, is enough, and the former T-1 is no longer needed.
The remaining terminal building, known as Terminal 2, will still be performing aeronautical functions incidentally, to be reused to accommodate “general aviation” such as private jets, air ambulances, and other smaller activities.
“Aerovillage” would transform the redundant building, which also has its own car park opposite, and operate as a stand-alone unit in the centre of the airport complex, attracting shoppers and tourists alike, as well as those with time to kill at the airport.
The plan calls for a staged development, with the 109 units brining in around 140 leading brands of clothing and accessories on a surface of 29,000 square metres on the ground floor and the mezzanine, reserving an area of 3,000 square metres future expansion. The next stage proposing the adaptation of the old office building connecting terminal 1 to terminal 2 into a hotel with 36 rooms.
Although bold and dynamic, the proposals would no doubt transform the area and inject more investment into the Costa Blanca, which would become a flagship of retail in addition to the growing transport hub that Alicante airport is already offering.
