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Old love for the Balearic Island: Richard Branson
Photo: Christoph Hardt / Geisler-Fotopress / picture alliance
The British entrepreneur and multi-billionaire Richard Branson is building a luxury hotel on the Spanish holiday island of Mallorca.
After decades of problems with the authorities, the Virgin founder's construction project has finally begun, reports the “Mallorca Zeitung” (MZ) and other regional media.
Finca Son Bunyola in the west of Mallorca, where a luxury hotel with 29 rooms is to be built, has been surrounded by scaffolding and blue protective nets for a few days.
"The arm of a giant crane" hovers over the 140-year-old building, trucks with building materials "drive in and out," writes the MZ.
Branson, who was on Mallorca as a child and has been visiting the island regularly for 30 years, had already declared years ago that he wanted to build "the best hotel in the world" on Mallorca.
He later said that the "most luxurious Mediterranean hotel" was to be built in Son Bunyola.
Annoyed by the resistance of the authorities
Branson had acquired the historically significant estate with a total area of almost 300 hectares for the first time in 1994, but sold it eight years later, exasperated because of the resistance of the authorities to his building plans.
But the entrepreneur, whose conglomerate Virgin Group is active in the music and travel industries, did not give up: in 2015 he bought Son Bunyola again for 15 million euros.
It was not until that early summer that Branson received the last of the many required permits from the authorities.
But he has to observe strict conditions.
For example, there must be no extensions and construction work has to pause between February and June - during the breeding season for many birds in the region.
He had fought for the hotel "for more than 20 years," Branson told the Mallorca Daily Bulletin in March.
The 71-year-old emphasized that it is always very important to him to preserve the inheritance of the property as much as possible: “It took a little longer than we originally hoped and planned, but it is important that we get it right . «In Son Bunyola, where Branson's luxury hotel chain Virgin Limited Edition already rents three villas, great importance will continue to be attached to sustainability.
mamk / dpa