Minister Mateo and Mayor Nadal present the rehabilitation and adaptation project for the Fantasio cinema, which will be transformed into a public rental housing development.
This project, aimed at young residents with 18 years of residence in Sóller, is one of four new developments planned by the IBAVI in the municipality.
The Minister of Housing, Territory and Mobility, José Luis Mateo, and the Mayor of Sóller, Miquel Nadal, have presented the technical project for the rehabilitation and adaptation of the historic building of the former Fantasio cinema in Sóller into 11 public rental housing units. The IBAVI project will preserve the façade and original elements of the building, and will include a municipal exhibition space dedicated to the memory and history of cinema.
The project foresees the rehabilitation of the cinema building — originally constructed in 1935, remodelled in 1953, and closed in 1981 — which is currently in ruins. It will be adapted to house 11 homes while restoring various original elements such as the main façade and signage, up to 40 original seats, the bar counter, and structural and decorative features,s including stairs, carpentry, tiles, and ironwork.
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On the ground floor, the development will include a municipal exhibition area that preserves part of the building’s heritage and will be dedicated to the history of cinema. It will be managed by the Town Council of Sóller. The new inner courtyard will provide natural light and ventilation for the apartments, while maintaining the central circulation of the former auditorium. A stepped seating area will resolve the height difference between Sant Jaume Street and Metge Jaume A. Mayol Street, featuring 40 restored wooden seats from the original cinema.
“This is a beautiful project that will give new life to the old cinema, such a special and emblematic building for the people of Sóller, preserving its memory forever. At the same time, it helps address the housing problem and will offer young residents a home and a life project,” said Minister José Luis Mateo during the presentation at Sóller Town Hall, where he thanked the municipal collaboration, the IBAVI team, and its technical staff.
According to Mayor Miquel Nadal, “The Fantasio project represents a double victory for Sóller: on the one hand, we recover a much-loved historic building; and on the other, we respond to one of our most urgent needs — access to housing. Thanks to collaboration with the Government and the IBAVI, we are giving new life to a space that for decades was a meeting point and will now reopen with a social and cultural purpose.”
This development will include 11 homes, one of which will be adapted for people with disabilities, and will be primarily allocated to young people under 35 with 18 years of residence in the municipality of Sóller, as requested by the Town Council. It is one of four social housing developments planned by the IBAVI in Sóller, in collaboration with the municipality, which together will provide over 50 public housing units. These will be the first IBAVI housing developments in Sóller in nearly 20 years, and the first rental ones.
This project is part of the “Illes en transformació” investment plan of the Balearic Government. Minister José Luis Mateo and Mayor Miquel Nadal held a press conference to present the project, joined by IBAVI’s general manager Roberto María Cayuela and First Deputy Mayor Carlos Darder.