The hiring activity at Madrid City Council does not stop for Christmas. The municipal events company, Madrid Destino, is preparing the award of the contract to shape a new stadium in La Caja Mágica, to which the council has committed to maintain the Madrid Open Tennis until 2030.
The contract covers the drafting of the basic projects and the execution of works for the construction of a new “semi-permanent” stadium in this venue in the south of Usera, where the tennis competition has been based since 2009. The City Council plans to pay the successful bidder just over 1.1 million euros for this work and will do so through negotiation without advertising, a procedure by which a supplier is chosen without any competition.
Municipal sources indicate that the City Council will once again hire Dominique Perrault for the project, an architect who already designed La Caja Mágica and who was awarded by the same procedure the preliminary project for the new stadium two years ago for 600,000 euros (taxes not included). The agreement at that time was signed in the presence of Almeida and the council took advantage of it to make it official that the venue would add a new track with a capacity of about 10,000 spectators. Municipal sources indicate that the current contract procedure is negotiated without advertising for reasons of “exclusivity” in the design of the elements of the facility.
The new track with an audience will be built after an approximate investment of 18 million euros, which will be half-funded by the Madrid City Council – through Madrid Destino – and Madrid Trophy Promotion (MTP), the private entity that organizes the event. Madrid Tennis Open. The costs prior to these works, the preliminary project and the basic and works projects, are not included in this distribution and have been assumed 100% by the City Council.
The new stadium in La Caja Mágica is part of the Almeida Government’s commitment to MTP, signed in 2021 and which served to ensure the tournament in the capital until 2030. The initial forecast was that it would be available for the event in 2025, but they won’t arrive in time. “The plan is to have it ready in 2026,” said Gerard Tsobanian, company delegate, a few months ago, a point that was also confirmed by the City Council. The organizers of the event assure that another track is necessary to join the current three, with capacity for 12,500, 2,900 and 1,900 seats.
The MTP company is currently the main beneficiary of sports aid from the Madrid City Council. In 2024 it received 9.6 million from the sponsorship of the tennis open and another 3 million euros for the Spanish Golf Open, which it also organizes in another municipal facility, the Villa de Madrid Country Club. Both events are two more pampered by the Almeida Government, within a subsidy policy in which it dedicates a significantly lower amount to grassroots sport.
A tennis center that cost 150% more than estimated
The Madrid City Council chose Perrault for the preliminary project despite the significant extra costs generated by his first work for the council in this area. According to a report from the Treasury area of the Madrid City Council, the French architect calculated in the execution project of the main work that the cost would be 141 million euros, and the tender for the works was ultimately awarded to FCC for 85 million.
“The project underwent constant changes: there was an increase of 35.8 million, up to three claim files were linked and complementary works were carried out on the roof, stands, access control and parking. The total amount of the work amounted to 206 million euros, more than double its award price,” states the municipal report written during Manuela Carmena’s mayoralty.
The Magic Box was part of the Olympic project with which Gallardón wanted to attract the Games to Madrid. Its construction began in 2004 and suffered numerous ups and downs, including a lawsuit by the contracting company against Madridec for more than 32 million euros for demanding cost overruns. Finally, the current government team reached a transaction agreement, which put an end to the settlement of the extra costs derived from the construction of the Caja Mágica sports complex with the payment of 6.4 million euros, which were added to the 206 million euros of the total cost of the construction of the complex. “In summary, tender for 85 million euros and final cost greater than 212 million euros, a 150% extra cost,” the report concluded.
#Madrid #Destino #award #Perrault #project #stadium #seats #Caja #Mágica #million
