Pensión Cejas, the oldest hotel accommodation in the capital, has stopped providing service. Its owners have approached the Santa Cruz Urban Planning Department so that it could proceed to initiate the expropriation of the property due to cessation of activity, a colonial house dating from 1906, and which is located on Calle San Francisco, in a block in which is scheduled to build a plaza. This was announced to DIARIO DE AVISOS by the Councilor for Urban Planning, Carlos Tarife, who explained that “in this way, we began expropriations in the area to undertake the public endowments planned at that point, specifically a square.”
In fact, the file for the expropriation of the Cejas pension has already been initiated, and an offer has been made to the owners for 682,489 euros. The mayor explains that “the property has appealed that amount in court, demanding that it be greater. So the payment has the character of an installment on account, until there is a sentence. It will be the judge who determines the amount ”. This means that until it is concluded in court, unless expressly agreed with the property, the property cannot be disposed of or entered.
As Tarife explains, the final destination of that property, like the rest of the block, which is in considerably worse condition than the pension, would be demolition, but, “we believe that this property, given its characteristics and age, may have some kind of patrimonial value for the Cabildo de Tenerife, at least I think so. For this reason, in anticipation, I am already talking with the Heritage team to see how we can preserve that property and make the square in the space left by the rest of the properties once they have been expropriated and demolished ”. “I am not in favor of demolishing the property, I think it is a building that has heritage values and that we can take advantage of it,” he adds.
Although he did not want to advance it, Tarife did point out that the Cejas Pension would have a specific use that would complete the services that El Toscal needs so much. “That property would pass into the hands of the City Council, there we can put several initiatives, and I specifically think of a certain one, but we still have to assess it well.” The mayor estimates that, since the cessation of activity is relatively recent, the interior of the property may still be in good condition.
The block where the Cejas pension stands is circumscribed to San Francisco, San Vicente Ferrer, San Juan Bautista and San Francisco Javier streets.
