The Atrium building in Faro – once home to a popular cinema and shopping centre– is to reopen as a four-star hotel with 83 rooms.
Says national tabloid Correio da Manhã, the building has been taken over by Humbria Investimentos SGPS, a company with “experience in the property and hotel businesses, especially in Albufeira”.
The plan is to turn it into a luxurious five-storey hotel, with 83 rooms, space for three retail outlets and an outdoor pool.
Regional news website Sulinformação adds that the building “was bought for around €2.3 million, the asking price of previous owner Millennium BCP bank”.
Speaking to Sulinformação, mayor Rogério Bacalhau said his council has approved the project and that he believes “construction could begin very soon”.
Located in the heart of town on Rua Santo António, the building has been virtually abandoned since the mall that operated inside it closed in 2009. It reopened briefly during the last two Christmas seasons as a “creative centre” with workshops, exhibitions, pop-up shops and themed markets.
Before being turned into the Faro Atrium shopping centre in 2005, the building housed the well-known Cine-Teatro Santo António.
