Benidorm secures 6.4 million euros in European funding to implement the 'Benidorm Open Arena' project, focusing on the bullring

Benidorm City Council has secured a €6,421,814 FEDER grant from the Local Comprehensive Development Strategy (EDIL) call for proposals to address the Benidorm Open Arena Integrated Action Plan (PAI), focusing on the bullring. This plan comprises three projects: Arena Live, Arena Joven, and Arena Encuentro. This grant represents 60% of the total investment, which amounts to €10,703,023. The remaining 40% will be covered by the City Council.

Mayor Toni Pérez, who expressed his "enormous satisfaction" with the "excellent news," emphasized that "the project is comprised of three key actions that materialize this transformative vision," reflected in the PAI, the instrument that defines the specific actions to be carried out "and guarantees their alignment with the principles of the Urban Agenda approved by the City Council, promoting energy efficiency, digitalization, sustainable mobility, and urban rehabilitation."

The main action of this project is the so-called 'Arena Live,' which includes the rehabilitation of the bullring and its conversion into a large multifunctional space for cultural, social, and sports activities, "promoting sustainable cultural and leisure offerings."

Added to this is the 'Arena Joven' project, an intervention "that proposes the creation of a youth center, conceived as an accessible, multicultural, integrative, inclusive, and dynamic space for training, leisure, and active participation of the youth population." And the third intervention, 'Arena Encuentro', encompasses "the regeneration of the urban environment to improve connectivity between the Els Tolls-Salt de l'Aigüa neighborhood and the city center, as well as the northern part of the Foietes neighborhood, through l'Aigüera, thereby also improving the accessibility and quality of public spaces," Pérez explained.

In this regard, the mayor recalled that "in January 2024, we already announced that as soon as a new call for European funding was launched, the first project we were going to resume was the remodelling of the bullring, which couldn't be finalised with the EDUSI (Educational Development Plan). Benidorm had a shorter execution time than many other municipalities because it had been selected in the third call."

Thus, with the mayor's call for proposals, the project was resumed, and we reconfigured it with a more comprehensive and integrated vision to meet the needs of the population, especially Benidorm's young population," he emphasised.

The three PAI projects are being developed within a single 18,000-square-meter area, pursuing the regeneration of this urban area "in a comprehensive manner, addressing and solving the problem of the deteriorating cultural infrastructure, the need to create services for young people, and eliminating the accessibility problems existing in the Els Tolls neighborhood and the rest of the municipality." The mayor stated that the expected positive impact "will not only help revitalize the area adjacent to the bullring, but the rehabilitation and new layout of the bullring's uses will benefit the entire population of Benidorm, who will have a renovated and modern public and collective space."

The project details that for the remodelling of the existing building, the various structural aspects of the current bullring will be rehabilitated, and its interior layout and seating configuration will be modified to adapt to the new event uses in a flexible configuration. Furthermore, the youth centre will have various areas designed to maximise its functionality and promote active participation. Thus, it is planned that it will have a youth coworking space where young people can develop projects, share ideas, and access technological resources for their learning.

These actions will be complemented, as mentioned, by improving accessibility between L'Aigüera Park and the Els Tolls neighbourhood through measures such as the installation of a public elevator connecting the two areas. Green areas and rest areas will also be integrated, providing spaces for coexistence and socialising.

According to Toni Pérez, accessing these grants is "the result of a strategy that requires a lot of effort and a lot of work." The mayor announced that "we will now analyse the details of the grant because it is less than the amount we initially requested." In any case, he emphasised that obtaining these grants "is not easy because the European Commission is very demanding with funding," which he considered "a boost for the projects that Benidorm presents."

For all these reasons, Pérez wanted to "involve all citizens in this success because it is very beneficial for the city."

The schedule for the work is expected to be completed before the end of 2029.