Futuristic 'Motor City' next to Cheste circuit on the cards
Futuristic 'Motor City' next to Cheste circuit on the cards
A 'MOTOR City' costing over five billion euros next to the Ricardo Tormo circuit in Cheste (Valencia) is on the cards and could be open to the public by 2019.
Tycoon Mariano García Montes, the architect and technical designer behind Valencia's state-of-the-art Oceanogràfic aquarium, has put forward the plans and so far the regional government appears impressed.
Montes' business partner Carlos Martínez de Coca – a Valencian builder who fell victim to the housing market crash five years ago, has been seeking out private funding for the themed exhibition centre.
He presented the project, titled The Garage, at the Goodwood Motor Fair in the UK yesterday (Friday).
Land extending to 1.5 million square metres alongside the Cheste circuit has been bought from the bankrupt development firm Coperfil, based in Catalunya, which intended to build a logistics park in the area costing 100 million euros.
This has been left at half-mast after the company went into receivership.
Montes and Martínez de Coca, co-directors of the firm The Up54, predict that the Motor City will provide permanent jobs to up to 40,000 people and attract 10 million visitors a year.
Most of the major motor manufacturers are keen to get involved, say Montes and Martínez de Coca, and they have toyed with the idea of including the Cheste circuit itself within the complex – either via a franchise or through buying it off the regional government.
Among the major events they hope to stage there are a Spanish branch of the annual Goodwood Speed Festival.
They have already done a fair bit of their homework and, among investors who have expressed an interest is the Arab syndicate which attempted to bid for Valencia FC.
Regional minister for the economy Máximo Buch says he will not stand in the way of the plans, provided private investment is guaranteed from the start.
The themed complex will not involve any public funding.
