Emel’s new parking lot in Beato is also provisional
About a month ago, EMEL opened a new parking lot at Hub Criativo do Beato, but similarly to what happened in the Graça neighbourhood, this park is also temporary and will be dismantled in the future. For that same space, which now has 63 parking spaces, the construction of a new four-storey building is planned, as part of the Creative Hub project of Beato and intended for work spaces. The fact that it is a temporary park was not publicly disclosed at the time of its inauguration, on 16 November, but it was confirmed to DN by EMEL and by Lisbon City Council.
According to the municipal parking and mobility company, the new car park “was created to support the Beato Hub and above all to provide more parking for residents and merchants in the area”. “Due to its temporary nature, EMEL was worried about building a functional space but with low investment”, adds the company, in response to the DN. On the opening date, EMEL had stated that the construction of that space represented an “investment of approximately 51,000 euros”. As for the period in which the park will be in operation and the data foreseen for its dismantling, the company makes no progress and sends the matter to the city council for decision: “The future of this space is in the hands of the Lisbon City Council”.
The municipality, in turn, says that “it was necessary to supply the parking needs of the buildings that are nearing completion” at Hub Criativo do Beato, so that it was “necessary to move forward with a provisional solution”. Although he also does not put forward dates, he adds that “this provisional parking solution is expected to work until the opening of the parking silo to be built, which is currently being negotiated in the services” of the chamber and which should have a capacity for three years of spaces.
According to the municipality, the final solution will be the construction of a “parking silo to be installed in lot 18” of Hub Criativo do Beato, which “will provide around 300 parking spaces”. The park cover will be level with Rua do Grilo and “should function as a public space with a garden and children’s playground, responding to a need of the surrounding community”. The new building must “ensure pedestrian access between Rua do Grilo and Rua da Manutenção Militar”.
According to the services led by Carlos Moedas, the conditions for the parking silo project have only recently been improved: “The contracting of the definitive parking solution was pending the acquisition of full ownership of this space by the Lisbon City Council, the that just happened recently.”
Designed as an innovation center for creative and technological companies, the Creative Hub of Beato is located in the former military maintenance factories, where flour, bread, pasta, biscuits were made, on the eastern riverfront. Now, the 18 buildings are being converted to services, restaurants, creative industries, company headquarters, a museum and housing. For the space now occupied by the temporary car park, which is part of the “third and final phase of development of the Hub Creative project of Beato”, the construction of a “new building for work spaces, with four floors above the threshold level, with a buildability of about 7000 square meters”. In a project that suffered several delays compared to the scheduled dates, the first spaces should open in 2022.
the precedent of grace
It is not the first time that EMEL has resorted to temporary parking solutions in the capital – and it is not the first time that this has not been publicly disclosed. Recently, in the neighborhood of Graça, residents were faced with the closure of two car parks, with 146 spaces, which had been opened in 2017. On the opening date – in one case with the presence of the then mayor, Fernando Medina , and the São Vicente Parish Council – nothing was said about the temporary character of the spaces. Residents only became aware of this a few months ago when the two car parks were boarded up – and yet without any explanation on the spot.
In the case of the Graça car parks, the two spaces are part of the renovation works of the former convent, which will be transformed into a five-star hotel. For now, although one of the parks has been closed since July, and the second since September, the works have not started yet. A few weeks ago, merchants in the Graça area circulated a petition asking for the decision to be reconsidered, complaining about the impact that the closure had on local businesses, as this is an area in the historic center where it is difficult park.