After five years of closure, Orihuela has taken a major step toward restoring one of the Costa district’s few community spaces. The City Council has approved a budget modification of €294,023 to fund the full repair of the Ramón de Campoamor Civic Center, closed since 2018 due to serious structural damage that made the building unsafe for public use.
The measure was approved through an extraordinary credit financed from the council’s budget surplus — a mechanism used for expenditures that cannot be postponed to the next fiscal year, according to the Official Provincial Gazette published on Wednesday.
Reopening Expected by Early 2027
The works are expected to take between six and nine months once the tendering process is complete. Based on these timelines, the neighbourhood association Unidos por la Costa estimates that the civic center could reopen in the first quarter of 2027.
Vox, which oversees the departments of the Costa and Citizen Participation, initially pushed to bring the project to the July plenary session. The long-awaited approval in October marks renewed hope for residents of Orihuela Costa, who have long called for the restoration of a cultural and social meeting space in an area with few public facilities.
A Vital Cultural Hub Left to Decay
Originally inaugurated in 2011, the Ramón de Campoamor Civic Center was conceived as a gathering place for the many neighborhood associations of the Orihuela coastline. It hosted cultural, educational, and leisure activities and included a small library that, in 2017, was dedicated to the poet Ramón de Campoamor to mark the bicentennial of his birth. The library featured a special collection of his best works for public consultation.
Over time, the center became a key part of community life in a district known for its vibrant yet underserved population. However, structural issues forced its closure five years ago, since when the building has stood abandoned and overgrown with weeds, with reports that a homeless person has been sheltering behind the premises in recent months.
Serious Structural Damage
When Councillor for Citizen Participation Anabel García visited the site in March last year alongside the project architect, the extent of the deterioration was clear. Engineers identified multiple structural pathologies: the collapse of the perimeter walkway, water infiltration through the basement retaining wall, diagonal cracks in internal partitions, bulging tiled walls, misaligned doors, vertical cracks in columns, and detachment of façade cladding.
The comprehensive restoration plan will address all these defects to make the building structurally sound and suitable for public use once again.
Plans for a New Civic Center
While the repair of the existing facility moves forward, the City Council is also pursuing a separate long-term project to construct a new, larger civic center on the coast. Announced in early 2022, the new facility is estimated to cost €2.5 million and would be located on Calle Madreperla close to La Zenia shopping center.
The planned complex would occupy a 12,298-square-meter plot, with 6,000 square meters of built area. The design includes a public plaza or green area of 800 square meters connecting the current site to the new one, along with a 1,000-square-meter surface car park.
To take advantage of Orihuela Costa’s favourable climate, the project also envisions an open-air auditorium of 2,500 square meters, featuring a covered stage with capacity for 2,000 spectators. The main building would include multipurpose rooms for community activities, a gym, changing rooms, administrative offices, and a 400-seat indoor auditorium. The ground floor would cover 980 square meters, with an additional 400 square meters in the basement.
Restoring Community Life on the Coast
For many residents and civic groups, the reopening of the Ramón de Campoamor Civic Center represents more than just the repair of a building — it is a long-overdue effort to revive cultural and social life in a coastal district often criticized for its lack of public infrastructure.
If timelines stay on track, Orihuela Costa could regain its most emblematic civic facility by early 2027, once again providing a vital meeting place for local associations, residents, and cultural initiatives across the community.
