By Posted 24 January, 2025 In Construction , Construction project management , Development , HNWIs , Hospitality , Hotel , News
A French celebrity fashion designer who has devoted his career to designing elegant ladies’ shoes, has found his latest development rejected by a local Alentejo council.
Christian Louboutin is currently trying to get planning permission to build an 80m2 brick and masonry residence on the roadside at Praia da Vigia, Grândola that violates rules stipulated by Rede Natura 2000. (Nature Network 2000).
The French designer had opened a hotel in Melides called ‘Vermelho’ in 2013 and is currently building another on the left-bank of the lagoon slated for opening in 2026.
But the proposed house is one of 42 illegal constructions that the council identified at the beginning of December last year and says it will demolish it.
The designer was in the process of building the house on the protected strip on the right bank of the Melides lagoon when he received an embargo order from the municipal services.
This Louboutin project was also the subject of a complaint to the Public Prosecutor’s Office for violation of the urban planning rules in force within the scope of the Natura 2000 Network.
Christian Louboutin is one of the high-profile international VIP personalities who chose the parish of Melides, in the municipality of Grândola, as a getaway home, but also as a place to invest.
Worth an estimated US$1.2Bn, Christian Louboutin is a member of Interdital Melides, a non-profit association created in 2020 that brings together landowners, farmers, local land managers, tour operators and other community members, and which aims to “promote the adoption of good environmental practices by local economic agents” and also “defend, recover and guarantee the environmental management of water ways, lagoon, dune areas and coastlines around the Melides Lagoon”.
The Mayor of Grândola, António Figueira Mendes, told the business daily Negócios that the infraction was detected during a routine visit and had nothing to do with the person per say but was part of normal inspection procedure.
It is unclear what step the designer will take next to try and resolve the issue.
Image: Melides – Turismo de Portugal