L’Hospitalet de LlobregratA rat of imposing dimensions strolls through the entrance of the Can Rigalt farmhouse, some land in the Pubilla Cases district of l’Hospitalet de Llobregat. He does it among weeds that are confused with the dirt made up of all kinds of waste: cans, papers, food scraps, garbage bags. One day this was the main entrance to a respected manor house. Almost a year ago, a small fire broke out in this abandoned piece of land. The cause: a burnt mattress. The condition of the building is even worse. With the entire facade full of graffiti, it is only standing because the first of the two floors is completely propped up. To enter it is to risk one’s life.
The farmhouse has been owned by Barça since 1997, when former president Josep Lluís Núñez bought it. But, practically since then, the club has ignored its conservation despite the fact that it is listed as a cultural asset of local interest and that the crest on the door threshold is an asset of national interest. The consequence has been that the farmhouse has deteriorated to the point that its appearance is typical of a B-series horror film. “The image is deplorable. This is a chakra we have in the neighborhood. It’s a focus for drug addicts and it’s full of shacks,” Daniel Giménez, head of the Pubilla Houses neighborhood association, told ARA.
And the problem is not just the farmhouse and its entrance. The land that Barça owns in Can Rigalt, just over a kilometer from the Camp Nou, occupies more than five hectares and also includes much of the open field at the back of the farmhouse and other neglected areas around the building . “The only thing Barça does is send someone every seven or eight months to cut the grass and wash his face a little”, continues Giménez. Now you can’t enter the compound through the main entrance, the one on the Collblanc road, because someone has put a chain on the majestic iron door, notary of what this place once was. But, on the other hand, there is no problem to access it from the back, on Avenida Manuel Azaña. The fence surrounding the grounds is open, you can go in and out without any hindrance.
There is no security either. “There were 28 people living in the farmhouse until six or seven years ago. Then we got Barça to cover up the building and put a 24-hour security guard there. But later the watchman left. Then, they put in a solar panel and surveillance cameras that no longer work,” laments Giménez. The commitment that the Blaugrana entity sealed many years ago when it acquired the land has been forgotten: to rehabilitate and leave the farmhouse as it was originally in order to hand it over to the City Council, responsible for deciding what equipment it does
ARA has asked Barça if it plans to take any action and they have preferred not to comment on the matter. For its part, the City Council of l’Hospitalet de Llobregat assures this newspaper that “it is in talks with the owner [el club] to deal with the conservation of the heritage building”. For its part, the association of residents of Pubilla Cases says that they are thinking of “going directly to the Generalitat de Catalunya to demand that something be done”.
Barça reevaluates the grounds
Meanwhile, Joan Laporta’s board closed the 2021-2022 financial year by revaluing its land in Can Rigalt. The figure that appears in Barça’s latest accounts is 33.3 million euros, much higher than the 8.44 million assessed by Josep Maria Bartomeu’s board in 2017. “An update of the assessment was requested of the property and this reflected that the market value was higher than what was in the accounting books”, argue club sources.
The spokesman for the Pubilla Houses residents’ association assesses the revaluation as follows: “It is planned that, at one point or another, 1,200 flats will be built in Can Rigalt. Barça revalued the land because that way, if the houses are built, they will have a higher cost and they will be able to get more money out of it.”
The doubt of the hospital
Beyond the housing that was planned to be built in Can Rigalt, the other major project for these lands is the construction of the Hospital General de l’Hospitalet de Llobregat, an old promise included in the Metropolitan General Plan. But the residents of Pubilla Cases are skeptical after, a few weeks ago, it was announced that the expansion of the Hospital Clínic de Barcelona will take place in the sports area of the University of Barcelona (UB) on Diagonal. This new hospital will be located just one kilometer from Can Rigalt.
Despite this, the Generalitat keeps on the table the promise to make it a reality. With one but: he is pending the formal transfer of the land, which is not his property. The first move in this chess game should be the relocation of the Red Eléctrica electrical substation in Can Rigalt. “Barça is one of the three majority owners, who, according to an agreement signed some time ago (in 2004, with Laporta as president), must take charge of the transfer of the substation. The cost that will have to contribute will be defined by the property ownership coefficient of the land”, explain sources from the council of Hospitalet de Llobregat. The Can Rigalt land compensation board has agreed to hire a specialist company to draw up a draft of the transfer and the costs it would represent.