A planned 120-acre logistics park beside Málaga Airport has been pushed back into environmental review after its previous clearance expired.
La Loma I, backed by the Almería-based Alvores Group and promoted as Parque Logístico T4, had spent about five years moving through the planning system without securing final approval when the four-year environmental clock ran out on April 11, 2026.
That makes the project a useful case study in how business expansion, road capacity, and environmental oversight can collide. The site could become a major new freight and employment zone for the Costa del Sol, but its future now depends as much on truck access, streams, airport noise, and public infrastructure as it does on demand for logistics space.
The permit clock ran out
The developer submitted the detailed land-use plan in February 2021, and the simplified strategic environmental process began soon afterward. Andalusian officials issued a favorable environmental report in 2022, while Málaga City Council did not grant initial planning approval until Oct. 4, 2024.
Initial approval was not the finish line. After objections and mandatory agency reports extended the process, the environmental clearance reached the end of its four-year validity and the developer had to begin a new simplified review with the regional sustainability department.
A repeat assessment does not mean the land has suddenly been judged environmentally unacceptable. The earlier report concluded that the plan would not have “significant effects on the environment” only if preventive and corrective measures were incorporated, so the new procedure must confirm that those safeguards still fit the updated design.
Roads are the biggest test
So, what is actually stopping the project? The toughest objection came from Spain’s Ministry of Transport, whose roads department issued an unfavorable report and linked the development to the Western Metropolitan Distributor, a route planned by the Andalusian government about 20 years ago.
The proposed road was intended to move heavy traffic between Málaga’s freight transportation center and Churriana, but it was never built. The ministry also called for the nearby A-7 interchange roundabout to be reshaped into an ellipse after the developer’s study indicated that the current junction would perform worse once the logistics park was operating.
The developer has filed revised documents, and the city says a new connection can reach the A-7 without relying on the delayed distributor. Traffic design will shape noise, local air quality, and everyday travel around Churriana, while a planned public transit corridor and green buffers are intended to limit conflicts with nearby neighborhoods.
What the review must protect
The original environmental decision was favorable, but heavily conditional. It required protections covering water resources, public waterways, waste, soil quality, the natural environment, archaeological heritage, aviation restrictions, and climate change.
The land is crossed or affected by the Ciriano and Bienquerido streams and another unnamed watercourse. Planning documents say the flood-prone area surrounding the unnamed channel must remain open space without buildings or infrastructure, while the proposed water boundary still needs validation from regional authorities.
Groundwork also requires archaeological monitoring, particularly near the Pizarrillo site. Airport noise adds another hard limit, since the affected land cannot be designated for homes, schools, or health facilities, even though some houses already stand inside the project area.
The scale is substantial
La Loma I covers just under 120 acres. The initially approved layout reserves about 21 acres for green space and nearly 26 acres for new roads, while allowing a maximum of roughly 1.83 million square feet of building floor space for logistics, productive, business, and commercial uses.
The site infrastructure work alone is valued at more than $53.7 million using the European Central Bank’s July 17, 2026 reference rate. Next door, the separate La Loma II plan covers about 103 acres, taking the two proposed logistics sectors to roughly 223 acres based on their currently published areas.
That represents a substantial extension of Málaga’s urbanized edge toward the Hiperronda ring road. Still, the available planning records provide no firm construction start, opening date, or verified job total, so the economic benefits remain prospective rather than guaranteed.
Homes sit inside the plan
Owners of homes on three plots asked the city to redraw La Loma I so their properties could remain. Planning officials rejected the request because the airport noise footprint prevents any part of the new logistics sector from being classified as residential.
For the families involved, this is not an abstract land-use map. The city says owners may receive compensation for the value of legally established homes, demolition expenses, and relocation rights where applicable, but only after the legality of the properties is demonstrated.
Another condition sits outside the environmental file. Regional infrastructure officials issued a favorable report, but site work cannot begin until ownership of the A-7051 road between Churriana and Alhaurín de la Torre is transferred to Málaga City Council.
What happens next
Málaga’s planning portal still lists La Loma I as “in process” rather than finally approved. It now needs renewed environmental clearance, a road-access solution accepted by transportation authorities, and the A-7051 transfer before infrastructure work can begin.
Civil Aviation has already given its approval, but that does not remove the other hurdles. La Loma II also remains at an earlier planning stage, meaning the broader logistics district beside the airport is still far from becoming one coordinated construction project.
La Loma I is not being held up by one environmental objection. It is stuck where freight demand, road engineering, water management, airport rules, and property rights all need to line up.
The planning notice was published on Málaga City Council’s Urban Planning Portal.
