demolition of the cretu mansion ! ?

  • Thread starter Thread starter icebaer69
  • Start date Start date

should cretu´s mansion be demolished or not ?

  • yes

    Votes: 2 14.3%

  • no

    Votes: 10 71.4%

  • don´t know

    Votes: 2 14.3%
  • Total voters
    14
  • Poll closed .
"...
Sala Fine

A judge in Palma has ordered the Town Hall in San Antonio to pay a fine
if the demolition of the Michael Cretu mansion is not carried out by March.

The order issued by the court states that the mayor will be liable to pay
€1,000 per month from 1st March until 1st July whilst the property remains untouched.
After this period the amount will rise to €600 per week.
If the money is not paid, the court maintains the right to embargo personal belongings
of the mayor, who will be held directly responsible and could face further charges.

The decision came in the aftermath of an official complaint to the courts
by the environmentalist group, GEN, for what it sees as continual delaying tactics
of Sala's administration.

In response the Town Hall issued a statement claiming the reason the demolition
had so far not been carried out was due to the delaying tactics of the owners
and the vast amount of red tape which needed to be undertaken before the work
could be legally undertaken.
It continued that it had originally been given a timescale of 21 months,
and that it was just three months over this deadline.
..."
(ibiza-sun)
 
"...
Demolition Delayed

Michael Cretu's lawyer has asked for a two month extension to the demolition order
so his client is able to safely and securely clear the house.

The deadline officially finished on 24th February, but the Romanian music producer
has asked for more time.
His lawyer, Jaume Roig, claimed his client was willing to accept the demolition
of the property built on the side of a mountain in Santa Innes;
however he wanted the work to be carried out in a responsible manner
so as not to affect the other properties close by.

He continued that Cretu had now found somewhere else to live but that the house
would not be available until May.
He had also managed to find storage facilities for all of his possessions,
(possibly in Germany), but that it would take time to load everything onto trailers
and ship it out.

Meanwhile, the Town Hall revealed that for its part, it was simply waiting
for court permission to enter the property.
Joan Pantaleoni claimed that when this had eventually been granted,
the administration's quantity surveyor would be sent to the mansion
to begin planning the work.
He dismissed the latest attempts to win more time by Cretu as delaying tactics,
and said the time for action had now arrived.

For their part the Balearic Supreme Court reminded the Town Hall that it was given
18 months to carry out the work in a sentence announced over four years ago.
This leaves them with few excuses for not having carried out the work.
..."
(ibiza-sun)
 
"...
Nobody Home :lol:

The deputy mayor, Joan Pantaleoni, announced on Wednesday
his administration had applied for a permit to enter the Cretu property.

He claimed officials from the Town Hall had gone to the mansion,
located on a hill-top in Santa Innes, to try and begin the long process
of planning the properties demolition.

However, there was nobody at home,
and no way of entering the chalet. :lol:

They have therefore contacted the court in Palma to issue them permission
to enter the house by force, to begin the long overdue work.

The deputy mayor also revealed that Mayor Jose Sala was preparing
an appeal against the decision by the courts to personally fine him,
due to the delays which have besieged the case.
These fines will start at €1,000 per month,
rising to €600 per week from July.
..."
(ibizasun)
 
"...
Fine Begins

On Tuesday the deputy mayor, Joan Pantaleoni, revealed the mayor had paid
the first of the fines ordered by the judge in the Cretu case.

The Supreme Court ruled Jose Sala was responsible for the delay in the demolition
of the mansion, which is now 18 months overdue.
He was then ordered to pay €1,000 every month up to July,
and then €600 each week until the court order is carried out.

Pantaleoni revealed the mayor had appealed against the decision,
but that in the meantime he would be paying the fines.
It is not clear if anyone else from his administration chipped in to help,
although his deputy assured everyone Sala had paid the money from his own pockets.

Meanwhile, Pantaleoni revealed the Town Hall was still waiting for the court
to issue a permit to allow them forced entry on to the premises,
with the company who won the contract to carry out the work,
waiting in the wings.
..."
(ibiza-sun)
 
"...
D-Day Closer

The deputy mayor of San Antonio, Joan Pantaleoni, on Thursday announced
that the Town Hall had finally received authorisation from the judge
to enter the Cretu house and start demolition work.

He revealed that municipal technicians would be sent to the house
within the next few days to "check out the state of play", as they wanted
to do their very best not to cause any unnecessary damage to furniture, etc.

He continued that the Navarra based company, Erri-berri SL, had been contacted,
and would be coming to the island with the necessary equipment
after the Easter holidays.

The Town Hall now has three months to carry out the work, although Pantaleoni
remains confident it will be finished well before that cut-off date.
..."
(ibiza-sun)
 
"...
Nearly Empty

The removal of furniture and personal possessions from the Cretu mansion
continued through the week, with the Town Hall admitting 90 per cent
had already been cleared.

Technicians were currently working on transferring water and electricity
to the small house at the entrance to the complex
which has remained unaffected by the court's decision.

Meanwhile, the machinery necessary to carry out the demolition
was being transported from the mainland,
and should all be here this week.
..."
(ibiza-sun)
 
"...
2qwd91e.jpg


cretu´s lawyer demands a compensation of 18 million euro
for the demolition of the house.
..."
(http://www.ultimahora.es/ibiza/segunda-ib.dba?-1+1007+472329)
 
omg - the end is near !

"...
14 years after the first accusations against the building of that house
the demolition (with heavy machinery) starts today.

cretu-mansion (probably) gone within the next 21 days ...

2ev9j40.jpg



... ecologists of the GENE ... consider that the demolition of the cretu-mansion represents
"a before and a later in the town planning from ibiza ...",
before the city hall "gave licenses to any place and at any rate,
now, thanks to this case, they are beginning to comply to the laws".

"Many people in eivissa did not have faith in which this house was knocked down,
because believed that the money was a vaccine against the compliance of the law,
but they can see now that even wealthy people should comply to the laws" ...

ra56bm.jpg


ddi and demolition-workers aren´t allowed to take fotos of the house/demolition.
..."
(http://www.diariodeibiza.es/seccion...-finca-Cretu-para-iniciar-completa-demolicion)
 
"...
... yesterday at 9.16 o'clock began the demolition of the cretu-mansion:


2wbxf90.gif


2cwr1p0.jpg


joan pantaleoni from the san antonio´s city hall said that they won´t pay cretu
the 18.000.000 euros he wants for compensation, but that the city (= taxpayers)
will have to pay him a compensation based on the buiding-license which cretu had.

he recalled his disagreement with the demolition,
the house should have been used for some public purposes ...
..."
(http://www.diariodeibiza.es/seccion...itiuses-i-Balears-casa-Cretu-bajo-excavadoras)
 
They are actually very legal! all of them!
The villas are beautiful with a unique vue: the sea.
The person that maintains everything in order wanted houses that goes with the color of the stones and hills (not trees), they fit very well and most of all this houses are beaituful, there is even one with a lift!
Unless you live or are a gardner or something like that you cant go in that neighbouhood as its private but if you want a house with a view on the sea...well this is the place!
 
"...
18 Million Euro House by Enigma's Michael Cretu Torn Down by Bulldozers

34xgj00.jpg


Cretu took nine years to build the house,
with an architectonic style halfway between a monastery and a castle.
Photo: Vicen Mari /El Pais.


IBIZA, SPAIN.- Tractor trailers worked without a license during six months in 1996 to shave the top of a hill in the zone of Corona in Sant Antoni de Ibiza. French musician, Michael Cretu (Bucharest, 1957), the soul of music group Enigma, obtained a construction permit one year after initiating the construction of a dream home that measures 3,150 square meters. Fourteen years and a pile of lawsuits after, other tractors are tearing down the house since a judge ordered this action. Cretu has valued his house at over 18 million Euros.

"They had been warned it was illegal. This is a victory that we wished we had not celebrated but it is historic because it was a brutality”, said Neus Prats of the Studies of Nature Group (GEN-GOB), who headed the legal action against the house until it reached the Supreme Court. Cretu took nine years to build the house, with an architectonic style halfway between a monastery and a castle, reason for which he shaved off three meters from the hill. To absorb the visual impact, he surrounded the house with palms and other trees.

"Cretu’s house could have been used as a public space”, said the Populist Party (extreme right Spanish political party) mayor, Joan Pantaleoni, who denies that the musician will be paid the 18 million euros saying that he was only allowed to build on 700 square meters.

Cretu was born to a Romanian father and a mother of Austrian ancestry. His uncle, Ion Voicu, a famous Romanian violinist and the director of the Bucharest Philharmonic told Michael's parents that he has talent in music and as such, he studied classical music at Liceul Nr. 2 in Bucharest in 1965 and in Paris, France in 1968. He later attended the Academy of Music in Frankfurt, Germany from 1975 to 1978, attaining a degree in music. Cretu was taken on as a keyboard player and producer for Frank Farian, the German mastermind behind successful acts of the 1970s and 1980s such as Boney M and Milli Vanilli.

In the 1980s, Cretu took over production for the pop quartet Hubert Kah and started writing songs with the band leader Hubert Kemmler, achieving a number of hits. Among his other work, Cretu was also one of the producers of Mike Oldfield's 1987 album Islands, specifically on its sixth track, "The Time has Come" and the producer of Peter Schilling's 1989 album The Different Story (World of Lust and Crime), specifically on its first track, "The Different Story (World of Lust and Crime)."

Cretu met his future wife, Sandra Lauer (later Sandra Cretu), when he was playing keyboards on the band Arabesque’s live touring show. In collaboration with several Hubert Kah band members, he co-wrote and produced several successful albums and singles for her, beginning with the song "Maria Magdalena" which topped the charts in 21 countries. The band was simply called Sandra, although Sandra's full name is now often used for filing and identification purposes. Cretu married her on 7 January 1988. They have twins named Nikita and Sebastian, who were born in 1995. Michael and Sandra divorced in November 2007, citing "personal and professional differences".

Another band of Cretu's was called Moti Special ("Cold Days, Hot Nights"), which Cretu produced and performed with in the mid-1980s.

He owned the first A.R.T. Studios in Ibiza before moving to a new mansion in the Ibiza hills. His new house, on the western coast of Ibiza, is a Moroccan-style mansion and was designed and built over nine years by Bernd Steber and Gunter Wagner. It also features a brand new, state-of-the-art recording studio, which saved the original name, from which he hopes to release more albums in the future.

His house was deemed ilegally built and in infringement of Spanish environmental regulations.
It began to be demolished by Spanish authorities in May 2009 ...
..."
http://www.artdaily.org/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=30767
 
"...
DEMOLITION DAY

Fourteen years after the first official denuncia was made, the demolition
of the mansion sitting on a protected mountain in Santa Innes,
owned by Romanian music producer, Michael Cretu, has begun.

The excavators belonging to Erri Berri, a Navarra-based company,
arrived in Ibiza on Wednesday morning and were transported to within two kilometres
of the property.
Due to the narrow tracks leading up to the house they were unloaded, and the long,
slow march to the mansion started.
The journey lasted an hour, and as quickly as the gates to the property were opened,
they were again closed.

Reporters and photographers were banned from passing,
and even workers carrying out the demolition were prohibited from taking photos.

The two excavators were tested and then stood silent overnight.
At 9:16 a.m. the machines were started up and the demolition process began.

The work had, in fact, started several weeks ago as doors and windows were "dismantled".
However, the truth was they were smashed to pieces by the mob
sent up to begin the job.

The company confirmed that the demolition of the 3,000 m2 property would take
up to four weeks, although experts closer to the action said it could be far less.

Meanwhile Cretu's lawyer, Jaume Roig, demanded the reopening of the case into
damages which was suspended in 2004 until the judge had made his final ruling
on the matter.
The musician is demanding a total of €18 million in compensation for the mansion,
which was built having received permission from the Town Hall.
Included in this will be the costs of the demolition work, set to top €300,000.
Roig said they were willing to negotiate, but that if their attempts failed
they would not be afraid to take the matter to court.

Deputy Mayor Joan Pantaleoni admitted some compensation would have to be paid,
but it would be nowhere near the amount being demanded by Cretu.
In any case, he said, the figure would be based on the original permit granted
which was 700m2, even though the building is now thought to be over 3,000m2.

Meanwhile, the Island Council tried to distance itself revealing it would not be helping
the Town Hall foot the bill for damages, as it was solely responsible for the claim.
President Xico Tarres said that if the proper procedures had been followed from the start
then the Town Hall would not be in the problem it currently finds itself.

The theme was continued by the opposition party, who demanded the Town Hall
stopped acting like the victim. They declared that if it had acted correctly from the start,
all of the existing problems could have been avoided.
PSOE-ExC Councillor Pep Mari went further and demanded those responsible,
including the mayor and technicians who originally awarded the building permit,
were made to pay the compensation which will surely be handed to the music producer.

Meanwhile, it became clear Cretu had abandoned the island.
Several months ago he put all of his properties on sale,
and it appears he will not be returning to the island he has called home
for the last 15 years.

15d8gg1.jpg

..."
(ibiza-sun)
 
"...
The Story So Far

Whilst the demolition of the Cretu mansion continued through the week,
more questions were being asked about who, exactly, was to blame for the tragedy
which could see the Town Hall paying out millions in compensation.

Cretu's lawyer remains confident the Romanian music producer will be able
to reclaim a substantial amount, and whilst most agree it will not reach
the €18 million currently being demanded, most people acknowledge
he will receive something,
after receiving all the licenses necessary to build the property.
What remains clear is that the figure is likely to financially cripple the municipality.

The truth is that most in power never thought the day would come
when the bulldozers finally moved in, remaining confident a loophole
would eventually been found.
However, the tenacity of the environmentalist group, GEN, has eventually ensured
there was no last-minute grace, as the walls came crashing down.

Michael Cretu's name first appeared in the Diario de Ibiza in 1996 a year after
deforestation had begun on the mountainside in Santa Innes, which had been
designated a protected area by recent legislation (LEN).
The article included a quote from the GEN party which claimed it would take the case
to court if a license was eventually awarded.
However, the mayor at the time, Antonio Mari Tur, ignored the warnings and issued
a building permit on 29th April 1997 for a house of 770 m2.
Work began soon after.

GEN insisted the license be annulled, claiming construction was taking place
at the "summit" of the mountain, something which was also forbidden.
This claim was repeatedly denied by both Cretu's lawyers and the Town Hall.
Both, along with the PP-run Island Council, set out to produce a plethora of reports,
which eventually totalled 17, all of which found in favour of the issuing of the permit.
However, none of these reports tackled the key issue of whether permission could
be given to a property in a LEN-protected area, a fact which Mayor Mari Tur
later admitted in court.

However, GEN did not let up and continued presenting denuncia after denuncia
at the Town Hall, until eventually deciding to take the case to the law courts.
Meanwhile, work on the property continued, with the first picture of the completed
mansion appearing in Paris Match in 2001.
Just weeks after, the Town Hall awarded the project its "fin de obra", the license
issued when work has been finished and the Town Hall has checked it has been
carried out according to the plans.
This came as a surprise to many, because Cretu had clearly built more than 700 m2.
The same year GEN had their first success when a court in Palma declared a license
should not have been awarded and the mansion would have to be demolished.
Mari Tur was quoted as saying he was genuinely surprised at the decision.

However, this was merely the first round of an eight year legal battle
which ended this year.

In 2003 the court decided to launch an investigation into the issuing of the license,
the same year as Jose Sala Torres took over as Mayor of the municipality.
He, not surprisingly, backed the decision of fellow PP-party member Mari Tur and
announced he would try and legalise the mansion during his first administration.
He lived up to his word and in 2004 convinced the PP-run Balearic Government
to include a clause in their new building regulations which legalised properties,
curiously, with the exact same characteristics as the Cretu-mansion.
The legislation became known as the Cretu-amnesty, but did not last long
as the Supreme Court declared it null and void soon after.
The Town Hall slowly began using up all its avenues and eventually demolition
began after it was forced to contract the Navarra-based company, Erri Berri,
which began work last week.

Meanwhile, a bemused and desolate Cretu abandoned the island,
and is unlikely to ever return, although his name will forever be remembered.

The story is not yet over,
and could still have a monumental financial effect on San Antonio.
..."
(ibiza-sun)
 
I bet the guy Cretu wasn't a happy chap after seeing 9 years of building his dream home now flattened by the local authorities in just a matter of weeks, lol.
 
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