Real estate developer Territoria signed an agreement with Banco Internacional to buy the site of the former Sanatorio Marítimo San Juan de Dios, a seaside hospital in Viña del Mar, in the Valparaíso region. There it plans to build a "Mercado del Mar" (Sea Market) facing the beach on avenida San Martín.
According to La Tercera, the deal depends on the company obtaining all the permits the project requires. The company did not disclose the purchase price, the estimated investment or the development timeline.
Territoria is the group behind Mercado Urbano Tobalaba (MUT), the retail and services center in Las Condes, and NIDO Lucía, both in Santiago. Its recent developments also include Campus Santander, now under construction, and the transformation of the Bolsa de Santiago (Santiago Stock Exchange) building.
The lot covers about half a hectare and sits at the level of 15 Norte, a few meters from the Vergara pier, on one of the busiest stretches of Viña del Mar's waterfront. The health facility operated there from 1932 to 2010.
After it closed, the site was earmarked for a five-star hotel with a 21-story tower, according to BioBioChile. Construction began in 2015 and stopped in 2022, leaving an unfinished structure in the heart of the comuna's (municipality's) tourist district.
The new project includes dining, seafood sales, local shops and cultural activities in an open space connected to avenida San Martín, the beach and the coastal promenade. The company says it aims to draw activity year-round, not just in summer.
"We want this place to become part of the city's life again, as a natural extension of the existing promenade," said Ignacio Salazar, general manager of Territoria. He added that they hope the market will be "genuinely viñamarino" (true to Viña del Mar).
The firm said the initiative is at a conceptual stage. It said it will study how to incorporate the existing structures and the memory of the old sanatorium, and that it will work on the design with the Municipalidad de Viña del Mar (city government), residents, chambers of commerce and tourism, and heritage organizations. There is still no date to present the project or to apply for permits.
