A major international congress centre costing €65 million is to be built in the port area of Alicante.
The building will consist of a central auditorium with a 2,000 seat capacity along with a second venue containing room for 500 people.
A conference room for 300 attendees will also be part of the complex as well as a 300-space car park.
The structure, which will begin construction in 2024, will also house the local headquarters for Suma.
The centre will be based at docks 7 and 9 at the port with a multifunctional capability to host more than just conventions.
Alicante mayor, Luis Barcala, said: “We have started a path of no return and we are not going to take a step back as this project allows Alicante to make a new qualitative leap to put itself in the place it deserves.”
A tender for a project design will be advertised next month and a panel of architects will choose the final design based on submissions from architectural firms in a competition, with cash prizes for the top five entries, and the winner getting €90,000.
The winning design could be announced in September and October, followed by a six month period where the victorious architects would complete the drafting of the final project.
When that stage is completed, the process would move to tendering a construction contract, which could begin in late 2024 and take around 30 months to complete.