The Muñoz tower on Passeig de Gràcia with Diagonal will return to activity. A decade after the Generalitat sold it in a finally failed operation, the Government has decided to rehabilitate it, with works that will last until 2030 and will cost around 27 million euros.
The building, which stands next to the Palau Robert garden, will become a large citizen service center, and the headquarters of various organizations. Among them are the Consell de l'Audiovisual de Catalunya (CAC), the Autoritat Catalana de la Competència (ACCO), the Oficina Antifrau de Catalunya (OAC), the Centre d'Estudis d'Opinió (CEO) and the Comissió Jurídica Assessora, as detailed by La Vanguardia.
For this, the building must be comprehensively rehabilitated to adapt its more than 6,000 square meters of surface to its new uses. With the transfer of these organizations to their new centralized location, the Generalitat will save about 75 million euros in 20 years ---49, if the cost of the reform is deducted---. In fact, the purchase is part of the Government's strategy to prioritize the use of purchased spaces over rented ones.
However, the reform of the building not only pursues this savings objective, but also to bring the administration closer to citizens, even in the digital age. With this objective, the ground floor will house a large citizen service office, as the Generalitat has detailed to TheNBP. This new large office, with 800 square meters, will be able to serve about 100,000 people a year, which will make it the most important in terms of volume of inquiries.
The Generalitat has owned the Torre Muñoz since 1981. Then it acquired it along with the Palau Robert, and located dependencies of the Department of Business in the building. It was in 2015 and due to the economic crisis when it decided to sell it, in a package that also included the then headquarters of the Secretariat of Employment, on Sepúlveda street.
Both buildings were sold for a total of 63 million euros, but the buyer did not pay more than the initial reservation. After a judicial process, the Supreme Court ruled in 2021 that the Muñoz tower belonged to the Generalitat, which now brings it back to life with its reform.