In the 22,000-square-meter area where the Porto-Boavista Railway Station once operated, a new street, ‘Rua A’, will extend for 156 meters, linking Rua 5 de Outubro to Avenida da França. Another street, ‘Rua B’, will stretch 179 meters, connecting Rua de Helena Sá e Costa to the future ‘Rua A’.
“The new roads will serve several important buildings, including the new Casa da Música metro station, the buildings that will house the El Corte Inglés store, as well as the headquarters of Metro do Porto,” states a descriptive document from July 2025, attached to the licensing process for the parcelling operation with urbanization works.
The document also notes that the future streets could potentially accommodate STCP bus lines diverted from the Boavista roundabout by the metrobus.
The parcelling project has been awarded to MVCC Architects, led by Mercês Vieira and Camilo Cortesão, the architect responsible for designing the metrobus stations on Avenida da Boavista.
The land, owned by IP, has had a preliminary information request approved since September 2020, dividing the area into three parcels.
Parcel 1, spanning 8,147 square meters, will house El Corte Inglés, featuring three underground floors and six floors above ground, with a maximum height of 25 meters. This is in accordance with an urbanization contract to be signed between the municipality, IP, and El Corte Inglés, as detailed in the licensing process.
The maximum building area designated for commerce and services in this parcel is 52,613 square meters, and the maximum area allocated for parking, storage, and technical areas is 19,490 square meters.
As stated in the document, once IP transfers the surface rights of this parcel to El Corte Inglés, the space will be under the Spanish chain’s possession for 99 years, extendable by an additional 45 years.
While Parcel 1 is promised to El Corte Inglés, the other two parcels, totaling 3,980 square meters, will remain with IP, which plans to build 100 new residential units and allocate a small portion to services.
Lusa has inquired IP about the type of housing intended for these parcels and is awaiting a response.
On July 28, 2000, IP (formerly known as REFER) and El Corte Inglés signed a promise agreement for the constitution of surface rights, subject to several amendments over the years. In this agreement, IP promised the Spanish chain a set of lands included in the public railway domain of the State.
According to documents attached to the licensing process, El Corte Inglés will pay IP 29.4 million euros for the land, a significant portion of which has already been paid since the 2000 promise agreement.
Lusa has contacted El Corte Inglés to ascertain how many businesses will operate in the new commercial space and is awaiting a response.
On February 8, 2022, the former railway station was removed from the State’s railway domain, as announced in an order published in the Diário da República, which also facilitated its demolition.
