The San José Obrero de Orihuela Diocesan College Foundation is in negotiations with at least two property developers to sell the hostel-camp that it has owned for decades in Guardamar del Segura.
The land occupies about 8,300 square metres and was acquired by the Diocese thanks to a donation made in 1962 by Antonio Tárraga Escribano.
The enclosure, which has three pavilions with bunk beds, kitchens and sports courts, last renovated in 1988, has served as accommodation for children and young people under guardianship of the foundation. It has also been used by other groups and associations that requested it.
During the 2019 DANA it housed the residents of the Oriol occupational centre when their facilities were flooded.
The school is focused on secondary education and vocational training and on the integration of children who come from difficult family situations, including abandonment, homelessness, maladjustment, poverty or marginalization.
Although the land was a private endowment, in the General Development Plan of Guardamar it appears as residential.
Running alongside the N332 just south of Guardamar, it is close to one of the best beaches in the province, 400 metres of pine forest and dunes, and would accommodate more than twenty single family homes.
From the point of view of real estate development, it is a site that has many possibilities.
The possibility that the Colegio San José Obrero, one of the centres with the greatest tradition of social work in the province, is selling the site has caused surprise and discomfort among parishioners, not so much because of the possibility that the facility will be lost, it is possible that the sale could finance other projects with the same social objective, but because of the lack of information and transparency of the sale.
