Tenerife "Building of Death" Faces Compulsory Purchase After Tourist Incident
Santa Cruz City Council has approved the compulsory purchase of Tenerife's abandoned "building of death," a 22-storey hotel linked to five fatalities, after tourists were filmed dangerously close to its edge.
A video has emerged showing two tourists walking dangerously close to the edge of an unfinished building in Añaza, Tenerife. They were holding mobile phones and had no safety gear. British media, including The Sun, picked up the footage this Friday, with the newspaper calling the structure the "building of death."
Construction on the hotel in this Tenerife neighbourhood started in 1973 but stopped just two years later. The 22-storey concrete structure, which still stands on crumbling foundations, has been abandoned ever since and has been linked to five deaths.
The British newspaper reported that police made the tourists leave after municipal workers alerted them. Officers also reportedly warned the pair that they could face fines of over £500 (around €576). The "intruders" apparently got into the building by breaking through a wire mesh fence, despite warning signs.
In recent years, the abandoned hotel has become a popular spot for Instagrammers, urban explorers, and young people seeking thrills, even though local residents have repeatedly complained and protested, demanding its demolition. Indeed, at least five people have died at the unfinished hotel, with the most recent victim being a minor who fell to her death in early December 2025.
The Urban Planning Department of Santa Cruz City Council has now approved the start of a compulsory purchase process for the old, unfinished hotel. This move, which includes notifying the former owners, is in response to the building not fulfilling its social purpose as an unfinished construction without a valid permit.
Zaida González, the local councilwoman, confirmed yesterday that "the expropriation file, once signed, is being processed to notify the two Spanish entities we have on record – Comunidad de Bienes Santa María and Promociones y Servicios Los Guíos (Progrisa) – of the action."
In 2018, the city council decided to fence off the site and put up multilingual warning signs outside, highlighting the danger of entering the illegal, half-built structure. Also in 2018, work began to trace the owners of the private building.