“Comment is free, but facts are sacred.” — C. P. Scott, 1921.
Proposed tower at the Palace of Congresses: a 20-storey estimate
Erblin Vukaj · Originally published: 1 December 2025
Land and development rights for a tower, estimated here at 20 storeys, in “exchange” for renovating the Palace of Congresses. This is the model the government has chosen to finance work on a building listed as a Category II Cultural Monument.
The case adds to a long series of similar projects in which the public interest fades into the background of intensive development favouring the commercial interests of private builders in Tirana.
The Corporation’s call
The Albanian Investment Corporation (AIC) opened on 27 November its call for a “duo: design and investment offer” for the “Revitalisation of the Palace of Congresses” project, with proposals accepted until 26 January 2026. The call envisages redesigning the interior and exterior spaces and constructing a mixed-use tower combining hotel accommodation, services, a shopping centre and housing.
The private partner gains access to 4,760 m² of public land around the Palace and the right to develop up to 50,000 m² of above-ground floor space. Using a typical site-coverage ratio of 30–50%, this article estimates a building of up to 20 storeys; the cited parameters specify floor-area limits.
The area’s site plan points to the garden behind the building, near the roundabout on Papa Gjon Pali II Street, as its likely location. The transfer process for this land, currently used as a park, began with the City Council’s July approval, followed by government decisions moving administrative responsibility to the ministry in July and ownership to AIC in September.
Designers are free to provide shared parking for the existing building and the tower, while the sole condition for the Palace itself is “preserving the original architectural elements without altering the existing volume”.
The works requested as early as January by the Directorate of Government Services, which administers the Palace of Congresses, include workspaces for the Directorate, offices, conference facilities and multifunctional spaces for artistic and cultural events.
AIC’s call cites two rounds of partial restoration within ten years, for Pope Francis’s visit in 2014 and what its document calls the “Berlin Summit 2024”. It nevertheless argues that these works are insufficient to bring the building up to contemporary standards.
The institution justifies the intervention by referring to Construction Institute reports identifying problems with water entering the basement floors, air conditioning, plumbing and technical systems.
An opaque process, decisions without transparency
The first signs of a new tower emerged on 24 July, when the City Council approved transferring the 2,261 m² garden behind the Palace of Congresses for the AIC project, nearly half the total land now being offered for private development.
During that session’s debate, the Socialist majority acknowledged that it had no technical information about the proposal. Tirana’s acting mayor, Anuela Ristani, said she did not know whether a tower would be built, whether there would be a redesign, or even whether the Palace of Congresses might be demolished. Her colleagues nevertheless voted in favour.
As Citizens.al reported at the time, AIC’s first call, published on 1 April as “Renovation of the Palace of Congresses”, was entirely empty: no explanatory reports, no assessments, no plans. This approach fuelled opposition suspicions that the process was designed to offer public land to private developers under the vague idea of “renovation”.
The garden was thus transferred through an accelerated procedure, without transparency about the construction plans, public consultation or guarantees that the green space would be preserved. AIC’s call openly confirms the chosen model: meeting private interests ahead of citizens’ interests, even in buildings of architectural and historical value to Tirana.
The government seems unable to find money even to renovate a historic building such as the Palace of Congresses, a cost the budget could easily cover without having to give anything in exchange.
But this is not the first time the government has applied the same formula.
The cases repeatedly followed and criticised by Citizens.al involving “Selman Stërmasi” Stadium, “Asllan Rusi” Sports Palace, the “Zyber Hallulli” Children’s Home, the “National Library”, the former Albanian Telegraphic Agency and others underline the point.
* Editorial clarification, 9 October 2026: The cited call parameters set floor-area limits; 20 storeys remains this article’s estimate. The land-transfer chronology distinguishes the 31 July 2025 decision moving administrative responsibility for parcel 7/74 to the ministry from the 10 September 2025 decision transferring that same 2,261 m² parcel to AIC ownership.
As later context, the Public Procurement Agency bulletin of 9 December 2025 states a 45% financial-offer baseline for AIC, measured against the multifunctional building’s total development area. This documented detail postdates the original article of 1 December 2025 and is therefore presented here as later context.
The wording “Berlin Summit 2024” is attributed to the AIC qualification document. The government’s event record dates the Tirana Berlin Process summit to 16 October 2023 at the Pyramid; that record does not, by itself, establish when work on the Palace of Congresses was carried out.