Month: March 2022

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March 28, 2022

Last week’s highlight was Solyd’s €260-million investment in a new project in Miraflores.

After a relatively serene period week before last, the real estate market gained a new lease of life. With the end of the month approaching, the real estate market has picked up speed again. The most important news came from investments in the hotel sector, where new units in the north of Portugal were inaugurated.

Right at the beginning of the week, the inauguration of the Sé Catedral Hotel Porto was announced, in an investment of 23.8 million euros. Sé Catedral Hotel Porto, part of the Tapestry Collection by Hilton, results from an urban rehabilitation project. The new 4-star hotel unit is Mercan Properties’ new investment in the centre of Porto. This is the first project under the Tapestry Collection brand, which belongs to the international Hilton group in Portugal. The result of another Mercan Properties’ urban rehabilitation project, it will be managed by Ace Hospitality Management (AHM). Sé Catedral Hotel Porto has 77 rooms, a restaurant, a bar and a café on the terrace overlooking Porto’s Sé Cathedral.

Meanwhile, the sale of three logistics warehouses in Porto Alto to Bedrock Capital and Europi Property was announced in the logistics sector. The warehouses are located in the Porto Alto Industrial Park and total around 40,000 m2 of gross construction area. The assets were owned by a real estate investment firm and have now been acquired by a joint venture between Bedrock Capital Partners and Europi Property Group. The value of the transaction was not disclosed.

Meanwhile, another hotel unit was inaugurated in Aveiro after an undisclosed investment. The 1877 Estrela Palace, a new luxury hotel unit, is in the city’s historic centre, under the management of Unlock Boutique Hotels, responsible for managing various units throughout the country. The new hotel has nine luxurious rooms and suites. The building is an old 17th-century manor, considered an ode to luxury in the heart of Aveiro. It is in the historical centre and has stunning views of the main channel of the great Ria de Aveiro.

At the end of the week, the most significant investment of the week was revealed, as Solyd invested 260 million euros in a new project in Miraflores. The real estate developer, SOLYD Property Developers, has launched its latest urban project in Miraflores, called MIREAR. The project has 426 residential units, 25,000 m2 of above-ground gross construction area for the development of workspaces, and 23 commercial spaces. MIREAR is the new multi-purpose project that includes 5 residential buildings, 1 office block and shops, located in a premium area in the heart of Miraflores.

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The biggest investments and main highlights of the last week in Portugal’s estate market.

March 21, 2022

The highlight of the week was Incus Capital’s acquisition of the Santander building in Lisbon.

After an impressive start to the month, Portugal’s corporate transactional and investment markets were relatively subdued last week. Towards the end, though, the property market showed its usual vigour once again.

At the start of the week came the announcement of Qriar City’s 70-million-euro investment in three buildings in Alta de Lisboa. The land in Portugal’s capital city has a buildable surface area of 25,655 square metres, next to Lisbon’s Parque Oeste. The property was sold by SGAL – Sociedade Gestora, at the end of February. A total of 148 new homes will be built on the land by the Brazilian group Qriar City. Spread across three buildings, it will include 74 two-bedroom properties. The remainder will be split into two and three-bedroom (or more) flats, plus another 8,600 square metres of balconies and terraces. A tender will be launched in the first half of 2022. Estimates are that construction will begin in early 2023 at a cost of 45 million euros. It is not yet known who will be in charge.

Meanwhile, Bondstone announced the start of work on the GREENSTONE luxury development in Porto. The residential project located in Foz, Nevogilde, represents an investment of over 28 million euros and is being built by ACA – Engenharia & Construção. The construction of the luxury development has already started, and the project is expected to be concluded by the end of 2023, with more than 30% of the units already sold. The Greenstone will consist of seven different three-floor modules, comprising 36 villas with unobstructed views. The residences will consist of two, three or four-bedroom flats, including duplexes, “Garden Villas” and “Town Houses”, with private gardens – and penthouses, and “Sky Villas”, with private terraces and in some cases including a swimming pool on the top floors.

Finally, in one of the largest transactions revealed last week, Santander sold an office building in Lisbon to Incus Capital. The asset was Banco Popular Portugal’s former headquarters, acquired by Santander in 2017. Rua Ramalho Ortigão, 51, in the Praça de Espanha area, was sold to a fund managed by Incus Capital, a pan-European investment firm based in Madrid with offices in Lisbon. Brainsre.news Portugal learned that the investment amounted to 55 million euros. The property is a major real estate asset in the region of Praça de Espanha, with more than 24,000 sqm of surface area, including the main building and two independent blocks. The main building has ten above-ground floors (11,657 m2) and three underground floors below, with 296 parking spaces.

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Highlighting the week has the Fortera Group’s 500-million-euro investment.

The month of March has had a surprising start, particularly in this last week, in which not a day passed without news of important news of investments or transactions in Portugal’s real estate market. The residential sector saw special emphasis, which showed itself unequivocally to be the most dynamic by the end of the week.

On Monday, the Fortera group announced the implementation of a new concept in all its new buildings, likely in a €500-million investment. Alive by Fortera will receive an initial investment of around 115 million euros. In comparison, the group is forecast to invest 500 million euros over the next five years, including 1000 new homes. Their unique concept aims to revolutionise how we live and think about housing. Fortera Properties informed that it would design infrastructure for its buildings, introducing the ‘Alive by Fortera’ concept, which consists of a series of new services and amenities that will make resident’s lives easier: from spaces for sharing knowledge to leisure activities, and also moments of interaction, joint spaces for coworking, etc.

Meanwhile, the 700-flat residential development “Jardins da Seara” will go up in Vila Nova de Gaia in a 100-million-euro investment. The SPintos S.A. Group and Chave Nova – Mediação Imobiliária, Ltd. will develop the complex. After the conclusion of the architectural project, construction will begin in mid-April 2022. Sales of the one, two and three-bedroom flats will begin this month. The development is divided into ten lots, in around 70,000 square metres aboveground including homes, retail and services.

Earlier last week, it became known that BPI Imofomento acquired part of Hotel Intercontinental do Estoril for 22 million. The BPI fund bought 62 of the building’s 88 flats from the Turístico II Closed Investment Fund. The deal was finalised for 4.4 million euros, below the property’s last valuation of 26.3 million euros. The agreement includes a 20-year lease contract, and the hotel management will remain in charge of the Intercontinental group.

The week was already ending when a new investment was announced, the NOOBA in Barreiro, which may reach 130 million euros. With a total gross area of 98,360m2, the real estate developer Solid Sentinel’s residential project consists of 518 one-to-five-bedroom flats, with prices starting at €189,000. The project was designed by the architect Miguel Saraiva. This most recent residential real estate project in Barreiro will be the target of investments of between 110 and 130 million euros. The complex is will be built on the riverside and is designed for local families and young professionals. The building will have an A-level energy certificate, intelligent energy management in common areas, and the systematic use of natural light and ventilation to optimise its overall energy efficiency.

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The highlight of the week in Portugal’s real estate market was the sale of Project Lucia, a portfolio of non-performing loans.

The last two years have undoubtedly had a major impact on the tourism and the hospitality sectors, but they have nevertheless maintained their strength faced with such adversity. Proof of that came again last week in the form of important announcements regarding significant investments in hotels and resorts.

The NPL (Non-Performing Loan) market also saw a major deal, announced at the end of the week. BCP finalised the sale of the non-performing loan portfolio Project Lucia. The Lúcia portfolio, comprising non-performing loans with a nominal value of €60 million and real estate assets worth €50 million, was sold to LX Partners in partnership with Cabot. Millennium BCP will continue its efforts to clean up its balance sheet.

The week was starting when Coporgest announced a €116 million investment in a new resort in Troia/Comporta. The real estate developer will build the new five-star tourist development on the Alentejo coast on land that Coporgest acquired from Sonae Capital in December 2020. The project should be completed in 2025, and pre-sales of the various villas and flats are scheduled to begin in mid-2023. The new resort includes a 5-star hotel with 58 rooms and suites, including two presidential suites, 38 villas and 91 tourist flats. The resort will be situated close to the beach, and every unit will have sea views.

Further north, in Arcos de Valdevez, the Luna Hotels & Resorts Group is preparing to inaugurate the Hotel Solar de Requeijo. In a global investment totalling 4.1 million euros, the new hotel comprises 27 rooms and suites. A deal between the municipality and the Luna Hotels & Resorts Group facilitated the acquisition and conversion of the vacant manor house into a hotel, whose inauguration is imminent.

Another important investment emerged at the end of the week, with Mercan Properties investing €187 million in three Marriott hotels. Mercan Properties has signed an agreement with Marriott International to operate three hotels in Portugal. The hotel projects are located in Lagos, Lisbon and Vila Nova de Gaia. Management will be handled by Ace Hospitality Management (AHM). They are the Marriott Lagos, in the Algarve, the Moxy Alfragide Lisbon and The Riverview, a Tribute Portfolio Hotel, located in Vila Nova de Gaia.

The State of the Portuguese Real Estate Market in February

The month of February saw both positive and negative events and reports, though they are not expected to harm the real estate market in Portugal.

The real estate sector has overcome, in various ways, the turbulence of the last few years, regularly demonstrating its resilience. On the one hand, pandemic-related restrictions are being increasingly eased, providing a boost of confidence to every sector of the Portuguese economy. On the other hand, the end of the month brought the news of a devastating war that is likely to roil the worldwide economy.

However, last month, even with Carnival, was a period of impressive reports in investment and transaction markets. There was an enormous emphasis on one of the sectors that suffered the most over the last two years but which nevertheless maintained its dynamism. In this month of February, the announcements of hotel groups stood out from the other sectors, by the sheer number of planned investments.

Residential

The residential sector continued to provide a slew of new projects. Among others, a new condominium will go up in the Old Prado Factory in Matosinhos. The old sardine canning factory, which closed 20 years ago, will be completely refurbished and converted into 30 1-5 bedroom flats, just 200 metres from the beach, on one of the city’s main avenues. Marketing is the responsibility of JLL and Predibisa. The value of the investment was not disclosed.

Offices

Also in Portugal’s north, Sonae Sierra and the Ferreira Group announced that they would develop a state-of-the-art office complex in Porto. The project fits in Sonae Sierra’s strategy regarding cities of the future and the Ferreira Group’s strategy to be present in markets with high demand. With an investment of 42 million euros, the complex will be developed with a contemporary and flexible architecture and with demanding sustainability requirements. The office complex, designed by Broadway Malyan, will have modern architecture, emphasising flexibility, innovation, and sustainability, prioritising the quality of spaces, comfort and people’s well-being.

Logistics

Meanwhile, the German supermarket chain Aldi announced a €50 million investment in a logistics platform in Santo Tirso. Construction is expected to start in March, and the platform should be operational by mid-2024. The project will be built in the Ermida Business Centre on the land at Quinta da Chinesa. The logistics platform will occupy an area of 160,000 square metres, with 40,000 square metres of constructed surface area.

Retail

In the Portuguese capital of Lisbon, Principal announced that it had acquired a supermarket for 10.2 million euros. The space has a 15-year long-term lease agreement with Continente, Portugal‘s leading food retailer and part of the Sonae Group. Principal Global Investors acquired the supermarket in Greater Lisbon, Portugal, for its Principal European Durable Income Fund (PEDIF). The market in Setúbal has 2,700 m2 of surface area.

Hotels

In February, hospitality was the most prominent sector in the Portuguese real estate market. The Editory Riverside Santa Apolónia Hotel opened its doors after a 12-million-euro investment. The new 5-star hotel results from the rehabilitation of a part of the Santa Apolónia railway station in Lisbon. The Editory Riverside Santa Apolónia Hotel has a total of 126 rooms.

Meanwhile, the Vila Galé Group announced that it would invest around 35 million euros this year in four hotels in the Azores, Tomar and Beja. Among the news is the investment of 12 million euros in the renovation of part of the former Convent and Hospital of São Francisco, in Ponta Delgada, Azores, converting it into a boutique hotel in partnership with Santa Casa da Misericórdia. In the centre of the city of Tomar, Vila Galé will recover and refurbish several areas of the former Convent of Santa Iria and the Women’s College, with an investment of around ten million euros. In Beja, the hotel group has two projects in the pipeline: Vila Galé Nep Kids and Vila Galé Monte da Faleira. The former will cost about ten million euros. Vila Galé Monte da Faleira will involve an approximately three-million-euro investment in agro-tourism.

The IHG Group will also invest in new hotels in Portugal. The big news is the debut of the IHG brand, Staybridge Suites, which will open in Porto and Carcavelos. Porto, Cascais, Lisbon and Évora were chosen for five new hotels in which InterContinental Hotels Group intends to invest. The openings are planned for between 2022 and 2025. The total investment has yet to be disclosed.

Alternative Assets

Further south, the Fábrica da Cerveja in Faro will be converted into a creative hub. The investment by the Faro City Council will reach 13.4 million euros and is part of Faro’s bid to become the European Capital of Culture in 2027. The rehabilitation will take around five years to be fully completed and is intended for a network of local, regional, national and international partnerships. The intervention will go through four phases, and the first two may be completed in 2026 or 2027.

NPLs

Montepio announced that it is preparing to sell a bad debt and real estate portfolio, and the bank hired the Japanese investment bank, Nomura, to conduct the operation. The NPL portfolio is valued at around 1.4 billion euros, but initially, a portfolio of €500 million should leave the bank. The major players in the market have not been invited to participate. Nomura is in talks with a closed group of investors.