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20 Years On, Lisbon’s Largest Real Estate Development Is Back on Track and Is Already 80% Sold
3 December 2017
It is the most significant venture under development in Portugal’s capital, with about 500 apartments. The first phase of the Prata project has now been finalised.
The project has taken almost two decades to get off the ground, first due to licensing delays by various bureaucracies, then by the bankruptcy of the original developer, Obriverca. But this week, the first phase of the Prata development was formally concluded.
Located next to Matinha, the mini-city has a direct connection to the river and seems to be an extension of the Parque das Nações next door. Norfin, the company which manages the project that was inherited by CGD and Novo Banco, Obriverca’s main creditors, made a point of showing the site to journalists, in a visit accompanied by Elisabetta Trezzani, an architect at Renzo Piano’s studio, who designed the project.
Up to the present moment, two buildings with 30 apartments, connected by underground parking, have been finished. And in spite of the asking prices (between €400,000 for one-bedroom apartments and €2 million for top-floor six-bedroom duplexes), sales are proceeding at an excellent pace, with 80% of the properties sold (50% to Portuguese clients and 50% to international buyers).
The final project will have a total of 499 apartments, distributed in 12 lots, which each lot containing two buildings, which are limited to five floors in height. The project has an estimated global investment of €350 million, and the two banks have already shared the cost of €130 million. That figure covers not only the two buildings that have already been completed but also the previously built infrastructure, which include a public car park with 400 spots (which required raising the level of the ground, allowing views of the river even on ground floors), roads and part of the accesses to the main surrounding streets.
Considered the largest real estate development in progress in the capital, the Prata will occupy 244,000 sqm of construction. “This is going to be a neighbourhood in the city of Lisbon and, as such, it does not only envisage a residential component. It will have 19,000 sqm of land available for retail and restaurant areas, 7000 sqm for offices, probably including an entire building for this purpose, and a large central square where the famous statue of José Guimarães is located, which has now become an integral part of the development’s landscaping,” Brion Sanches, Norfin’s CEO, explained.
The next step will be to speed up work and move quickly on the construction of further buildings. “Our commitment with the banks is that only progress on the construction of additional lots may only occur after the existing structure has been more than 50% sold, but at this rate, it would take another ten years to finish the project. But we are reviewing this plan and renegotiating this issue to take advantage of the good moment that the real estate market is currently experiencing,” the executive stated, adding that if a consensus is reached the whole project will be completed within a maximum period of seven years.
Original Story: Expresso – Marisa Antunes
Translation: Richard Turner