Quantico/Albatross Acquires Café Embaixador Building in Porto

17 October 2018

The real estate company Quantico SA, in partnership with Spain’s Albatross, acquired the Café Embaixador building in downtown Porto and will transform the property into a high-quality housing project. Recently, the two companies announced their acquisition of the Montevideu mansion, in Foz, an iconic, seafront property that will be converted into luxury housing. The two properties are part of the Vesta Real Estate Fund’s portfolio, which – according to Quantico – is not yet complete. The fund expects to announce new acquisitions in the near term.

Graça Medina, a board member at Quantico, confirmed the acquisition of the building where the Café Embaixador is located, on Rua Sampaio Bruno, and its pending conversion into a high-quality residential project. The rehabilitation of the property will involve the construction of 18 one-bedroom flats for the high-end segment.

According to the executive, Quantico/Albatross is “continuing to look for assets to invest in, both in Porto and in Lisbon, not only to complete the fund’s investment mandate, but also to start a new cycle of betting on major development projects for the domestic market.”

The Café Embaixador itself was not included in the transaction

Quantico/Albatross’s recent acquisition of the building included the 1st to the 4th floors. The ground-floor, where the well-known Café Embaixador, belongs to other owners.

The executive stated that, at the moment, she has no definitive figures on the expected sales price for the flats. She added, however, that “the projected prices will be in line with those practised for this type of investor profile.”

The flats will have areas ranging from around 60 to 75 m2. The total gross building is about 1,500 m2.

Predibisa, who was also involved in the sale of the Montevideo building, intermediated the sale of the property.

Building’s entrance is on Praça da Liberdade

The building’s façade is well preserved, though the interior is very degraded, and runs from Rua Sampaio Bruno, 1 to 13. The building’s entrance though, is through Praça da Liberdade 119, next to BBVA’s headquarters.

Praça da Liberdade – which goes from Avenida dos Aliados to the Intercontinental Hotel – is one of the areas downtown where a lot of the tourist activity is concentrated, and most of the buildings in the surrounding area are being remodelled for housing, hotels and commerce.

Embaixador was located within the Pinto Leite bank

The Café Embaixador, which “opened its doors to the public for the first time in 1957, is housed in a building formerly occupied by a bank called Pinto Leite,” its website states.

It adds that “it was one of the very few cafés to counteract the natural tendency of the time to turn iconic cafes into big banks.”

Decorated in an Art Deco style, Café Embaixador has undergone several major renovations over the past years.

The establishment itself has had few owners. “It was initially owned by the Magalhães and Ferraro families, later by the Brandões and Alves brothers, and recently by three partners named Elias Jorge, José Lino and José Perestrelo,” who took over its management in 2003, according to the website.

What is undeniable is that it is one of the most famous cafes in Porto and often frequented by tourists.

Original Story: Idealista – Elisabete Soares

Photo: Google Maps

Translation: Richard Turner

Email

Linkedin

Twitter

Google