Lisbon: Major Projects Under Construction

 

12 June 2017

New real estate developments have come back in the Portuguese capital. While restorations still dominate the market, large developments have begun to return. Diário Imobiliário surveyed the market to find out what is under construction and what has been just announced.

The development that really stands out is, of course, the Jardins de Braço de Prata, which is now called the Prata Living Concept. The project had its approvals “stranded” in government bureaucracies, including the Lisbon City Council, for twelve years. After the then developer, Obriverca, finally got a “green light” from the city council and relaunched the project, it was 2010 and Portugal, and the world, was in the middle of the economic crisis, and the moment was clearly not the right one for a large project and neither did the developer manifest the financial wherewithal to carry it out. The new stoppage continued until 2016, when the ambitious project finally restarted. It was designed by one of the great names in world architecture: the Italian Renzo Piano, author of the iconic Pompidou Centre in Paris, while the project is being advised by CPU Consultores, run by the architect Adriano Callé Lucas.

The venture is promoted by the Lisfundo fund, managed by Norfin, and is backed by CGD and Novo Banco.

The great Lisbon project

Prata Living Concept is an urbanization development, and it is the largest real estate project currently under development in the city of Lisbon, comprising a total of 498 homes and 244,032 square meters of gross building area.

The project provides for the construction of housing, commerce and services. The whole area surrounding the project will be landscaped, creating a large green area that will function as an urban park available to the residents of Lisbon. The project occupies nine hectares of land that belonged to the INDEP defence industry company and envisages a planned investment of 450 million euros. Located in front of the Tagus River in the Marvila parish, a few hundred meters from the Parque das Nações, the Prata Living Concept will fully enjoy the future Ribeirinho Oriental (Eastern Bank) Park that is in turn connected to the Parque das Nações marina.

The Belas Country Club development

The Belas Clube de Campo is also coming to the capital of Portugal. The André Jordan group recently announced an investment of 100 million euros in the construction of the first 200 units of what is called the Lisbon Green Valley project.

A diverse offering distributed between apartments, townhouses and lots of land for housing construction, with a total of 366 units, the Lisbon Green Valley is making a bold bet on the wealth and architectural sustainability of its products.

In addition to the first 14 townhouses and 19 apartments already under construction, the developers will also provide the new residential community with some infrastructure, including the construction of a João de Deus School (nursery to 6th grade), whose opening is scheduled for September 2019, and a healthcare facility.  A plot of land has also been reserved for the construction of an equestrian centre.

At the moment, these are the two largest projects under construction in Greater Lisbon. However, other smaller ones are also under construction. The Quinta do Paço Lumiar project is being built on an area of 14,557-square meters whose origin dates to the 18th century. It is comprised of seventeen townhouses, twelve three-bedroom and five four-bedroom, organized perpendicularly along a new street, all designed by the renowned Portuguese architect Eduardo Souto Moura. José António Teixeira, CEO of the RAR Group, the project’s developer, revealed at the time of launch that the market is booming again and that it was time to begin new ventures. “The market is showing signs of growth and with this being a project designed by the architect Souto Moura, I am convinced that it will be a success,” José António Teixeira told us.

Also noteworthy are the SottoMayor Residences, one of the largest under construction in the centre of Lisbon. This project is composed of 97 luxury apartments on Avenida Duque de Loulé, distributed among a group of four buildings dating back to the beginning of the 20th century. This is one of those projects where only the façade has been preserved, the rest of the buildings have been built from the ground up.

Another project at an advanced phase is the ‘Santos Design’, having eight floors and 6,000 square meters of construction. Comprised of 24 apartments, all having allocated parking, it offers apartments having between one and five bedrooms. The project is headed by Stone Capital, with architectural design by Atelier ARX, run by the brothers Nuno and José Mateus.

The Focus Lx building, in the heart of Lisbon on the Avenida António Augusto Aguiar, is also in the final stages of construction. It will offer 26 one to five-bedroom luxury apartments ranging in size from 85 to 256 square meters, spread over 14 floors (four of which are underground) and is promoted by AM48.

These are just a few of the undergoing developments and we don’t have space here to write about all of them. However, it can be clearly seen that new developments have come back to Lisbon, some already in an advanced stage of construction and others that will soon reach the market.

SkyCity arrives, revolutionizing the market

Another project is SkyCity, located in the designated area Serra de Carnaxide, with 49 detached houses, 66 townhouses and 255 apartments having two to five bedrooms, with areas that can reach 400 square meters. João Sousa, CEO of the JPS Group, told Diário Imobiliário that SkyCity is mainly focused on Portuguese customers, specifically middle and upper-middle-class families looking for housing and apartments in good areas, with quality construction, luxury finishes, pleasant surroundings, pool, and garages.  All just a few minutes from downtown Lisbon and priced very competitively.

Joao Sousa guarantees that the project is exceeding all expectations since 70% of the homes have already been sold. The first 10 lots that were launched included 50 apartments and were sold in a week.  About a month later another 10 lots with 50 apartments repeated the success.

“Soon we are going to put a further 50 apartments on sale. All between two and five bedrooms.  We will also have some retail spaces available, and with several customers already on 0ur waiting list, we hope to repeat our success in sales,” he explains.

Original Story: Diário Imobiliário

Translation: Richard Turner