Drago & Murias Invest €50M To Build Melilla’s First Shopping Centre

25 October 2017 – Eje Prime

Drago Capital is adding a new project to its portfolio. The real estate manager is finalising the launch of Parque Melilla, the first shopping centre located in the autonomous city of Melilla. The group, which has joined forces with Grupo Murias (to take care of the construction work) has invested €50 million in the project, according to explanations provided by company sources to Eje Prime.

The shopping centre, which is being commercialised by LyC Consultores, has been built on land that formerly housed the Valenzuela Barracks. It will have a gross leasable area (GLA) of 34,600 m2 in total, spread over two open floors, with parking for 1,350 vehicles.

The centre will be a mixed format retail park style (given that the gross leasable area will range between 20,000 m2 and 39,999 m2), with an area that will house a hypermarket along with small and medium-sized stores for fashion and services, and another space where the large format operators will compete.

According to Drago, the construction work is being carried out in record time: the starting gun was fired in September 2016 and more than 80% of the property has already been built. At the moment, Drago is working on fine-tuning the premises of the various operators and the centre is expected to open before the end of the year. The whole project will generate around 580 direct jobs and around 800 indirect roles when it opens its doors.

The centre is almost completely occupied. 85% of the premises have been leased to fashion, electronics and sports groups, as well as restaurant chains. Some of the brands that are going to open stores in the centre include H&M, Decathlon, Springfield, C&A, Inditex, Eroski, Worten, Inside, Multiópticas, Cortefiel, Primor, Guess and Levi’s.

As a result of this shopping centre, Melilla will lose its title as the only Spanish region without this format of retail offering, which will serve as a gateway for brands that do not have a presence in the city yet. The population in Parque Melilla’s catchment area amounts to almost 400,000 inhabitants.

Since its inception, Drago Capital has launched and managed fourteen investment vehicles encompassing more than 1,200 properties in Spain and Portugal. The company is dividing its business in two. On the one hand, Drago Capital has developed its asset management business, which offers services ranging from administrative management to property management, as well as the implementation of divestment and refinancing strategies.

The group also manages several investment vehicles on the Iberian Peninsula, in which large institutional investors hold stakes. Drago primarily manages two types of vehicles, those involving private capital and those involving managed accounts and joint ventures, which are specific vehicles oriented at covering the specific real estate investment needs of institutional investors (…).

Original story: Eje Prime (by Custodio Pareja)

Translation: Carmel Drake