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Ibosa emerges as ‘Queen of Valdebebas’ — purchasing land for 1,000 homes
21 May 2015 – El Confidencial
The co-op management group has presented to Spain’s Compensation Board an offer of 70 million euros for 40,000 square meters of land
Ibosa is about to become one of the largest owners and managers of residential land in Valdebebas. The co-op management group is buying slightly over 40,000 square meters of land in this urban development project, where about 1,000 homes – both subsidized and unsubsidized housing – are to be raised.
As far as El Confidencial has been able to report, the company has likely made an initial offer for around 70 million euros – about 700 euros per square meter – for land currently owned by the Compensation Board, with permission to build over an area of 113,000 square meters. Sources claim the company will have a ‘fellow traveler’ in this project.
The offer is currently pending for final approval by the governing council of the Compensation Board, which is expected to meet in the coming days. If it goes through, Ibosa Group will became one of the major real estate players in Valdebebas. In addition to the 1,000 homes it will be able to build in the area, the company has already built or ‘has in the works’ another 500 properties – almost 200 unsubsidized luxury homes and the remaining with some type of ‘social housing’ status – as part of nine projects. Overall, 1,500 homes are to be built in Valdebebas, on top of the approximately 12,500 planned ones, i.e. 12% of the total.
This deal highlights the growing appetite for purchasing land over recent months in Madrid, even, according to some experts, causing prices to start soaring.
Ibosa has made a 70-million-euro offer for the land currently owned by the Compensation Board
In the past two years, Ibosa Group has been one of the most active players in Madrid’s residential housing market. In November 2014, the company signed the second largest land transaction in Madrid, when it acquired train depots at Cuatro Caminos, owned by the Metro de Madrid, for 88.3 million euros. The company was also interested in a land lot, owned the Ministry of Defence, in Raimundo Fernandez-Villaverde but never made a bid. It ended up in the hands of another co-op management company, Domo, for 11 million euros.
In Valdebebas, Ibosa is currently working on the first projects it launched in this new neighborhood, with a clear commitment to providing quality subsidized social housing. Residential Caelum is a case in point, as it is comprised of 30 exclusive luxury housing units (VPPL, subsidized housing at limited price). In fact, seven of the nine projects in this new neighborhood in Madrid feature homes with some sort of social subsidies available. If the company ends up acquiring the lands of the Compensation Board, 900 out of the 1,000 homes that are to be built in the area will also have some kind of social housing status.
In October 2014, the Madrid City Council finally approved the plan for urban redevelopment of the area (called ‘la pastilla comercial’ in Spanish) in Valdebebas, including four fields located in the northwest, covering an area of 145,906 square meters. A huge shopping mall over three land lots was expected to be built in addition to a public green area. Commercial space will still be available after this amendment, but over a much smaller terrain.
“The original idea was to develop a regional shopping mall. However, the market trend in shopping malls has led us to reconsider our plans and reduce its size. As a result of this process of realignment, there is going to be a mall servicing only the district of Valdebebas and nearby areas,” explained the Compensation Board in a statement back then.
The 104,328-square-meter area that comprises three plots, at first meant entirely for tertiary and commercial use, has been redistributed: commercial space (44,571 square meters, about 56,000 building area); private and non-residential facilities (20,778) – a private school; social subsidized housing (37,492) as well as unsubsidized housing (3,250). In total, there will be 113,000 square meters of land to build homes on. In addition, 14,097 square meters will be allocated for building three new streets and a public square.
Original story: El Confidencial (by E. Sanz)
Translation: James Leahu