Major Real Estate Projects in Madrid to Attract €10.5 Billion in Investments

21 August 2018

Some of the outsized projects for the coming years include the northern Madrid construction, the expansion of the Barajas airport and the Canalejas project.

Madrid will soon be the target of multi-billion euro investments in major real estate and urban development projects, upgrading the Spanish capital’s image in the coming years. The investments will lead to the construction of housing, skyscrapers, hotels, shopping centres, university campuses while also renovating some football stadiums and demolishing others.

Madrid Nuevo Norte, under development by DCN; Aena’s real estate project for Barajas; the Canalejas and Caleido project, along with the renovation of the Bernabeú stadium and the Mahou-Calderón development will involve total investments of €10.5 billion.

Four new skyscrapers

Madrid Nuevo Norte is the most ambitious project and the one that has been the longest in the making. Formerly known as Operation Chamartín, the project involves the construction of 365 new buildings in Madrid, including 10,500 flats and three skyscrapers in the vicinity of the Chamartín train station, in the north of the capital.

Construction of the project, which had been paralysed for a quarter of a century, is expected to begin in 2019. If the developer manages to keep to the announced deadlines, reparcelling and development will start by the end of next year or early 2020, and the first homes will be ready by 2021 or 2022.

Considering the sheer magnitude of the project, which will have a buildable area of 2.66 million square meters, construction is expected to last for more than two decades. Madrid Nuevo Norte will require €6 billion in investments and should create roughly 120,000 jobs during the construction phase and 94,000 posts after its completion.

A building known as the fifth tower will be erected in the area surrounding Madrid Nuevo Norte. The Caleido project will involve investments of €300 million and should be ready by the end of next year. Inmobiliaria Espacio, of the Villar Mir Group, was awarded the development and operationalisation of the project on public land in 2014 and is leading the development together with Megaworld, a conglomerate held by the Filipino billionaire Andrew Tan.

The project will include a 36-floor, 165-meter tower, which will house IE’s new, vertical campus, and a second building, 280 meters long and 60 meters wide, that will host a sports medicine centre operated by Quirónsalud.

Aena’s planned project for the land adjacent to the Barajas airport also stands out. The airport manager is forecasting a total investment of €2.997 billion over the next 40 years.

The project, with 2.7 million buildable square meters, will have logistics warehouses, offices, hotels and even a shopping centre. The company chaired by Maurici Lucena is searching for partners to develop its plans and, for now, the Blackstone fund and other major investors have demonstrated interest.

The Canalejas project, under development by OHL and Mohari Limited, a company owned by the Israeli executive Mark Scheinberg, is located in central Madrid. The venture, which will link seven historic buildings, will host Spain’s first Four Seasons hotel, along with luxury homes and a shopping area. The project is expected to involve €300 million in investments and is expected to be ready by 2019.

Madrid’s real estate and urban development plans will also affect the iconic Santiago Bernabéu stadium. In April, the city council gave the green light to a plan for reparcelling land for the new stadium, which will involve an investment of about €400 million.d

Housing at the Calderón

1,300 homes will be built on the grounds of another stadium, the Calderón, the former home of Atlético de Madrid. The sale of the land is expected to raise about €175 million in investments from any future buyers (developers), in addition to the more than €42 million stemming from the reparcelling project for the stadium and the grounds of the old Mahou factory.

Original Story: Expansion – Rebecca Arroyo

Translation: Richard Turner