Ekon Moves its Offices to 22@ and Sant Cugat del Vallès

The technology company is moving its corporate headquarters to the 22@ district and the Vallsolana Garden Business Park, in Sant Cugat del Vallès.

The technology company Ekon is going to move its corporate headquarters, previously located in Barberà del Vallés, to the 22@ district of Barcelona and to Sant Cugat del Vallès (Barcelona) over the coming weeks.

Ekon, which is in the middle of a growth phase, will move its Support, Development and Services departments to a 1,200-square-metre space in the Vallsolana Garden Business Park, in Sant Cugat del Vallès (Barcelona).

Blackstone Buys La Llave de Oro’s Project in 22@ for €100M

17 January 2020 – Idealista

Blackstone has agreed to purchase an office building that La Llave de Oro is currently constructing in Barcelona’s 22@ district, in a deal that is expected to be closed for €100 million. The property is located on Calle Sancho de Ávila and will have a gross leasable area of 17,400 m2, on a plot spanning 3,300 m2.

The purchase of office buildings off-plan is becoming a bit of a habit in the Catalan capital’s 22@ technological district after the German bank Commerzbank paid €132 million in December for two offices that Conren Tramway is constructing there.

Original story: Idealista 

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

Bonavista Developments to Invest €40M in the Construction of a 11,500 m2 Office Building in Barcelona’s 22@ District

13 January 2020 – El Periódico

Bonavista Developments, through Mitsubishi Estate London and Europa Capital, has completed the purchase of a plot of land in the heart of the 22@ district of Barcelona, on Calle Cristóbal de Moura, for an undisclosed sum.

The two companies are planning to invest €40 million in the construction of a new office building on the site. The new offices are expected to span a surface area of 11,500 m2 and construction is scheduled to begin later this year.

Original story: El Periódico (by Max Jiménez Botías)

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

Meridia Takes €83.5-Million Loan to Build Project in Barcelona’s 22@

21 November 2019 – A socimi controlled by Meridia has arranged an up to €83.5-million syndicated loan with CaixaBank and Santander to build the future headquarters of Everis in Barcelona’s 22@ district.

The firm’s real estate vehicle, Meridia III, requested the loan, which will be guaranteed by the plot of land located at Avenida Nova Icària 213, as well any future construction on the site. The loan will last until seven years after the end of construction.

Original Story: Expansión – Marisa Anglés

Adaptation/Translation: Richard D. K. Turner

Real IS Acquires Office Building in Barcelona’s 22@ District

3 August 2019

Real IS, a subsidiary of Bayerische Landesbank, has acquired the building located Avinguda Diagonal, 67, in Barcelona’s 22@ district. The building is currently leased to technology and marketing firms.

The asset, which was sold by a local family office, has a total area of 5,400 square meters, eight above-ground floors and three below-ground parking floors.

Original Story: Eje Prime

Adaptation/Translation: Richard D. K. Turner

BNP Paribas: Office Rentals Soar in Barcelona during Q1 2019

23 May 2019 – La Vanguardia

The office market in Barcelona broke historical records in terms of space leased and rental prices during the first quarter of the year, according to a report from the consultancy firm BNP Paribas Real Estate.

According to the data, 152,300 m2 of office space was leased during Q1 2019, up by 65% with respect to the same period in 2018, boosted by a 60% increase in demand for large spaces (those measuring over 3,000 m2).

According to David Alonso, Head of Research at BNP, the office market in Barcelona was traditionally dominated by SMEs demanding spaces measuring less than 1,000 m2. Nevertheless, since 2015, that trend has changed with the arrival of technological companies requiring larger offices, and since 2017, with the entry of coworking companies – the latter leased 22% of the space let during Q1 2019.

As such, 91 new contracts were signed during the first quarter of 2019, with the 22@ district as the main driver, accounting for 30 of the operations and 40% (60,900 m2) of the space.

Nevertheless, the two largest operations were closed in more secondary areas: the rental of 18,000 m2 in Sant Joan Despí by Gallina Blanca and the rental of 17,209 m2 on Gran Vía in Barcelona by La Caixa.

All of this activity drove up rents with prices in prime areas, such as the best buildings on the upper end of La Diagonal, reaching €27/m2/month, and some operations even reaching €30/m2/month, whereby exceeding the maximum recorded in 2008 (€27.5/m2/month).

Original story: La Vanguardia (by Rosa Salvador)

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

Telefónica Finalises the Sale of its Catalan Headquarters

4 May 2019 – Expansión

Telefónica is on the verge of selling its headquarters in Barcelona for more than €150 million in a sale and leaseback operation that will see the group continue to occupy 8 floors of the property, but on a rental basis.

The 16-storey skyscraper, known as Diagonal 00, has a surface area of 34,000 m2 and is located next to the Fòrum on the edge of the 22@ district. The property was constructed by the Consortium of the Zona Franca in Barcelona (CZF) as a turnkey project for Telefónica, which moved in in 2011.

The telecommunications giant went on to purchase the property from CZF in 2014 for €107 million plus VAT (€129.4 million) and is now selling it as part of its debt reduction process, which has already seen it divest businesses in Central America and the insurance company Antares.

Original story: Expansión (by M. Anglés & I. del Castillo)

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

Conren Tramway Buys a 8,000 m2 Plot in 22@ to Build Offices

18 April 2019 – Eje Prime

Conren Tramway has purchased a plot of land at number 162 Calle Almogàvers in Barcelona’s 22@ technological district, on the same block as another project that the firm is already working on, at number 97 Calle Badajoz.

The company, owned by the Hugas brothers and the German manager Conren Land, plans to build an office building on the 8,000 m2 plot. Construction work is expected to start next year and be completed by 2021.

Original story: Eje Prime 

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

Criteria Finalises the Purchase of a 8,000 m2 Building in 22@ for €35M

9 April 2019 – Eje Prime

InmoCaixa, the real estate arm of La Caixa’s holding company Criteria is finalising the purchase of a 8,000 m2 building located at number 331 Calle Llull, in the 22@ district of Barcelona.

The building is managed by the German fund manager GLL and the purchase price is reported to amount to €35 million.

The property is currently leased in its entirety, mostly to Torraspapel, the paper company belonging to the Lecta group, which occupies 7,000 m2.

Original story: Eje Prime 

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

BNP Paribas: 22@ Accounted for 36% of Office Investments in Barcelona in 2018

8 April 2019 – 20 Minutos

Investment in the office market in Barcelona amounted to €695 million in 2018, of which €253 million (36%) corresponded to the 22@ district, according to a report compiled by BNP Paribas Real Estate España.

The forecasts for 2019 reveal that almost 77,800 m2 of new office space will be handed over in the technological district alone this year, more than doubling the figure recorded in 2018.

In terms of the sizes of the offices leased last year, 40% measured between 1,000 m2 and 2,000 m2 and 30% spanned between 301 m2 and 1,000 m2. Meanwhile, just 18% exceeded 2,000 m2, whilst 13% were smaller than 300 m2.

The average purchase price rose by 20% to between €1,500/m2 and €1,600/m2 in prime locations of the 22@ district. In turn, rental prices grew by 8% last year, to an average of €16.7/m2/month.

The 22@ district is home to 42% of all of the companies in Barcelona with high-profile tenants of the calibre of Facebook, Hewlett Packard and King, as well as Glovo and Llacuna.

Original story: 20 Minutos (by Puri Caro)

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake