Tag: Ana Botella

Ana Botella & 7 of Her Officials Sentenced to Pay €22.7M for the Sale of Flats to Vulture Funds

28 December 2018 – Voz Pópuli

The Court of Auditors has sentenced the former mayor of Madrid, Ana Botella (pictured below) and six high-ranking officials of her municipal Government to pay €22.5 million for the sale of 1,860 publicly owned flats to two companies owned by Blackstone, considered to be a vulture fund, for a price below that stipulated by the market in 2013. Another senior official, Fermín Osle, has been sentenced to pay more than €3 million for his role as the “accountant directly responsible” for the operation.

The ruling, revealed by Cadena Ser, concludes that the eight people now condemned “engaged in serious negligence” by not preventing “damage to public property” by selling the homes for €128.5 million when, according to the calculations of the Court of Auditors, Botella’s Executive could have received proceeds of more than €151 million.

The sentence is based on a claim filed a year ago by the current Government of the Spanish capital, led by Manuela Carmena, through the Municipal Housing and Land Company (EMVS). The ruling determines that the operations carried out by the Municipal Housing Company that reported into the Government “led to an unjustified impairment of public property”, which they estimate amounted to €23 million.

The other condemned officials are Enrique Núñez Guijarro, Diego Sanjuanbenito, Paz González García, Dolores Navarro, Pedro Corral and Concepción Dancausa, former delegate of the Government of Madrid.

They will appeal the sentence

The former mayor and her then municipal government team are going to appeal the sentence, according to sources, after hearing the content of the ruling, since “they do not agree with it”. They also noted that the Prosecutor of the court has already requested the dismissal of this claim “for not having any accounting responsibility”.

In the same way, they have indicated that the previous Governing Board of the Town Hall of Madrid “did not intervene directly or indirectly in the operation to sell the homes” to which the decision by the Court of Auditors refers. “Only, and in its capacity as the General Shareholders’ Meeting of the aforementioned company, did they ratify the feasibility plan that the EMVS’s Board of Directors had already approved”, they highlighted.

Original story: Voz Pópuli (by Carlos Frías)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Carmena Is Set To Build 1,000 Rental Homes For €60M

19 September 2016 – Voz Populi

The rebirth of the real estate market will soon have a new, unusual, player in its midst: the Town Hall of Madrid. The capital’s Town Hall is getting ready to fire the starting gun for the construction of the first rental homes that it plans to build during its legislature. For the time being, it will put out to tender the construction of almost 1,000 homes, with an initial investment of more than €60 million.

Social housing was one of the key pillars of Ahora Madrid’s election campaign during the municipal elections to govern the largest town hall in Spain, which were held in 2015. For the first few months, the municipality’s new team focused on getting to know the financial circumstances of the ‘Empresa Municipal de la Vivienda y el Suelo’ (EMVS), which starred in spectacular asset sales during Ana Botella’s reign at the Town Hall, all intended to alleviate the city’s economic difficulties.

The Town Hall’s plans now include constructing 4,000 new social housing homes in Madrid before the end of its legislature. Work will begin on a quarter of them within the next few months, once the ten contracts that the mayoress’ team is currently preparing have been awarded (…).

The Town Hall’s property development activity will be launched once the role of the EMVS to contract and put homes on the market has been activated again, following the restrictions imposed on it in recent years. Previously, the company was in a very delicate financial situation due to the collapse in value of the large volumes of land that it had acquired at the end of the real estate bubble and, therefore, at exorbitant prices.

Those circumstances meant that the company had to divest assets, including packages of homes sold to vulture funds, which generated a lot of controversy, which has now been declared void in the courts and by the investigation committee created to try to determine the legal nature of the operation.

In April 2016, the Town Hall injected €17 million into the EMVS, through a capital increase, an amount that was intended to allow it to continue cancelling its debt but which, at the same time, allowed it to relaunch the public company’s construction activity. The developments are located in the district of Vallecas and in the areas of Rosilla and Nuestra Señora de los Ángeles, although the Town Hall’s also plans to construct homes in other areas of the capital too.

This is undoubtedly an unprecedented move and not only in the public sphere, but also in the private. Many real estate companies have cancelled their development plans due to the collapse of the market and the lack of demand, together with the problems generated by the large volume of empty homes in Madrid. The contracts that the Town Hall will put out to tender mean that almost 1,000 new homes will be constructed within two years of them being awarded.

Original story: Voz Populi (by Raúl Pozo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Operación Chamartín: Carmena Cuts Number Of Homes By 75%

11 May 2016 – Cinco Días

Manuela Carmena, the mayoress of Madrid, has made her proposal for Operación Chamartín. Almost 25 years after the first plans were outlined, the team from Ahora Madrid revealed its plan on Tuesday, in an “open document”, according to the councillor, although the details have not been agreed or discussed with the site’s property developer, Distrito Castellana Norte (DCN), or with the other authorities involved. The Town Hall thinks that it should take charge of the city’s plans and so has presented this document to serve as a basis for negotiations.

The Town Hall has drastically reduced the number of homes in its plan, called Madrid Puerta Norte. From the 17,000 homes planned by the current developer, the Town Hall projects 4,600 homes (of which 1,000 will be social housing), representing a reduction of 75%. It also decreases the planned space allocated to tertiary use, by 15%, to 1.1 million sqm.

One of the points that will cause controversy, the buildability rate, is maintained at 1.05 m2, but that is because its calculation excludes all railway and road land, which means that the number of homes resuting from the calculation is significantly lower. Even so, sources in the sector say that the regional regulations approved in 2002 require the calculation of this ratio to include the railway land.

Carmena also proposes a business hub around Chamartín train station, whose profits would be used to finance the remodelling of the infrastructure for the Metro, roads and the station itself.

The last attempt to obtain approval for this urban development was undertaken last year, when the team led by Ana Botella (PP) approved the partial plan presented by the developer DCN (controlled by BBVA (75%) and Grupo San José (25%)) although it never received the green light from the Town Hall authorities.

DCN owns the rights to 61.6% of the land belonging to Adif, thanks to a contest won by the developer in 1993, organised by the Socialist Government of Felipe González. The agreement with the railway administrator, for which it would receive up to €1,300 million, is due to terminate on 31 December 2016.

“I would like us to see this as a starting point, for achieving synergies, rather than as a finished document” said Carmena, who will send the proposal to the Ministry of Development, the Community of Madrid and the development company. “We cannot evaluate the project because we do not know anything about it”, said a spokesperson from DCN. Now it is time to see whether there are enough points for negotiation.

For this reason, the Town Hall has reduced the weight of the infrastructures. It has decreased the proposed number of Metro stations from three to one, excluded another planned Cercanías (local railway) station and diminished the slabs required to bury Chamartín’s tracks underground by 90%.

Carmena also proposes the construction of a business centre around Chamartín train station, which is owned by Adif, whose profits will be used to finance the North Junction, the Fuencarral Junction and the renovation of the station itself. In this context, two iconic 40-storey skyscrapers will be constructed for office use, along with other buildings containing between 20 and 40 floors.

Original story: Cinco Días (by Alfonso Simón Ruiz)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Town Hall Seeks To Resume ‘Canalejas’ Construction Work

20 July 2015 – El Confidencial

Almost four months have passed since Madrid Town Hall’s Department of Town Planning decided to suspend some of the construction work at the monumental Canalejas Project, as a precautionary measure. The council, which was led at the time by Ana Botella, took the decision because it considered that some of the demolition work being carried out by the Villar Mir Group was affecting certain areas that are protected due to their historical value and was exceeding the work permitted by the municipal licence.

Following the electoral change, the new team responsible for Town Planning at Madrid’s Town Hall, led by Manuela Carmena, seems willing to resolve this situation as soon as possible. According to sources close to the project, the council is working to create a technical committee that will allow the works to recommence, however the Town Hall has denied that this is the case, at least for the time being. (…).

At the end of 2012, the Villar Mir Group purchased seven buildings located on Plaza de Canalejas (number 1), Carrera de San Jerónimo (number 7) and Calle Alcalá (numbers 6, 8, 10, 12 and 14) from Banco Santander. The group paid more than €200 million for the buildings and with an additional investment of around €300 million, is going to create a unique complex that will house around thirty luxury homes, a shopping centre measuring 16,000 m2 spread across three floors and a five-star hotel to be operated by the Four Seasons chain with 215 rooms and measuring 26,000 m2.

To achieve this, all of the buildings need to be joined up and to make that possible, Madrid’s Town Hall (PP) changed the protection in place on some of the buildings a few months ago. Specifically, it reduced the ‘Building of Cultural Interest’ protection to the front bay (crujía) and roof of the building at Canalejas, 1 and the front bay (crujía) and patio at Alcalá, 14; it also reduced the protection on all of the buildings to confine it to the façades.

Suspension of the building work

And it was the work performed on the front bay (crujía) between Calle Alcalá, 14 and Plaza de Canalejas, 1 that led to the stoppage of the works, as the Town Hall considered that protected pillars, slabs and stairs had been demolished…Nevertheless, sources linked to the project say that all of the work has been performed in accordance with the scope of the licences granted. The rest of the works – which affected 90% of the complex – have continued in the meantime, in accordance with the licences obtained.

In order to resume the suspended work, the planning experts consulted say that the licence for the next phase of the work needs to be granted, i.e. the licence for the new construction work. And for that to happen, the construction company must legalise their actions. The creation of a technical committee could accelerate the process, whereby leaving the final decision in the hands of professionals and not Madrid’s Town Hall.

It is worth remembering that Canalejas, along with other projects such as Operación Chamartín, Campamento and the shopping centre that is planned for Madrid Río, are coming under the spotlight of the new mayoress, Manuela Carmena, who is now less critical of these projects than she was in her electoral program. Carmena recently met with Antonio Béjar, the head of the Distrito Castellana Norte project, and promised that she would evaluate the most important urban planning project in the capital.

Original story: El Confidencial (by Elena Sanz)

Translation: Carmel Drake

The Electoral Shift May Undermine Operación Chamartín

27 May 2015 – El Mundo

The Ministry of Development fears that the electoral shift may undermine the plans for the project known as Distrito Castellana Norte, which is worth more than €6,000 million.

From June, the new municipal political map in Spain will face decisions regarding the future of dozens of urban development projects in the country’s large capital cities, worth thousands of millions of euros, many of which are still awaiting licence approvals from their respective town halls.

The largest one is Operación Chamartín, in Madrid, the largest urban development plan in the capital. The project has been in the pipeline for 20 years – four less than the Partido Popular held office for at the town hall – and was accelerated in recent months by the incumbent mayoress, Ana Botella, in an effort to obtain the final approvals.

The inability to comply with all of the procedures required for the operation, located in the North of the capital, covering 3.7 km in length and three million square metres in surface area, with plans to build 17,000 homes, as well as offices, retail areas and green spaces, forced Botella to leave the final approval (of the project) in the hands of her successors at the Town Hall. Specifically, to the resolution of around 1,800 claims and above all, to the approval of a partial plan for the extension of the Paseo de la Castellana.

Until 24 May, it was expected that a new municipal team led by the Partido Popular would continue the project, which promises to transfer the centre of the city from Puerta del Sol to the North. But the setback suffered by the Partido Popular in the capital last Sunday leaves the project in the air. The most likely option, that of a left-wing coalition between Ahora Madrid and the PSOE, is raising concerns amongst the stakeholders. The focus of the likely team, led by Manuela Carmena, would centre on social housing rather than on million-euro urban developments.

The project known as Distrito Castellana Norte is estimated to be worth more than €6,000 million; BBVA and the construction company Grupo San José are the main partners in terms of financing and development. The operation also includes municipal and regional land, but the majority is owned by the Ministry of Development, and in particular, its two largest companies: Renfe and Adif.

The urban development plan that Ana Botella was unable to finalise involves covering over the train tracks at Chamartín station. The value that the sale of this land to BBVA and San José would have for the companies owned by the Ministry of Development amounts to €1,200 million, most of which would be paid to Adif, whose debt amounts to €18,000 million this year, making it the State’s most indebted public company, behind only the FROB (Fund for the Orderly Restructuring of the Banking Sector). Given the financing needs of the conventional railway infrastructure companies and the lack of funds available for such investments, the minister Ana Pastor has publicly backed the plan. In fact, Adif was already counting on the payment of €200 million this year based on the approval of the pendingpartial Plan.

Now the deadlines are being called into question, at least the fast-track option is, which carries the support of the incumbent town hall. But the amendment, rejection or definitive approval of the largest chapter in the capital’s urban planning cannot be left on the sidelines for long.

After its launch in 1995, with the granting of land to the current BBVA, the project has survived (changes in) municipal teams, real estate bubbles and judicial processes, which have delayed its approval and halved the value that the property developers were guaranteed to generate.

In the end, last year, the grant was awarded, but BBVA and the Grupo San José extended their offer up to a maximum deadline of 2016. If there is no partial plan by the new Town Hall and the new extension expires, the Ministry of Development will see its largest urban development project die, although it is likely to be a legacy that another Government will pick up in due course.

Original story: El Mundo (by César Urrutia)

Translation: Carmel Drake

The PP Stops ‘Operación Chamartín’ Dead In Its Tracks

14 May 2015 – El Confidencial

Ana Botella has met with opposition from several members of her own party regarding the progress of the largest urban development in Spain, which was due to involve an investment of almost €6,000 million.

“I would like to settle the future of Operación Chamartín…it would be a real shame if the project does not go ahead”. Those were the statements made by Ana Botella in an interview with El País on Sunday, in which the now almost former Mayoress (of Madrid) summed up her legislature. With this assertion, she responded to a question about what was left for her to do and what she would like to finish before leaving. However, despite recent attempts by BBVA, the main shareholder, to push ahead with the largest real estate development in Madrid, the project that has been renamed Castellana Norte does not seem to be able to get off the ground.

According to sources at the capital’s Town Hall and shareholders of Dutch (the property development company), an extraordinary council meeting will not be held on Thursday to approve what was going to be the largest urban development in Spain. That is because 14 May is the last logical day from a political point of view for the authorisation of the new partial urban plan that would have to include the extension of the Paseo de la Castellana, promoted by BBVA and Construcciones San José.

Botella, has tried to the end to convince other members of the PP to approve a project that has been blocked since 1993 and which, was going involve an investment of €5,974 million. Of that amount, €3,300 million was going to flow to the coffers of the three Public Administrations involved in the project – the Town Hall of Madrid, the Community of Madrid and the Ministry of Development – and so the interest of all of these parties was evident.

Those figures were announced at the launch of the operation, an act that was blessed with the presence of the Chairman of BBVA, Francisco González, the Minister for Development, Ana Pastor, the Mayoress, Ana Botella and the President of the Community (of Madrid), Ignacio González. From that photo, two of the politicians are no longer in their roles and the owner of the infrastructure is waiting to see what happens in the general election. “There is no other project like this anywhere in the world”, said the Chief Executive of BBVA, the primary shareholder with 75% of the developer’s share capital, who added that “I don’t know if it will be profitable for the bank, but it will be for Madrid”.

The Director of Real Estate at BBVA, Antonio Béjar, has been putting pressure on Botella until the last minute to obtain authorisation for the project despite the opposition from various members of the PP and the reluctance shown by the Minister for Development. (…).

From the ranks of the municipal Government, they say that the 2,000 complaints made by various groups less than two weeks before the municipal and autonomous community elections make the approval of Operación Chamartín impossible. The authorisation would have been used by the opposition parties to link the PP to the financial system and the so-called “casta”, especially if we take into account that some voices link the arrival of Francisco González as the President of BBVA with that of José María Azar to the Government.

Sources at Dutch are confident that Castellana Norte will receive support from the new local government that emerges from the municipal elections on 24 May. Above all, because they consider that it will represent a significant economic boost for the capital, something which, in theory, no one should oppose. That has been recognised half-heartedly by the various opposition parties, such as the PSOE and Ciudadanos. But at the same time, they recognise that the (likely) diversity of the next local government will make any agreement more difficult, especially if we also take into account that there will be general elections in November and that the project also needs to be approved by the Ministry for Development.

The Castellana Norte District project involves extending the capital’s main thoroughfare by 3.7 kilometres and creating a new area where 17,000 new homes would be build, thanks to the burial (move underground) of the train tracks at Chamartín Station. The macro-project includes a green area measuring 24 hectares, two business areas with the construction of several skyscrapers of up to 320 metres tall and a new stop on the local train network.

Original story: El Confidencial (by Agustín Marco)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Botella Announces A 20% Reduction In IBI From 2016 Onwards

6 February 2015 – Expansión

Yesterday, the Mayor of Madrid, Ana Botella, who revealed last September that she would not stand for possible re-election in the upcoming municipal elections, announced further reductions in the municipal taxes, which will come into force from 1 January 2016 and will have an impact of €250 million.

The majority of the new tax relief from the capital’s Town Hall, the third announcement in two years, relates to Property Tax (IBI), which will result in an average reduction of 20% for citizens. The tax will thereby return to its levels in 2011, according to figures released yesterday by the Town Hall. This amounts to an average saving of around €78. The reduction will represent a decrease in the Town Hall’s coffers of €183 million.

This new reduction has been made possible thanks to a new surplus in municipal funds, which amounted to €1,389 million in 2014, an increase of €423 million on the previous year, according to the preliminary year end figures released yesterday.

As well as enabling new debt repayments and the allocation of more funds for investment, the new surplus will provide support to the accounts of all of the Public Administrations. The Town Hall will alone contribute more than one tenth of GDP to offset deviations from the rest of the State’s deficit, to boost the achievement of its objective.

The municipality’s remaining cash amounted to €386 million at the end of 2014, slightly below the figure in 2013 (€406 million), of which €334 million related to a loan from the Supplier Payment Fund, says the council.

In addition to the decrease in IBI, the Town Hall announced other reductions. It will apply a 7% reduction in the municipal capital gains tax, which will mean lost revenues of €52 million for the city’s coffers from 2016 onwards.

Botella also announced changes to the Tax on Construction, Facilities and Building Work (ICIO) with a discount of up to 95% for building works whose cost does not exceed €150,000, from the second quarter of 2015 onwards. Building works costing up to €300,000 will receive a 50% discount, whilst those amounting to less than €500,000 will receive a 25% discount. A 100% exemption will also apply to the planning permission fees linked to such building works. This measure will have an impact of €13 million.

The City of Madrid recorded total debt of €5,936 million at the end of 2014, compared with €7,000 million a year earlier.

Original story: Expansión (by B. García)

Translation: Carmel Drake