Basque Gov’t Sells Listed Property in San Sebastián for €10.4M

27 December 2017 – El Diario Vasco

The auction of the building located on Plaza de Bilbao in Donostia will generate 48% more than the asking price for the Basque Government.

The former headquarters of the Chamber for Urban Property, which has not been used for six years, was sold by the Basque Government last week for €10.4 million in an auction process. The firm that has acquired the attractive property is a shell company headquartered in Madrid, which was constituted a month ago with the aim of acquiring and operating real estate properties and which will likely convert the building into homes.

The property is one of the three buildings whose curved façades give Plaza de Bilbao its shape. They were designed between 1901 and 1905 by Pedro Arístegui and Carlos Ibero as the finishing touch to the thoroughfare comprising Estación del Norte and the María Cristina bridge. Although the internal layouts of the three homes are different, the façades are the same and the Special Protection Plan for Constructed Urban Properties (Peppuc) protects them – they have been granted grade B status (…).

Ownership of the property was transferred from the (Spanish) State to the Basque Autonomous Community when it became the offices of the Chamber of Urban Property and, following the liquidation thereof in 2006, the building has been in disuse since 2011. The property comprises seven storeys (a ground floor, five normal floors and an attic) and has a surface area of 324 m2 per floor (except the attic, which is slightly smaller). A study performed by the Chamber of Urban Property at the time estimated its economic value at around €18 million.

The Treasury Department of the Basque Government decided to divest this property in light of the expenses that it was generating without any prospects for future use (…).

Seven companies submitted bids, after having deposited a guarantee of €350,347 (equivalent to 5% of the tender amount) and on Thursday last week the bid envelopes were opened and the sale was confirmed.

According to sources, the firm that has acquired the building is a shell company, headquartered in Madrid, and constituted on 21 November 2017, that goes by the name Boyton Invest S.L. (…). The price paid, €10,375,000, is 48.06% higher than the initial asking price (…).

Original story: El Diario Vasco (by Aingeru Munguía)

Translation: Carmel Drake