Tag: businesses

Footballer Andrés Iniesta Buys Land in Mataró for €11.5M

15 March 2018 – Expansión

On 23 March, the FC Barcelona midfielder Andrés Iniesta is going to formalise the purchase of 30,642 m2 of land in Mataró (Barcelona) for €11.5 million. The operation is going to be carried out through the company Maresyterey. It is a surface area that is going to be allocated to housing (70%) and to companies, offices and businesses (30%). The vendor is the company Porta Laietana, which was jointly owned in equal parts by the Town Hall of Mataró – which has recorded a gain of €5.1 million – and the Catalan construction company Copcisa, owned by Eloi Carbonell.

Original story: Expansión

Translation: Carmel Drake

District 22@ Attracts 500 New Companies Each Year

18 August 2016 – Inmodiario

There are 8,300 companies operating in District 22@ (in Barcelona). Since 2012, 2,000 new companies and 12,000 jobs have been created, taking the total number of employees in the district to 95,000. The proliferation of companies is going hand in hand with an increase in the commercial sector, whose presence in the district is growing year after year and District 22@ looks set to become an extension of the main shopping areas in Barcelona.

In this sense, in just a few years, 22@ has become one of the most sought-after areas for the purchase of real estate assets to attract businesses and for the sale of land for offices. In fact, 20% of all of the space leased in the city is signed in this district. The area will become a natural extension of the first-class shopping and office districts over the next few years, such as the part of La Diagonal that adjoins el Ensanche, la Rambla de Catalunya and el Paseo de Gracia.

“District 22@ is going to play a fundamental role in the expansion of the commercial centre and powerhouse of the city towards the east. Its international prestige and potential for growth to create businesses has turned it into a “prime area” for setting up companies in Barcelona and the expansion of the main shopping areas to this part of the city”, said Miquel Laborde, founding partner at Laborde Marcet, a real estate and investment company.

Centre of attraction for large companies

One of the district’s primary assets is its ability to attract large companies. One out of every four operations signed in 22@ involves large offices. In fact, 23% of the operations signed in 2015 were for surface areas spanning more than 2,000 sqm. In this sense, although only 3% of the companies in the district have more than 50 employees, their staff account for 60% of the total workforce employed in 22@.

Hand in hand with the large companies come the opening of multiple secondary retail premises, which are expected to grow exponentially in number over the coming years. “There is money, business and almost 100,000 workers per day in the district and so companies have all of the factors in their favour to expand and consolidate successfully”, said Laborde.

District 22@ has confirmed itself to be a district for business and real estate expansion with considerable power to attract investment from domestic and overseas players. The high presence of international companies is also reflected in the workforce of the companies operating there, where 1 out of every 10 workers is foreign. In addition, 30% of the companies are export businesses and 40% of their sales come from overseas markets. By sector, companies linked to IT and communication are the most prolific, followed by companies in the energy and design sectors.

Original story: Inmodiario

Translation: Carmel Drake

Operación Chamartín: DCN To Build Tallest Tower In EU

14 April 2016 – Expansión

The property developer behind “Operation Chamartín” plans to construct six towers – five will be around the same height as the four already in place and a sixth will measure more than 300m.

Distrito Castellana Norte (DCN) owned by BBVA and the construction group San José, has unveiled some of the plans for Operation Chamartín. The Chairman of the property developer, Antonio Béjar, explained yesterday that the project will include the construction of what will be the tallest skyscraper in Europe, measuring more than 300m tall and spanning 70 floors.

In total, this project will involve the construction of six towers, five of which will be around the same height as the four towers on the Castellana and a sixth, which will be the tallest in the European Union. DCN also said that 80% of the space will be allocated for use as public spaces and green areas and 20% will be used for the construction of homes, businesses and offices.

“The project is alive and kicking. Now we just need to submit it to the Town Hall for final approval”, said Béjar during the Sustainable Urban Development Forum organised by the newspaper El País. According to DCN, the urban plan has been approved by all of the relevant authorities and technicians through 48 favourable sectoral reports. (…).

Ministry of Development

Béjar reiterated that the completion of the process and the approval of the plan no longer depends on the Ministry of Development, but rather on the Town Hall alone.

In terms of his relationship with Manuela Carmena and her team, Béjar made it clear that DCN has not participated in the recent debates organised by the Town Hall to analyse the feasibility of the project…(…).

“At the moment…our intention is not to take this process to court, not at all. We want to reach agreement and consensus with all levels of government. However, clearly, that does not mean that if the project is harmed or damaged by government decisions that we consider do not comply with the law, that we will stop defending our interests….”.

The Chairman of DCN said that his intention was to unveil the details of the plan so as to “clear up unknowns”. In this sense, he denied that the buildability level would be excessive and pointed out that it is “significantly” lower than the levels in well-established neighbourhoods, such as Chamberí (3x higher), and Paseo de la Castellana (2x higher). He also added that infrastructure represents an investment of more than €1,400 million, which will be funded in full by the owners and will represent “zero cost for the residents of Madrid”. “By adopting a public-private partnership model, the infrastructure will be developed by the owners at the request of the various government bodies and for the benefit of Madrid’s citizens. (….), said Béjar.

Original story: Expansión

Translation: Carmel Drake