Tag: canalejas

Nuveen Acquires a Commercial Premise in Canalejas for €30 Million to House a Branch of Santander

The investment manager has purchased one of the commercial premises in the emblematic Canalejas Complex for around 30 million euros to house a Banco Santander branch.

The investment manager Nuveen Real Estate, with USD 125 billion in assets under management, has purchased one of the commercial premises in the Canalejas Complex, located in the central square of the same name in Madrid, for 30 million euros.

The space will be occupied by a branch of Banco Santander, the entity that sold the seven buildings that make up the project to the Villar Mir family in 2012. The Complex will include the first Four Seasons Hotel in Spain, along with twenty luxury homes and a large shopping arcade, according to reports from El Confidencial.

Read the full article in Spanish.

Madrid’s Luxury Hotels Delay their Debuts

The openings of the Four Seasons hotel, the renovated Mandarin Oriental Ritz and the Marriott in Madrid will all be delayed due to the crisis caused by Covid-19.

Several luxury hotels in Madrid are delaying their openings due to the crisis caused by the coronavirus. In this way, the Canadian luxury chain Four Seasons had planned to open its first hotel in Spain in Madrid’s Centro Canalejas on 15 May, but the new date for the inauguration will be 1 September, if the Covid-19 pandemic allows it, according to Cinco Días.

This five-star establishment has 200 rooms and is located within the Canalejas complex. It is owned by OHL (50%) and Mohari (50%), a company owned by Mark Scheinberg, the founder of Poker Stars. The Four Seasons website only allows reservations from 1 September, with prices starting at €750 and rising to €2,025 in the case of a suite.

OHL Negotiates the Sale of Canalejas for €200M to Raise Liquidity

15 April 2019 – Expansión

The construction group OHL is considering selling its 50% stake in the Canalejas complex in order to raise cash. The other half was acquired by the PokerStars founder, Mark Scheinberg, in February 2017.

Canalejas, which is located in the centre of Madrid, just a stone’s throw from Puerta del Sol, and which is going to house Spain’s first Four Seasons hotel, with 200 rooms and a 15,000 m2 high-end shopping arcade, is one of the jewel’s in OHL’s crown. Nevertheless, the construction company chaired by Juan Villar-Mir de Fuentes, needs funding to undertake new projects and return to growth, and so it is considering selling its 50% stake in the complex.

Although no formal competitive process has been opened, sources report that preliminary conversations are being held with interested investors, including one international fund.

Canalejas spans a surface area of 50,000 m2 and its development has involved the investment of €525 million. The complex is due to open in the final quarter of this year.

Original story: Expansión (by R. Arroyo & C. Morán)

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

Which Homes Cost More Than €10,000/m2 in Madrid?

2 November 2018 – Expansión

Canalejas (€14,500/m2)

Canalejas is undoubtedly one of the most anticipated major luxury mega-projects. Owned by OHL and Mohari Limited, the company owned by the Israeli businessman Mark Scheinberg, the central corner surrounded by Calles Alcalá, Sevilla and Carrer de San Jerónima, now known as Project Canalejas, is going to be home to the first Four Seasons hotel in Spain, with 200 rooms, as well as 22 luxury apartments costing €14,500/m2 on average. For the project, 7 historical buildings have been joined together, which used to house the headquarters of some of the most important banking institutions in the country, and in which €300 million have been invested. Of the 22 properties available, 16 have already been sold, including a penthouse for €10 million.

Lagasca 99 (€11,800/m2)

But the record for an apartment with these characteristics in the centre of Madrid is still held by the duplex that was sold on Lagasca 99 at the end of 2016. It is a penthouse duplex spanning 703 m2, with a terrace and private swimming pool, and two parking spaces, which was sold for €14 million. That building, which is currently being promoted by Grupo Lar, after suffering several ups and downs in its development history, has become one of the most exclusive buildings in Madrid, with 44 new homes in total, measuring between 300 m2 and 700 m2 each, and of which 90% have now been sold.

General Castaños 2 (€20,000/m2).

Meanwhile, the property developer Mabel Real Estate has undertaken a stunning renovation of the property at c/General Castaños, 2. Although the 11 homes that the building is going to comprise never actually went on the market (they were offered directly to private investors), the sector calculated that the prices amounted to around €20,000/m2.

José Abascal 48 (€10,000/m2)

Two years ago, the first homes in one of the best fully reformed buildings in the Castellana area, José Abascal 48, started to be handed over. Three exclusive penthouses are still available, including the so-called “duplex penthouse retreat” measuring 462 m2, with terraces spanning 100 m2, 4 parking spaces, a storeroom and an independent service room, which is on the market for €5.87 million.

The home has two main entrances on each of its floors, in such a way that you can access the rooms from the lift if you do not want to use the internal stairs. Moreover, the building has an exceptional entrance hall and an automated parking lot, an events area, a 100 m2 gym and a spa.

Original story: Expansión (by L. Ruiz-Ocaña)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Villar Mir Sells its 32.5% Stake in Canalejas to OHL for €50 Million

14 August 2018

Grupo Villar Mir has left the Canalejas project (Madrid), selling the 32.5% that it held in the development to its subsidiary OHL for 50 million euros. In this way, Canalejas will be equally owned by OHL, which already had 17%, and Mohari Limited, a company controlled by the Israeli executive Mark Scheinberg. Villar Mir sold 50% of Canalejas to Mohari in February 2017 for €225 million.

The transaction also includes the acquisition, by OHL Desarrollos, of the credit rights agreed to by Grupo Villar Mir with regards to the project for €9.8 million.

As the company explained to the CNMV, this price could be adjusted upwards to reach a maximum of €60 million (an additional €10 million). depending on “possible capital gains generated in a subsequent sale of these shares.”

Reduce debt

This operation will allow Grupo Villar Mir to continue reducing its debt. The Spanish industrial corporation sold 12% of the Spanish construction company last July for €98 million, reducing its stake in OHL to 38% compared to its previous 50%.

The Canalejas project will feature the Canadian luxury chain Four Seasons’ first hotel in Spain, a commercial complex and exclusive homes. The complex will bring together seven historic buildings, some of them built at the beginning of the 19th century, in a single unit, through an investment of 525 million euros.

Expansion – Rebecca Arroyo

Hyatt To Open Its New 5-Star Hotel In Madrid In December

6 November 2017 – Cinco Días

Nine years after it stopped managing Hotel Villa Magna, the North American hotel chain Hyatt, is finalising its return to Spain and will benefit from first-mover advantage in the battle between the luxury hotels in Madrid. It will be the first to open, but close behind it will be followed by the five-star Four Seasons hotel in Canalejas, the four-star RIU hotel in Plaza de España and the five-star Starwood hotel in the former Hotel Asturias.

The hotel will be located in the heart of Gran Vía, will have 159 rooms (of which 10% will be suites with views over the iconic street) and will be very focused on tourists with a high purchasing power. Gonzalo Maggi, Director of the hotel, highlights that it will be the first hotel to operate under the Centric brand in Europe. “The main features of the brand including being at the centre of the action. We are targeting clients who want to explore, get to know the city and discover new things and who want to use the hotel as a launch pad for their stay”, says Maggi, who admits that the building work is being accelerated to ensure that the hotel will be ready to open in December to take advantage of the Christmas rush.

Maggi defines the client that his hotel is targeting as “lifestyle”, which serves, in his opinion, to differentiate its offer from those of the other operators that are going to compete with Hyatt. “We are going to target people who place a lot of importance on design, fashion, the people they share space with and the gastronomy they seek. We are going to position ourselves in the high-end segment. Of the scale of traditional five-star hotels, we are going to aim a bit lower, but in the highest range of the new establishments”, he says. Another feature of the chain is the food. “We are going to have a music studio in the hotel lobby specialising in vermouths, a restaurant with international food and a rooftop bar, which will open in the first quarter of 2018”, he says (…).

The Director of the Hyatt Centric forecasts that to start with, 40% of the hotel’s clients will come from the USA, where the brand has been established for 60 years and is very well known. The rest will come mainly from three European countries (France, Germany and the UK) as well as from certain Asian countries. Maggi does not rule out that the hotel will also spark interest in the domestic market, despite its high prices, given its good location.

The director of the hotel highlights that Spain represents a very interesting market, as shown by the opening of the Park Hyatt in Mallorca a year and a half ago, although he is sure that the main opportunities are in Madrid and Barcelona (…). Asked about the hotel moratorium, he says (…) “as soon as they let us build there, we will launch ourselves into that market. It is a fantastic city and has a great deal to offer”, he says.

Original story: Cinco Días (by Carlos Molina)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Villar Mir Seeks 40 Luxury Brands For ‘Galería de Canalejas’

19 July 2017 – Eje Prime

More than nine million people visited Madrid in 2016. Of those, 4.6 million were foreigners. The museums, Royal Palace, Retiro Park and Santiago Bernabéu were some of the most popular attractions, although the centre of the capital took the biscuit, receiving the most visitors overall. This area is also home to the most luxurious hotels in Madrid and several more are currently being built there. Nevertheless, there is no shopping area to cater for these high-end visitors and hotel guests. And that is precisely the gap that the Canalejas complex wants to fill. And if it does so, the shopping arcade could revolutionise Madrid’s high street.

After more than ten years of abandon, the group of seven buildings located at the intersection of Calles Alcalá, Sevilla and San Jerónimo promises to become a wake-up-car for retail, especially fashion, in the centre of the capital. Promoted by OHL Desarrollos and Grupo Villar Mir, Madrid’s Canalejas Centre welcomed a new shareholder in February, with the arrival of the company Mohari Limited, in which the co-founder of Poker Stars, Mark Scheinberg owns a stake. His company purchased 50% of the complex for €225 million.

A Four Seasons hotel with 200 rooms, 22 private residences associated with the hotel, a 400-space car park and the shopping arcade will comprise the complex’s four main areas. The shopping arcade, which will link Calles Alcalá and Canalejas, will be the heart of the centre and has plans to welcome more than 2 million clients every year (of the 147 million people who move in the vicinity of the centre each year).

With a select client profile, the Galería de Canalejas will comprise a commercial space with a surface area of 15,000 m2, which will be home to more than 40 fashion, cosmetic/perfume and jewellery/watch brands (on the ground and first floors) as well as a restaurant area covering more than 3,000 m2 (on the lower ground floor).

Canalejas has already started to market the space and is getting ready to sign the first agreements with some of the high-end operators, which will take receipt of their stores in November 2018 ready to open their doors in 2019, at the same time as the rest of the complex.

There are no plans for any of the large retailers (such as Zara and Uniqlo) to open stores in the complex, given that the positioning of the centre and the space requirements of such players do not tally. According to the managers of the centre, the average asking prices for the stores are below the average for the area, given that the whole zone is conditioned by Preciados, the most expensive street in Madrid for opening retail premises.

With the aim of securing around forty brands to occupy the premises, which will measure between 40 m2 and 400 m2 each, Canalejas is looking for high-end, premium firms in the fashion, jewellery and cosmetics segments (…).

Original story: Eje Prime (by P. Riaño)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Hines Acquires c/Preciados 13 & c/Maestro Victoria 5 In Madrid

13 March 2017 – Mis Oficinas

The Baraka Group, the former owner, will manage and market the property until the renovation project is completed.

Aguirre Newman has advised Hines on the purchase of the adjoining buildings on Calles Preciados 13 and Maestro Victoria 5 in Madrid, from the Baraka Group. The future plans for the property involve the development of a 5,000 m2 flagship store, which will be managed and marketed by the Baraka Group until it is handed over (most likely in 2018).

It is the second operation between Hines and the Baraka Group that Aguirre Newman has advised and it may be considered to be the most ambitious and representative development on Calle Preciados, given that it will house a large store with a surface area of more than 5,000 m2 spread over several floors.

In fact, according to Aguirre Newman, this operation will be one of the most representative of the year on the high street in terms of volume and representativity, given that, although investor appetite to invest in retail premises is high, few opportunities arise to acquire assets with similar characteristics.

Calle Preciados is still the most expensive street in Spain, although prices there are still well below those charged in the prime areas of London, Paris and Milan.

For Aguirre Newman, the imminent developments in Canalejas and Edificio España have already become a reality and are changing the central area of Madrid. The strong tourism figures, as well as the future retail and hotel projects that are going to be developed in the area, are attracting international brands and investment funds, seduced by what is expected to be the great transformation of the central area of Madrid, which began with the commercial development of Gran Vía and is now moving along the Canalejas-Sol-Plaza España axis.

Retail groups’ interest in positioning themselves in the centre of the city also extends to adjacent streets such as Montera and Arenal, according to the real estate consultancy Aguirre Newman.

Original story: Mis Oficinas 

Translation: Carmel Drake

Caja Madrid’s Former HQ Is Up For Sale

5 November 2015 – Cinco Días

The former headquarters of the Caja Madrid is up for sale. La Fundación Montemadrid has engaged Irea to search for a buyer for the historical building, located a short distance from the Puerta del Sol in Madrid.

La Fundación Montemadrid, formerly known as ‘Fundación Obra Social y Monte de Piedad de Madrid’, plans to sell the whole property, excluding the premises where Monte de Piedad undertakes its activity, which will be made independent from the rest of the building. In total, the property has a surface area of 25,000 m2, which maybe used as a hotel, retail or office space.

Sources in the market consider that it is likely that the building will be converted into a “luxury five-star” hotel, which may also include some retail space.

If the building is converted into a hotel, then it would be highly coveted by international operators, at a time when Spain is under the spotlight thanks to the decision by Four Seasons to operate the hotel in the Canalejas Complex, and the purchase of the Ritz by Mandarin and Olayan. Meanwhile, in the Plaza Mayor, the Portuguese group Pestana is planning to open a five-star hotel in the Casa de la Carnicería.

Domestic and international investors, both hotel chains and investment funds have already expressed their interest in the property, which could represent the gateway into Madrid for franchises such as Hyatt, Kempinski, Hilton, W and Shangri-La. The future hotel would have around 200 rooms, as well as terrace space measuring 3,000 m2, one of which would be on the roof, with panoramic views of the city. The price of the property could exceed €100 million, and the buyer would also have to factor in the cost of the refurbishment.

No architectural protection

One of the features of the property is the lack of architectural protection, with the exception of the baroque doorway that overlooks the Plaza de las Descalzas. This makes the building a unique opportunity in the centre of the capital, according to market sources, vis-à-vis the Canalejas project, which is being developed by Villar Mir, whose construction has been unblocked this week by the courts, and Edificio España, acquired by the Chinese group Wanda, which had requested permission to dismantle the protected façade of that building brick by brick, to then rebuild it. That request was rejected by the Local Historical Heritage Commission of Madrid. Market sources believe that the operation could be closed by the end of this year or the beginning of 2016, and that the property, if it does end up being converted into a hotel, would open its doors in 2018, after the Four Seasons.

Original story: Cinco Días

Translation: Carmel Drake

Judge Lets Villar Mir Resume Work On Canalejas

3 November 2015 – Expansión

The judge at lower court number 54 in Madrid has lifted the temporary suspension imposed on the construction of Project Canalejas, located in the centre of Madrid.

The work to refurbish the complex – where Grupo Villar Mir wants to construct a Four Seasons hotel, a shopping arcade and luxury housing – has been suspended since 14 October, after a claim filed by the Basque company R&A Palace Gestión was accepted for processing.

The claimant denounced the alleged damage to the heritage of the seven buildings that comprise the complex, and which have different degrees of (historical) protection.

The Court in Madrid has taken the decision after the owner of OHL paid a pledge (aval) amounting to €163,000. Thanks to the legal decision, Villar Mir can resume the renovation work immediately.

The aval from the owner is significantly lower than the amount demanded by R&A Palace, which requested that it be equal to half of the total investment in the project, estimated at €500 million.

The Villar Mir complex had already been approved by the Town Hall of Madrid and the Community of Madrid after reductions were made to its buildable area. Following the agreement, Canalejas will house a 205-room hotel managed by Four Seasons, a retail space measuring 15,000 m2 managed by Grupo Villar Mir and around 22 luxury homes, which will be sold for c. €12,000/m2.

Original story: Expansión (by R.R.)

Translation: Carmel Drake