Tag: capacity

US Firm Valeo Groupe Wants to Build 20,000 Beds in Student Halls in Spain

11 June 2019 – Cinco Días

After teaming up with Bankinter to invest in Spain last year, the US firm Valeo Groupe has now announced that it wants to become the market leader in the student residence sector. According to its CEO for Europe, Peter Haspel, “Our objective in Spain is to reach 20,000 beds”.

The firm does not have a detailed timeframe at this stage but its target would make it the market leader or one of the largest players in the country, alongside Resa, which currently has 10,000 beds, and Nexo Residencias, which is growing rapidly. Haspel considers that Spain has the capacity for 500,000 beds compared with the existing supply of 98,000.

The company has already designed a first investment plan amounting to between €300 million and €400 million to build 10 halls of residence in Spain and Portugal over the next two or three years.

It has already started work on a project in Granada and is about to launch one in Porto. They will be followed by new halls in other major cities such as Madrid, Barcelona, Lisbon, Valencia, Sevilla and Bilbao.

Original story: Cinco Días (by Alfonso Simón Ruiz)

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

Real Madrid to Invest €525M in the Modernisation of the Bernabéu Stadium

2 April 2019 – Eje Prime

On Tuesday, Real Madrid and the Town Hall of the Spanish capital announced the launch of a project to modernise the Santiago Bernabéu stadium, which will see a total investment of €525 million. The work will begin at the end of May and is due to be completed at the end of 2023, with no planned disruption to the fixture schedule during that period.

According to the club’s President, Florentino Pérez (pictured above, right), Real Madrid has already spent €500 million upgrading its facilities since 2000. Specifically, it has invested €256 million in several updates to the stadium and another €231 million in the construction of the Ciudad Real Madrid training ground in Valdebebas.

The latest project, designed by GMP Arquitectos/L-35/Ribas will involve a new step in the transformation of the stadium, although few details have been revealed at this stage. During the first phase, the La Esquina del Bernabéu shopping centre will be demolished to create a large square and another square will be built next to Paseo de la Castellana.

In total, 23,000 m2 of space will be freed up and distributed between stores and restaurants to complement the museum, which will also be expanded. The capacity of the stadium will also be expanded by 1,000, which will be dedicated in their entirety to people with reduced mobility or some kind of disability.

It is not yet known who will carry out the work or how the project will be financed, but a tender process for the execution of the work is scheduled to open in April. Four companies are predicted to participate: Acciona, FCC, Ferrovial and San José.

Original story: Eje Prime (by M. Menchén)

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

ASG Homes Sets its Sights for Growth on Andalucía

12 March 2019 – ABC Sevilla

ASG Homes, which manages and develops projects for the British fund ActivumSG, owns a stock of land on which it could build 5,000 homes in Spain, making it the seventh or eighth largest property developer in the country by land bank. It largest regional presence is in Andalucía, where it owns land on which to build 1,700 homes, with Sevilla and, specifically, Sevilla Este, accounting for the majority of those plots, where it has capacity for 1,200 homes.

According to the CEO of ASG Homes, Víctor Pérez Arias (pictured above), his firm currently has 600 homes under construction in Sevilla, Estepona and Marbella, whose prices will range between €140,000 and €300,000. Moreover, it is also looking to repeat its activity in Sevilla and so is searching for land to purchase along the coasts of Málaga, Cádiz and Huelva. It is also interested in opening a hotel in Sevilla.

According to Pérez Arias, there is a shortage of buildable land across Spain, which is causing demand to exceed supply, and as such, prices to increase. The delays involved in processing building permits to convert developable land into finalist land is not helping either. In some cases, rather than taking up to 6 months, as permitted by law, those procedures are taking up to 14 or 15 months.

In light of the high level of demand in the rental market, ASG Homes is starting to work on projects in the residential rental market. Besides homes, ASG also promotes shopping centres, student halls, hotels and serviced apartments.

Original story: ABC Sevilla (by María Jesús Pereira)

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

Air City Finalises its Purchase of the Casarrubios Aerodrome, which will Compete with Barajas

10 March 2019 – Voz Pópuli

Air City Madrid, the company constituted by several Spanish businessmen linked to the aviation sector, is finalising the purchase of the Casarrubios-Álamo aerodrome in Madrid. This represents the first step in a project whose aim is to create the largest private airport in the Spanish capital, which would compete directly with Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas.

According to sources, the Elduayen family, which currently owns the aerodrome is expected to sell the asset to Air City Madrid within the next few weeks. Air City Madrid is owned by European Flyer, a company dedicated to training pilots; the consultancy firm Gamt; and the consultancy firm Pasiphae.

The Casarrubios-Álamo aerodrome is located 30 km from the centre of Madrid, on the border of the Community of Madrid and Castilla-La Mancha. The company responsible for planning the new airport expects that a potential investment of around €2 billion will be required over 25 years to acquire the land, urbanise the site, build the access routes and construct a passenger terminal.

The businessmen behind the project are convinced that Madrid needs a new airport in light of the congestion that Barajas is expected to experience over the next decade. In the wider context, they point out that the airports in Cataluña serve 300 destinations, whilst those in Paris and London serve 600 and 800 destinations, respectively. By contrast, the current offer in Madrid stands at just 200.

Original story: Voz Pópuli (by Alberto Ortín & Marina Alías)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Habitat Completes the Purchase of 4 Plots of Land for €14M

21 December 2018 – Eje Prime

Habitat is also going Christmas shopping. The property developer, in which Bain Capital holds a stake, is going to complete the acquisition of four plots of land next week, with a combined investment of €14 million, according to a statement from José Carlos Saz (pictured below), the CEO of the company, speaking to Eje Prime.

With these transactions, the company is planning to end the year with €127 million of investment in the acquisition of buildable land for the construction of 2,800 homes. “We have exceeded the forecasts that we announced in October”, said the Executive, who also added that the company has focused its efforts beyond “the areas where everyone else is building, such as the Costa del Sol, Madrid and Levante”, especially during the final stage of the year.

Proof of that includes two of its latest land purchases: one in Sevilla, announced yesterday and involving the acquisition of two plots, and the other in Oviedo, which has resulted in the company’s debut in Asturias. “We have no predilection for any city or region in particular, rather we expand to wherever there is demand and we can generate returns on our investment”, said the director.

Rigour and realism are the two factors that are governing this new phase for the property developer, which starred in Spain’s second largest bankruptcy proceeding in 2008. “The arrival of Bain Capital has represented a critical boost for the re-launch of the company”, confessed Saz. In fact, the company aims to invest €500 million in the purchase of land across the country between now and 2021.

Despite the property developer’s ambitious plans, its CEO clarified that its objectives do not include “becoming one of the largest firms” or being the company that sells the most homes. In this sense, the executive confirmed that “under no circumstances”, does his firm want to return to having a workforce of 900 workers, like it did with the first Habitat. For Saz, the ideal team would comprise around 130 people, 77 of which have already been recruited during 2018.

Similarly, expansion into Portugal does not form one of the company’s objectives either. In fact, Habitat has opted for a policy of divesting the assets located overseas that it inherited from its first phase.

Challenges (…)

For  José Carlos Saz, the major challenges facing the property developer sector at the moment are the lack of buildable land, the increase in construction costs and the need to finish professionalising and standardising the industry (…).

By the end of 2018, Habitat’s land portfolio will comprise a surface area of 1.1 million m2, with capacity for the construction of 10,000 homes. Currently, the company has 33 developments under construction, corresponding to 3,000 homes in total. Of those, 800 units are in the construction phase and the rest are in the planning phase. This year, the company has started to market 1,700 homes and has handed over 270 residential assets distributed across three developments.

Original story: Eje Prime (by Berta Seijo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

ASG Homes is Looking for Land in the North of Spain

24 October 2018 – Eje Prime

ASG Homes is raising its head and looking north in its growth plan for Spain. The property developer, a subsidiary of the German group ActivumSG, is analysing residential projects in cities such as Bilbao, San Sebastián, Santander and A Coruña. “We are opening ourselves up to other areas”, says Víctor Pérez Arias, CEO at ASG Homes speaking to Eje Prime. At the same time, ASG Homes is already thinking about launching its sixth fund next year, once it has fully invested the current one

The group’s fifth fund, which specialises in the residential segment in Spain and Germany, still has €200 million to invest, of the almost €500 million that it was created with. To date, the real estate manager has invested around €250 million through ASG Homes.

The objective of the company is to use up the funds during the first quarter of 2019. To this end, the property developer is accelerating its investments so that a dozen projects are ready to come out of the oven “in the very short term”.

Amongst the plans already underway, the firm is constructing and renovating buildings in Valencia, Sevilla, Alicante, Salamanca, Estepona (Málaga) and Alcalá de Henares. In total, a portfolio of seven projects, to which an eighth will soon be added in Marbella.

With more than half a million m2 of land located all over Spain, ASG Homes has the capacity to build up to 5,000 homes, of which more than 2,000 units are already being marketed. Nevertheless, the manager aspires to double the size of that portfolio to 10,000 homes and, in this sense, the property developer is looking to the north of the country, and to Valladolid.

One of the reasons for this open-mindedness is the “uncertainty in terms of the timings” that the fund is finding in several of the provincial capitals where it already has a presence, says Pérez Arias. “There are some cities where we have decided to not invest again because of the problems imposed by some of the public administrations”, complained the director.

The search for opportunities in the north forms part of phase 3 of the fund, as described by the company, which also involves scanning the first rings and outskirts of two of the large capitals where it already has a presence, Madrid and Sevilla. Barcelona does not form part of the roadmap for ASG Homes, which is only investing in large volume projects, for the time being. “We back developments with a minimum of 200 homes”, says Pérez Arias, who forecasts that the last key for the twenty or so developments that his firm is planning to build with its current vehicle will be handed over in 2022 (…).

Original story: Eje Prime (by J. Izquierdo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Temprano Capital Partners Acquire Land in Valencia to Build 290-Bed Student Hall

5 September 2018 – Press Release

Temprano Capital Partners acquired a prime plot of land in the centre of Valencia during the month of August, in collaboration with CPA®:18 – Global. The firm is going to build a new hall of residence for students on the site, whereby increasing its portfolio in the Iberian market with 290 new beds.

Valencia is home to more than 100,000 students and is a popular destination for domestic and international students alike; given its exceptional characteristics, the Mediterranean city is the ideal location for study and leisure.

Temprano Capital Partners is going to be the developer behind the project. The firm will it include in its TSL – Temprano Student Living program, which currently comprises 4 projects in Portugal, ranging from completed properties to those under development, and 3 other projects in Spain, all in the development phase. In this way, the TSL program is set to supply 2,400 studios in total.

The latest residence to join the portfolio will have capacity for 290 students in a building spanning 10,000 m2. Given the central location of the plot, the hall of residence will enjoy good access to the main university campuses, the tram and the extensive network of bike lanes that criss-cross Valencia.

After seeing an opportunity in Valencia, which is home to universities such as the Polytechnic of Valencia and the University of Valencia, amongst many others, the firm considered that the current supply of student halls is obsolete and decided to invest in this project in an exceptional location – close to the campuses, the city centre and well connected to the rest of the city and the beach, as well as to the shops and the parks (…).

The hall of residence will offer all of the services that students look for in halls nowadays. The plans include a premium private gym, a swimming pool and sauna, a lounge club, an area for dinners and private parties, a cinema room, a library, all-inclusive rents and a porter 24/7. Naturally, the individual studios will be equipped with every creature comfort, including a kitchen, bathroom, high-speed wifi and television, as well as a private study area for those students who prefer it, whereby accommodating the different needs of the residents.

The new hall of residence will open its doors for the 2020 academic year under the management of a prestigious operator, specialising in student halls. The person in charge of this promotion is Jamie Rea, who is also responsible for some of Temprano’s other student hall projects including TSL Diagonal Alto. Rea has 25 years of experience in the sector and has worked on several major projects.

Temprano Capital Partners (TCP) is a private European real estate investor and developer created in 2013. Its current tactical focus is the Iberian market (Spain & Portugal).

Original story: Press Release

Translation: Carmel Drake

Government of Madrid Moves Ministry of Economy to Prado Urban Business Park

21 June 2018 – Eje Prime

The Government of Madrid is going to be Amazon’s neighbour. Specifically, the Community of Madrid’s Ministry of the Economy, Employment and Finance has decided to move some of its teams to the Prado Urban Business Park, the office complex that is home to the Spanish headquarters of the e-commerce giant.

After the lease contract for its current headquarters, located at number 13 Carrera de San Jerónimo, came to an end, the Community of Madrid decided that the best option for some of its departments would be to move them to the Delicias neighbourhood.

The departments of Trade and Consumption; Industry, Energy and Mining; the Economy, Statistics and Competitiveness; as well as the Invest Office, will occupy the ground, first, second, third and fourth floors of the West Building in the complex, which has a surface area of 14,500 m2.

Ahead of the arrival of the civil servants, there are just 400 Amazon employees working at the Prado Urban Business Park; the complex has capacity for 1,000 people. The lease contract that the Madrilenian Government has signed runs until 31 August 2029.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

ACR Acquires Land in Sevilla for €5M to Build 157 Homes

29 May 2018 – Eje Prime

ACR is launching operations in Andalucía. The real estate group has invested €5 million in the purchase of a plot land in Sevilla, its first project in the autonomous region. Spread over three developments, the company is going to build 157 private family and cluster homes.

ACR’s property developer division has acquired a plot measuring 22,000 m2 in the municipality of Mairena del Aljarafe, very close to the Sevillan capital. In that town, the real estate group is going to build family homes with four bedrooms, two garages each and a private garden, as well as a communal swimming pool. Meanwhile, the apartments will be distributed over two six-storey blocks and will have between two and four bedrooms, according to explanations provided by the company.

The first development will comprise 48 homes; the second 69 homes; and the third will be the smallest with 40 homes up for sale. The project in Sevilla will serve as the launch pad for ACR in Andalucía, and the firm is already considering new purchases as part of its national expansion objective. Levante is another “established market”, which is of interest to the group. Currently, ACR has 2,000 homes in its development portfolio.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

Quabit to Invest €20M in Land in Valencia to Build 500 Homes

24 May 2018 – Eje Prime

Quabit Inmobiliaria is strengthening its commitment to Valencia. The listed property developer is going to invest at least €20 million this year in the purchase of buildable land in the autonomous region, where it is planning to build 500 homes. The company is planning to acquire plots in different locations across the region and does not rule out spending up to €30 million if the right opportunities arise.

The company led and controlled by Félix Abánades (pictured above) wants to position itself as a leading player in the Mediterranean region with plots “that allow us to launch promotions immediately”, revealed the director in an interview with València Plaza.

Valencia and the Alicante coast are going to be the markets in the region where Quabit will make the majority of its investments, given that the firm believes that “they have a lot of potential and housing is still cheap there, with scope for business”, according to Abánades.

The capital needed to carry out these operations will be financed, in part, by the capital increase that the company undertook recently and through which it expects to raise up to €63 million.

Quabit’s existing land portfolio in the Community of Valencia totals 126,500 m2, which accounts for 12% of all the land that it owns in Spain. The region is one of the property developer’s major focuses. It also has a significant presence in other coastal regions, such as the province of Málaga, where it owns land with capacity for 2,000 homes.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake