Tag: catchment area

Drago & Murias Invest €50M To Build Melilla’s First Shopping Centre

25 October 2017 – Eje Prime

Drago Capital is adding a new project to its portfolio. The real estate manager is finalising the launch of Parque Melilla, the first shopping centre located in the autonomous city of Melilla. The group, which has joined forces with Grupo Murias (to take care of the construction work) has invested €50 million in the project, according to explanations provided by company sources to Eje Prime.

The shopping centre, which is being commercialised by LyC Consultores, has been built on land that formerly housed the Valenzuela Barracks. It will have a gross leasable area (GLA) of 34,600 m2 in total, spread over two open floors, with parking for 1,350 vehicles.

The centre will be a mixed format retail park style (given that the gross leasable area will range between 20,000 m2 and 39,999 m2), with an area that will house a hypermarket along with small and medium-sized stores for fashion and services, and another space where the large format operators will compete.

According to Drago, the construction work is being carried out in record time: the starting gun was fired in September 2016 and more than 80% of the property has already been built. At the moment, Drago is working on fine-tuning the premises of the various operators and the centre is expected to open before the end of the year. The whole project will generate around 580 direct jobs and around 800 indirect roles when it opens its doors.

The centre is almost completely occupied. 85% of the premises have been leased to fashion, electronics and sports groups, as well as restaurant chains. Some of the brands that are going to open stores in the centre include H&M, Decathlon, Springfield, C&A, Inditex, Eroski, Worten, Inside, Multiópticas, Cortefiel, Primor, Guess and Levi’s.

As a result of this shopping centre, Melilla will lose its title as the only Spanish region without this format of retail offering, which will serve as a gateway for brands that do not have a presence in the city yet. The population in Parque Melilla’s catchment area amounts to almost 400,000 inhabitants.

Since its inception, Drago Capital has launched and managed fourteen investment vehicles encompassing more than 1,200 properties in Spain and Portugal. The company is dividing its business in two. On the one hand, Drago Capital has developed its asset management business, which offers services ranging from administrative management to property management, as well as the implementation of divestment and refinancing strategies.

The group also manages several investment vehicles on the Iberian Peninsula, in which large institutional investors hold stakes. Drago primarily manages two types of vehicles, those involving private capital and those involving managed accounts and joint ventures, which are specific vehicles oriented at covering the specific real estate investment needs of institutional investors (…).

Original story: Eje Prime (by Custodio Pareja)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Lar España Invests €53M In Shopping Centre In Sagunto

29 September 2016 – Mis Locales

Lar España Real Estate has presented its plans for “VidaNova Parc”, a new project in which it plans to invest €53 million and which will open its doors in 2018.

VidaNova Parc has been presented with a surface area of 120,000 sqm, of which 44,000 sqm corresponds to the gross leasable area and the rest to open spaces, roads, gardens and parking spaces. It is being created to bridge a gap in the current market and will become a unique shopping centre and family leisure complex in its immediate environment. Around 250,000 inhabitants live in its catchment area (…).

Lar España’s investment in the project is expected to amount to €53 million, in addition to another €40 million that the operators moving into the shopping centre will have to invest. The complex will open its doors in 2018.

The site has a leasable surface area of 44,000 sqm.

With the launch of the construction work at VidaNova Parc, the first operators in the main consumer sectors have already been confirmed, including Leroy Merlín, Decathlon, C&A, Worten, Norauto, Burger King and Fifty Factory (Cortefiel Group). They will be joined by more than thirty brands….in this new shopping centre and leisure park. In addition, the centre will have 2,300 parking spaces.

José Manuel Llovet, Head of the Retail Area at Lar España Real Estate, has highlighted the strong presence of the company in the country through its ten shopping and leisure centres and the two projects that it has under construction. “Our mission, which is a major business priority, is to consolidate our activity in Spain; we want to grow with it, generate wealth, promote employment, and whereby boost the sector and innovate in the field of shopping and leisure”.

Original story: Mis Locales

Translation: Carmel Drake

Lar España Buys ‘El Rosal’ Shopping Centre For €87.5M

9 July 2015 – Info Bierzo

The Socimi Lar España has acquired the ‘El Rosal’ shopping centre in Ponferrada for €87.5 million, according to Spain’s National Securities Market Commission (CNMV).

According to Lar, El Rosal has a catchment area of more than 200,000 inhabitants and an occupancy rate of 92%. Moreover, its tenants include high profile brands such as Carrefour, Zara, C&A, H&M and Worten.

Lar has taken out a fifteen year loan with CaixaBank amounting to €87.3 million to finance the transaction. It is the second shopping centre that the Socimi has purchased this year, after it acquired ‘As Termas’ shopping centre in April for €67 million.

“We also note that this is the only shopping centre within a 100km radius, which broadens its appeal even further. The fact that Ponferrada and El Bierzo are surrounded by mountains and hills creates a unique catchment area, in which all roads lead to the town in (the province of) León”, says Miguel Pereda, Director at Lar.

The purchase of El Rosal is the largest transaction that Lar has carried out to date, as part of its strategy to acquire “shopping centres that are located in major catchment areas, with potential for growth and no sizeable shopping centres nearby”.

“The centre received more than 5.4 million visitors in 2014…”, says Pereda. Over the medium term, the real estate company plans to invest €3.4 million in operators and on the building.

With this transaction, Lar now has a total investment assets of €658.4 million, of which €368.4 million has been spent on the acquisition of 7 shopping centres, located in Lugo, Guipúzcoa, Palencia, Albacete, Barcelona and Alicante, and now Ponferrada.

The El Rosal complex opened in October 2007 and has a surface area of more than 151,000 m2 (retail space of 50,800 m2), as well as 2,450 parking spaces.

The British fund Doughty Hanson, which owned the shopping centre until Wednesday has sold 100% of the capital. The British firm sold the ‘Plaza Éboli‘ shopping centre, in Pinto, in June for a reported consideration of €30 million. It paid €120 million for the two shopping centres in El Bierzo and Madrid four years ago.

Original story: Info Bierzo

Translation: Carmel Drake