28 October 2019 – Utopicus, Colonial’s flexible-office space subsidiary, plans to have fifteen such offices, with a total of 40,800 square meters of surface area, by early 2020. The company started operations in 2010, and currently operates ten offices in Barcelona and Madrid, with a current total of 21,230 square meters of offices.
Original Story: Eje Prime
Adaptation/Translation: Richard D. K. Turner
30 July 2019 – Richard D. K. Turner
Merlin Properties, the socimi managed by Ismael Clemente, has acquired an old warehouse located at Calle Pere IV, 128, in Barcelona’s 22@ district. The developer plans to demolish the existing structure and construct a new building for use by its co-working subsidiary, Loom. Merlin expects Loom’s first office in the city to be ready by 2021.
Original Story: Eje Prime
25 July 2019 – Richard D. K. Turner
Amundi, a major French asset manager, acquired an office building under development at Calle Sancho de Ávila, 65, in Barcelona’s @22. The firm paid Conren Tramway 56 million euros for the building, which is still under construction. The building, however, has already been fully leased by Wojo, a French co-working firm owned by Accor.
The 7-floor building will have 8,300 square meters of surface area, parking facilities, storerooms, changing rooms and a rooftop terrace. Conren Tramway recently signed a leasing agreement whereby the Wojo will take over the property at a rate of 22.3 euros per square meter per month
Amundi’s operations in Spain began last year with its acquisition of the Portico building, in Madrid’s Campo de las Naciones, for approximately 130 million euros.
Original Story: Expansión – Marisa Anglés
25 July 2019 – Richard D. K. Turner
The socimi Agartha Real Estate, controlled by Agartha Capital, debuted on the Euronext stock exchange priced at 1.5 euros per share, valuing the company at 28 million euros.
Agartha’s activity involves the acquisition of property assets, primary focusing on the development of co-working and co-living activities. The company currently has three property assets located at calle Piedmont 23, Calle Serrano Anguita 13 and Calle Javier Ferrero 10, in Madrid.
Original Story: Eje Prime
2 April 2019 – El Confidencial
The Spanish tertiary sector is consolidating its position as one of the most attractive in the world. Investment rose by more than 10% in 2018 to €12.3 billion, boosted by overseas investors, who accounted for 65% of all operations, according to a report published by Engel & Völkers.
Moreover, this interest is set to maintain its momentum over the coming years. In 2019, logistics is expected to continue its upward trend in light of the unstoppable growth of e-commerce. In the office sector, experts forecast on-going diversification, with demand growing for regular offices on the outskirts of cities, as well as for co-working spaces in the centre of large capitals.
In the alternative asset segment, interest is also expected to continue, especially in nursing homes for the elderly and halls of residence for students. In the retail sector, multi-channel offerings are forecast to grow, with the most important brands concentrating their retail businesses into flagship stores in very central locations. Also, in the retail sector, the move by traditional out-of-town operators, such as Ikea and Media Markt, into downtown locations is expected to become more widespread.
In terms of rental prices for commercial premises, in Madrid, in the most sought-after areas of Salamanca, Chamberí, Sol, Chueca- Justicia and Malasaña, maximum prices amount to €90/m2/month, dropping to €55/m2/month in secondary areas and to €45/m2/month elsewhere.
Meanwhile, in Barcelona, prices are highest on the most sought-after streets, located in Ciutat Vella, Tapinería and Eixample. There, average prices range between €30/m2/month and €40/m2/month.
Original story: El Confidencial (by E.C.)
Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake
28 March 2019 – Idealista
The US co-working company WeWork is studying the rental of entire buildings in Spain to dedicate to its custom buildout business. The service offers large corporations assets fitted out and managed by the brand. The company is already looking at potential properties in Barcelona.
WeWork now has ten co-working office spaces in Madrid and Barcelona (5 in each city), but its plan is to offer large corporations a new service that would house their headquarters and manage all of their needs, leveraging the firm’s know-how in the office management segment.
According to its business model, WeWork speaks to its clients first to understand their needs and desires. It then searches for the best offers, assumes the risks of a long-term contract and the capital investment, and manages the property for the company on an on-going basis, offering services such as fresh fruit, water and security, as well as events for employees.
In this way, the firm would start to compete directly with stalwarts of the sector such as CBRE, JLL, Savills Aguirre Newman and Cushman&Wakefield.
WeWork already offers this service to several corporates around the world, including Starbucks, Facebook, Adidas, Salesforce, Blackrock and Citi, amongst others.
Original story: Idealista (by Custodio Pareja)
Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake
27 March 2019 – Eje Prime
The US co-working company WeWork doubled its losses in 2018 to USD 1.9 billion (€1.7 billion), due to the huge outlay it made expanding its business around the world. Nevertheless, it did also double its revenues to USD 1.8 billion (€1.6 billion).
The company founded by Adam Neumann in 2010 closed 2018 with shared offices in more than 100 countries as well as rental contracts with several major corporates, such as Microsoft, Adidas and Citigroup, which account for one third of its tenants.
The valuation of the company, which leases space to 401,000 people globally, amounts to USD 47 billion. In Spain, the company has five spaces in Barcelona and four in Madrid, with new openings imminent.
Original story: Eje Prime
Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake
2 February 2019 – Expansión
The US co-working giant WeWork is going to open a new office in Barcelona next spring. The company is going to occupy one of the three buildings in the Platinum@Bcn complex, located on Calle Pallars 194-198 and owned by the family property developer Barcelonesa de Imuebles.
The block chosen by WeWork comprises 10 floors and has a surface area of 8,300 m2. With this new commitment, WeWork will have five co-working centres in the Catalan capital, two of which have been inaugurated in recent months.
Original story: Expansión
Translation: Carmel Drake
12 December 2018 – Eje Prime
The 22@ district is going to have its first 100% co-working property. The Praedium Group, led by Alfonso Cirera, is going to invest €40 million in the construction of an office building in the technological hub in Barcelona, which is going to be occupied in its entirety by companies that back shared office spaces, according to a statement issued by the company.
The ten-storey property will have a surface area of 30,000 m2, and will be constructed on the corner of Calle Selva de Mar and Calle Marroc. Specifically, on the site that used to house the old warehouses of the company Transporte Mateu&Mateu, which was acquired by Praedium in 2008 for €24.3 million.
The building work is expected to begin at the end of next year with the aim of inaugurating the property in the middle of 2021. The building will have capacity to house 2,000 workspaces and another 1,000 in corporate offices and services in the commercial premises.
In the common areas, Praedium has designed a terrace spanning 1,150 m2 with views of the beach, as well as a basketball court. The property will also have a gym, a swimming pool and a parking lot, which will be located in the basement, with a surface area of 2,500 m2.
Almost 30,000 m2 of space leased to September
The co-working model is proving unstoppable in Spain and the 22@ district is its current epicentre. According to data from Cushman & Wakefield, 29,100 m2 of shared office space was leased in Barcelona during the first nine months of this year.
Between the Catalan capital and Madrid, the co-working segment grew by 71% during the nine months to September, with 55,000 m2 of space leased.
That growth is due to the commitment of the large corporations to co-working. As the report explains, “at the beginning of the 2000s, small spaces predominated, occupied by self-employed people and freelancers; nowadays, these spaces still exist, but the potential of the co-working phenomenon has caused companies such as Banco Santander (Openbank), Accenture and Everis, amongst others, to also use flexible spaces for some of their activity.
Original story: Eje Prime
Translation: Carmel Drake
13 December 2018 – Eje Prime
Spaces is going to be looking closely at the goddess Cibeles from now on. The co-working firm owned by Regus has found a space on Paseo de Recoletos in Madrid, one of the most prime areas of the Spanish capital, where it is going to lease the entire building that Mutua General de Seguros (MGS) owns there, according to reports from sources close to the operation speaking to Eje Prime.
The building is located at number 5 on the central Madrilenian street, very close to Plaza Cibeles. There, Spaces is going to occupy the property’s entire surface area of 3,053 m2, spread over five storeys and an attic. It will be the company’s sixth centre in the Spanish capital.
Spaces’ new office in Madrid has been owned by MGS since 2017 when that firm purchased the building from a local family office for €30 million. A year before the sale, the former owners completely renovated the property, which now has a large entrance hall with high ceilings, two elevators, a raised floor and Led lighting.
On the other hand, the co-working owned by Regus is already studying the rental of its seventh asset in Madrid. It is another prime space in the city, where the company is looking to occupy between 4,000 m2 and 5,000 m2.
With these new operations, Spaces could add more than 15,000 m2 of space to its Madrilenian portfolio during the fourth quarter of 2018. The company recently signed two other spaces in Méndez Álvaro and María de Molina, spanning 5,500 m2 and 3,500 m2, respectively.
Expansion in Spain
In addition to consolidating its presence in Madrid, the company led in Spain by Philippe Jiménez is working on its domestic expansion. The company is finalising openings in Bilbao, Sevilla and Gijón, as revealed by Eje Prime. Moreover, the manager is already looking for spaces in some of the country’s other major cities, such as Valencia (…).
Original story: Eje Prime (by Jabier Izquierdo)
Translation: Carmel Drake
Portugal 
Italy 
Greece 
