30 July 2019 – Richard D. K. Turner
Savills Investment Management (SIM), has acquired a logistics platform in the Plaza Logística park in Zaragoza, for 40 million euros. The asset is currently leased to the French company Decathlon. SIM acquired the asset through the Savills IM European Logistics Fund 2 (ELF-2) fund.
The property has a gross leasable area of 50,520 square meters and occupies a 90,000-m2 plot of land.
Original Story: Eje Prime
29 April 2019 – Eje Prime
Goodman, a global property expert in logistics and business space, has acquired 26,000 square meters of land in Castellbisbal (Barcelona) and will begin the construction of new warehouses during the second half of the year. The logistics giant is looking for non-finalist land near major cities for the development of new logistics platforms and currently has 285,000 square meters of land under development.
Finalist land in Spain have zoning limitations that prevent the installation of ramps or the development of warehouses that exceed a specific, both of which are essential characteristics for modern, multilevel logistics platforms. Therefore, the company is looking for virgin lands to develop.
Goodman is already working on its first multilevel platform in Spain in Molins de Rei (Barcelona). The warehouse, which Goodman is building for use by DSV, will consist of two connected buildings, each 10.5 meters high.
Last week, Goodman delivered 32,645 square meter centre in the Villadangos del Páramo industrial estate, in León, to Decathlon. The company will also conclude work on 75,000 square meter platform in Alcalá de Henares in June.
Original Story: Eje Prime – Marta Casado Pla
Translation/Summary: Richard D. Turner
27 March 2019 – Press Release
Palm Logistics, the dedicated affiliate of Palm Capital, the pan-European real estate private equity specialist, is set to deliver a large logistics hub in Madrid, to meet the pent-up demand for modern logistics in the capital and respond to the rapid growth of e-commerce and supply chain rationalisation across Europe.
The site, covering more than 115,000 m2 across 10 grade-A logistics buildings, will provide the best ‘last mile delivery’ option to Madrid while being easily accessible to the rest of Spain and across Europe.
The first phase, due to complete this summer, comprises a 33,000m2 leasable area across two buildings with the ability to offer modules from 7,000m2 to 20,000m2. The buildings will be certified LEED Silver, having been built to the highest quality standard with key sustainability considerations in mind.
Gavilanes is located close to main roads, the airport and the Abroñigal intermodal station with its large roads and roundabouts adapted to the traffic of heavy vehicles. The site is already home to several first-class international companies including Amazon, Decathlon, Costco, Mercadona, and ID Logistics.
Original story: Press Release
Edited by: Carmel Drake
9 March 2019 – Expansión
Investors and logistics operators alike are setting their sights on urban hubs to benefit from the boom in e-commerce. According to data from CBRE, investment in the logistics sector is thriving – it amounted to €2 billion in 2017, €1.5 billion in 2018 and is forecast to reach €1.2 billion in 2019. Active players in the sector include the Singapore sovereign fund through its Socimi P3, Blackstone, Prologis, Logicor, CBRE GI and Montepino, and Merlin, amongst others.
Urban hubs are gaining significant weight in the sector thanks to their ability to reduce transport costs, avoid the new traffic restrictions and resolve the problem of product returns.
According to the CNMC, Correos and Correos Express currently deliver 44% of all packages in Spain, followed by MRW and Seur (14% each) and DHL (4.5%).
In terms of retailers operating in this space, Amazon set the ball rolling by opening a logistics centre in the heart of the Eixample district of Barcelona and in the Méndez Álvaro area of Madrid. Other large retailers are following suit by opening distribution centres inside major cities, such as Decathlon, MediaMarkt, Ikea, Aki, Carrefour and Worten.
The investment firm Azora has also announced its intention to invest €250 million in logistics hubs in urban centres, which it will lease to delivery specialists such as Seur, DHL and MRW. Seur already has eleven urban logistics centres and plans to open another nine this year. Meanwhile, DHL already has ten such hubs and plans to open two more this year.
In the same vein, the department store giant El Corte Inglés has also launched an ambitious omnichannel logistics strategy, which will convert its 94 shopping centres into storage points for the management of online purchases.
Original story: Expansión (by I. de las Heras & R. Arroyo)
Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake
16 May 2018 – Eje Prime
Intu is betting on branding to raise the profile of its name in Spain. The company, which has a vast presence in the United Kingdom, where it owns almost twenty shopping centres, is going to replicate its British strategy in Spain, by adding the word Intu to the name of its retail complexes. This week, the company announced that its shopping centre in Zaragoza, which has been called Puerto Venecia to date, is now going to be named Intu Puerto Venecia.
It was in 2014 when Intu reached an agreement with the fund Orion European Real Estate to acquire the Puerto Venecia complex, the largest shopping centre in Spain, for €451 million. The complex contains a retail park spanning 82,600 m2, which was inaugurated in 2008 and a leisure and fashion area measuring 130,000 m2, which opened in October 2012 (…).
Since the purchase by Intu, the British group has carried out a series of changes to the appearance and management of the shopping centre. But it has not been until now that the group has decided to complete the process by adding the word Intu to the name of the complex, whereby following in the footsteps of Intu Asturias.
Now, the next step will be for Intu to apply the same strategy to the Xanadú shopping centre. The British group completed the purchase of that shopping centre, located in Arroyomolinos (Madrid), from Ivanhoé Cambridge for more than €520 million in March last year. That acquisition was the largest operation since Deutsche Bank paid €495 million for Diagonal Mar.
In May of the same year, Intu created a joint venture with TH Real Estate to share the ownership of the Madrilenian shopping centre, transferring 50% of the complex to TH Real Estate for €264.4 million, half of the amount that it had paid for Xanadú.
That shopping centre, constructed in 2003, has a total surface area of 153,695 m2 spread over two storeys and with a total of 220 stores, making it one of the largest retail complexes in Madrid. Its tenants include Inditex, El Corte Inglés, Hipercor, Bricor, Decathlon, Primark and Apple. Xanadú Madrid receives almost 13 million visitors per year and generates sales of around €230 million.
Shopping centres on the rise in Spain
Intu’s commitment to Spain comes at a good time for this retail format in the country. Sales registered at these complexes rose by 3.5% in 2017, to exceed €43.5 billion.
Specifically, revenues in the sector amounted to €43.59 billion in 2017. The market share of shopping centres and retail parks rose to reach 17.9%. Last year, around 1,900 million visits were registered at these complexes.
Meanwhile, investment in the sector soared by 35% in 2017, to €2.7 billion. During the course of last year, 29 transactions were closed involving 36 assets, according to data from the Spanish Association of Shopping Centres and Retail Parks (AECC).
Original story: Eje Prime (by C. Pareja)
Translation: Carmel Drake
26 February 2018 – Observatorio Inmobiliario
Palm Capital has become a protagonist in the Spanish logistics market with the acquisition of three projects in the Los Gavilanes Business Area in Getafe from the property developer BCM (MCA Group). The operation, advised by the real estate consultancy Proequity, involves the acquisition, under the forward funding method, of three turnkey logistics projects with constructed surface areas of approximately 33,000 m2, 25,000 m2 and 27,000 m2, respectively.
The price for which the agreement has been closed has not been disclosed by the parties, but the value of the three completed projects is estimated to amount to around €100 million.
The first project that is going to be constructed will comprise two platforms measuring 22,000 m2 and 11,000 m2, which may house up to four different operators. It is expected to be ready for delivery by the first half of 2019.
With this acquisition, Palm Capital is going to become the main owner in the Los Gavilanes Business Area, with more than 85,000 m2 of leasable logistics space under ownership. Gavilanes represents the first acquisition that Palm Capital made in the Spanish logistics market and marks the beginning of an ambitious expansion plan through which it intends to acquire and build more logistics assets in the short term.
The Los Gavilanes Business Area is positioned in a strategic location in the south of Madrid, 16km from the centre of the Spanish capital. It has quick access to the A-4 highway between Madrid and Andalucía and 1,500 m2 of its façade overlooks the M-50 ring road. For this reason, first-class companies such as Amazon and Decathlon have already chosen the location for their distribution centres.
Original story: Observatorio Inmobiliario
Translation: Carmel Drake
16 January 2018 – Press release
Segro, the British investment fund specialising in the logistics sector, is increasing its presence in Spain with two new acquisitions in Getafe (Madrid) and Sant Esteve de Sesrovires (Barcelona). Both assets were acquired in December 2017.
On the one hand, Segro has announced the acquisition of a plot of land measuring 8 hectares in Getafe for the construction of a logistics warehouse measuring 46,000m2. That land is strategically located in the Puerta Mayor-Los Gavilanes Business and Logistics Park, a relatively new location 14km to the south of Madrid, alongside the A4 Madrid-Andalucía highway and with direct access to the M-50.
That logistically strategic area is home to several large multinational companies, such as Decathlon, CostCo and Amazon, but suffers from a relative shortage of buildings measuring more than 40,000 m2 in the market in Madrid, despite the high demand for large units this year. Work to build the logistics warehouse will begin during the first half of the year in response to this market need.
On the other hand, Segro has acquired a new asset in Sant Esteve Sesrovires. That plot comprises 8 hectares and is located 35km away from Barcelona’s city centre. Sant Esteve Sesrovires is located between the A2 and A7 highways, which run from Barcelona to Madrid and represents a strategic communication hub. Barcelona is an area with a shortage of modern, high-quality warehouses, and for this reason, Segro will proceed to construct a 51,000 m2 property (…).
Whilst the construction and financing of the project will be completed over 2 phases during 2018/2019, work on the first phase spanning 29,000 m2 will start at the beginning of Q1 2018. This project coincides with the construction of a 20,000 m2 warehouse that the firm is working on in Martorelles, which will be completed in the summer and available for rent thereafter (…).
With these two new acquisitions, Segro, in its commitment to expand its presence in Spain, is positioning itself as one of the important investors in the Spanish logistics market with a portfolio spanning 255,000 m2. Segro is continuing to focus on high-quality buildings and prioritise strategic locations to create a privileged portfolio of warehouses for distribution and urban logistics, creating high added-value spaces for large companies and SMEs alike.
About Segro
Segro is a British Listed Real Estate Investment Company (Socimi) and European market leader in the management, promotion and construction of logistics and industrial assets. Segro owns and manages a portfolio of properties spanning 6.3 million m2, with a market value of GBP 8 billion, providing services to various clients in the logistics and industrial sector. Its parks are located in the main distribution and transport hubs of the countries in which it has a presence. It owns some of the best logistics parks and transport centres in Europe.
Segro enjoyed a record year in 2016 and according to its provisional results for 2017, the company recorded a 3.9% increase in its net rental income. Moreover, it signed rental contracts worth GBP 27.5 million (around €30.8 million), up by 28% compared to the same period in 2016 (…).
Original story: Press release
Translation: Carmel Drake
8 January 2018 – ABC Sevilla
A new neighbourhood with more than 1,000 homes for families aged between 30 and 45 at affordable prices. That is the project that is now being built in Hacienda del Rosario, right opposite the Decathlon store and next to the Parsi Industrial Estate. The aim is to develop the city’s urban planning project and recover the demographic indices last seen a decade ago.
The Aedas Homes group is going to build 1,046 two-, three- and four-bedroom homes in seven 10-storey towers over a surface area of 93,000 m2, of which 73,000 m2 will comprise green space. And the Town Hall is going to build another 218 social housing properties on an adjacent plot, owned by the Urban Planning Department, which Emvisesa has already started to process. That means that by the start of 2019, Sevilla will have a new district with more than 2,000 homes, including not only these projects but also the one in Santa Bárbara.
On Monday, the mayor, Juan Espadas, visited the site where Aedas – which is also responsible for the Cisneo Alto project and the new Ramón y Cajal urbanisations – is starting work on land that it purchased in 2016 from Gabriel Rojas in the East of the city. Specifically, the plots are located between the A-92 and the shopping centre that houses the aforementioned Decathlon store. The access roads have already been built and the Town Hall has granted the relevant licences for the construction of the residential areas, which will include a park measuring seven hectares, a social club and common areas with a swimming pool and padel courts.
For Espadas, “this project is not simply a housing development, but rather the creation of a new neighbourhood in Sevilla, which means that we are at the beginning of the post-crisis and we have left behind the black hole in the construction sector”. The area of expansion is destined for “established families who want a more comfortable environment at a good price”, explains the mayor. The regional director of Aedas, Diego Chacón, highlight that these homes will cost between €120,000 and €150,000, and will be financed by Banco Santander and constructed by San José. The first tower, which will have 142 homes, will be handed over within a year. And from then, the area will come to life continuously in search of a clear objective that the major himself has admitted: “The registration of citizens (‘empadronamiento’) in the city will be activated again”.
Original story: ABC Sevilla (by Alberto García Reyes)
Translation: Carmel Drake
14 December 2017 – Eje Prime
Goodman Group, one of the leading specialists in the development and management of logistics space in the world, is strengthening its commitment to Spain. Taking advantage of the improvement in the sector, which is growing at a rate of 20% p.a., driven by the strong performance of the country’s economy, the company plans to develop more than 130,000 m2 of logistics space in Madrid and Barcelona in 2018, according to a statement issued by the firm.
“Currently, the occupancy rate of Goodman’s assets in Spain is 100% of its portfolio, approximately 3% higher than the average recorded in Madrid and Barcelona, the two regions with the highest demand for logistics facilities”, says the group.
This year, the logistics company has developed more than 41,000 m2 of new logistics space and has signed lease contracts for more than 25,000 m2.
One of the locations where the manager has worked the most is Can Margarit Logistics Center, in Sant Esteve Sesrovires (Barcelona), where, in the last two years alone, it has completed the development of more than 85,000 m2 of logistics space. The site is home to the French sports equipment retail chain Decathlon, amongst others.
Next year, Goodman will develop 19,850 m2 of new land for the sector in the Zona Franca area of the Port of Barcelona, of which 9,500 m2 will be available from June onwards.
Meanwhile, in Madrid, the company plans to launch the construction of a logistics plant measuring 34,000 m2 in Vicálvaro at the beginning of 2018, as well as the development of a 75,000 m2 platform in Alcalá de Henares.
Currently, the Goodman Group is present in Continental Europe, the UK, the Asia-Pacific region, North America and Brazil and has a portfolio of assets under management worth €22.6 billion.
Original story: Eje Prime
Translation: Carmel Drake
27 November 2017 – Eje Prime
Portaferrissa is claiming its place amongst the prime shopping streets of Barcelona once again. The road has a privileged location, between Portal de l’Àngel and Las Ramblas, receives local and tourist traffic and has several available retail spaces, but its prices are not competitive and only a handful of operations have been closed in recent times. Now, two historical properties are making a move to put Portaferrissa back on the prime map.
One of them is at number 25, so-called Casa Gralla, which until just a few months ago was occupied by Pepe Jeans. The property is owned by the Casacuberta family, which also controls the building that houses the Decathlon store on Calle Canuda, as part of a portfolio containing more than twenty assets.
During the 1990s, the ground floor premises of number 25 housed shopping arcades, Gralla Hall, but that closed at the beginning of the 2000s, when the model showed its first signs of weakness.
Pepe Jeans then took over the lease of the premises and sub-leased part of the space to Quiksilver, which remained for years. Nevertheless, that company did not invest in creating a retail store, other than eliminating the separation of the former arcade.
The Casacuberta family has now begun to renovate the property to merge the two spaces, which will span 1,900 m2 after the renovation. The most recent significant negotiations (held with a view to finding a tenant) were with Adidas, with which a pre-agreement was reached, although the operation did not end up going ahead.
Now, the property is facing its third year on the market, although its prices, which are well above market rates, may still be a barrier.
Another one of the premises on the market on Portaferrissa is Palau Castanyer, which currently houses the Art Montfalcó souvenir shop. That property was sold to KKH Capital group in November for €24 million.
Falling prices
Portaferrissa begins at La Rambla dels Estudis and ends at La Plaça de la Cucurulla, just stone’s throw from the very busy Portal de l’Àngel. Prices on the street reached their peaks before the crisis, with an average of €1,808/m2 per year in 2005, although the prices of stores measuring less than 100 m2 ended up exceeding €2,500/m2.
However, since then, prices have plummeted, by around 30%, according to sources in the sector. “In 2007, River Island rented the store at number 13 for €970,000, and a few years later, it was leased for €600,000”, say the same sources.
According to the recent report Main Streets Across the World, compiled by the consultancy firm Cushman & Wakefield, the average rental price per square metre per year on Portaferrissa amounted to €1,980 in 2016, in line with the previous year.
Original story: Eje Prime (by I. P. Gestal)
Translation: Carmel Drake
Portugal 
Italy 
Greece 
