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4 January 2018 – ABC Sevilla
Alpha Pyrenees Trust Limited, an investment fund listed on the London Stock Exchange, has sold the Alcalá Plaza and Las Torres shopping centres, located in the Sevillan towns of Alcalá de Guadaíra and Écija, respectively, and with a combined surface area of more than 11,000 m2, through the Andalucían consultancy Realtis Real Estate. The properties were auctioned on 13 November 2017 in Madrid, but the offers presented did not reach the asking price of €1,150,000 for Alcalá Plaza and €850,000 for Las Torres.
Thereafter, a period of negotiations was opened with the interested companies, culminating recently in the Andalucían real estate consultancy Realtis Real Estate completing the sale of the Alcalá Plaza commercial and leisure building, as well as the 39 premises that comprise most of the surface area of the Las Torres shopping centre in Écija. The investment fund has sold the Alcalá Plaza shopping and leisure centre for €655,000 to an Andalucían family business group, whilst the majority of the stores in the Las Torres shopping centre in Écija have been acquired by another real estate group for €500,000.
Both properties were acquired from the Detea group (Bogaris) a decade ago by the fund Alpha Pyrenees, which decided to sell them in the end as part of a divestment process that it has been carrying out with some of its assets in Spain during 2017.
For Gabriel Álvarez and Álvaro Rojas, partners at Realtis Real Estate, “this has been a very complex process due to the particular characteristics of both assets, which means that they could not be treated like the typical real estate investment rental projects that local investors and families are accustomed to. In any case, we are convinced of their real estate potential and possibilities in the future if they are managed efficiently and with an innovative approach”.
Before the auction, Realtis Real Estate drew up an action plan to improve the image and occupancy rates of the shopping centres. As a result, the German multi-national distribution company Tedi and the Domino’s Pizza chain opened their doors in the Alcalá Plaza shopping centre. In terms of the Las Torres shopping centre, as a result of the improvement plan, the toy and homeware company MGI opened its doors in that centre, along with a new store for books and musical instruments.
Original story: ABC Sevilla (by M. J. Pereira)
Translation: Carmel Drake