Tag: Deutsche

22 September 2017 – Eje Prime

Deutsche Bank is subjecting one of its star assets in Spain to a facelift. The company is going to invest €32 million on the comprehensive renovation of a shopping centre that it purchased last year for €493 million, according to Isabel Bofill, the manager of the complex, speaking to EjePrime (…)

“In accordance with the needs of the market, we have decided to cut the cinema space in half and add an extra 5,000 m2 to retail”, explains Bofill. The complex is already immersed in the construction work and has all of the permits necessary for this new area of the shopping centre to start to take shape.

“It has taken us several years to get to this point, to give the shopping centre a facelift, but Deutsche Bank’s commitment to position Diagonal Mar (in the market) is real”, says Bofill. The first phase of this construction project will involve converting the third floor of the complex, which has been used only for leisure until now, into another floor for retail, together with restaurants and cinemas (…).

Although the decision regarding how many new stores will be created as a result of the construction work has yet to be taken, Bofill says that one of the objectives of this renovation is to respond to the current needs of retail: the megastores. “A shopping centre has to be in constant movement: when an operator disappears, it is not bad, it is simply the end of a phase”.

Bofill was referring to the departure of Fnac from Diagonal Mar, which is due to leave shortly, whereby freeing up 3,900 m2 of space for new players (…).

The comprehensive renovation of Diagonal Mar is expected to be completed by next June. To this end, Deutsche Bank has also committed to carrying out a rebranding of the whole complex and to a general overhaul of the whole centre. “We are going to change the lighting, the floors, the rest areas…we want it to be a completely new commercial thoroughfare”, explains the director.

Perhaps one of the most ambitious proposals at Diagonal Mar, which increased its footfall by 2.5% last year to 17.1 million visitors, is its plan to change the whole façade of the property. “It is old and if we want to project a younger image and appeal to new consumers, we have to make way for a guise that belongs in the 21st century”, explains the director.

Diagonal Mar is currently managed by the real estate consultancy firm CBRE.

Diagonal Mar was designed by Jean-Louis Solal and Robert A.M. Stern and inaugurated in 2001. Located next to the 22@ district in Barcelona, the shopping centre has a gross leasable area of approximately 90,000 m2 and its tenants include brands such as Alcampo, Cinesa, Media Markt, Primark, H&M and the Inditex Group.

Deutsche Bank acquired Diagonal Mar through its real estate arm in Spain, Deutsche Asset Management (Deutsche AM) (…), which has assets under management worth €1,300 million.

The company’s portfolio in the Iberian Peninsula currently comprises 17 real estate assets, specifically: seven shopping centres; seven office buildings; and three logistics assets, with a combined gross leasable area of 420,000 m2 (…).

Original story: Eje Prime (by C. Pareja)

Translation: Carmel Drake