Tag: green light

A Turning Point for the In Tempo Building in Benidorm

1 June 2018 – Diario Información

The In Tempo building in Benidorm is starting a new phase and putting an end to the previous phase that was fraught with economic and legal problems. The new company that acquired the property from the bad bank  Sareb has now received the green light to finish the construction work and start marketing the homes in the tallest residential building in Europe given that it has been officially granted all of the construction permits. In addition, the property developer behind the tower block, the company Olga Urbana, has also ceased to exist.

Just three days ago, the Town Hall of Benidorm, through a decree from the Councillor for Urban Planning, Lourdes Caselles, to which this newspaper has had access, approved the issue of the transfer of the urban planning licence that was previously held by Olga Urbana SL, the property developer behind the project, to the new company that owns the building, Teach Spire SLU.

That licence was granted to the former company in 2006 for the construction of a building comprising 269 homes, 398 parking spaces and 133 storerooms (…). The same decree also covers the transfer of the construction project from the former company in favour of the new owner. With this step, the new company now has all the rights and obligations in place resulting from the transfer of the licences.

Now, the new company has the green light to finish the construction work. The new owner of the In Tempo building in Benidorm, the firm SVP Global, forecasts that the property will become a reality within 12 months and that it will be able to start marketing the 269 homes before the summer, according to a statement issued in April.

In the autumn, the Company for the Management of Assets proceeding from the Restructuring of the Banking System (Sareb) sold the property’s debt to SVP Global for more than €60 million. The bad bank had been left with a loan amounting to €108 million five years ago albeit secured by the tallest building in the Community of Valencia.

The project, which was first approved almost a decade ago, has a 93% completion rate and what has been built is in a good condition despite the fact that the construction work was suspended four years ago after the Alicante-based property developer Olga Urbana filed for bankruptcy (…).

Not only has a chapter been closed for In Tempo in terms of the building permits, but also, the property developer Olga Urbana has also ceased to exist following its bankruptcy. The Official Gazette of the Mercantile Registry (Borme) of Alicante published the inscription of the dissolution of the company yesterday, issued by Mercantile Court number 1 in Alicante, a process that was started in 2014, according to the publication (…).

Original story: Diario Información (by A. Vicente)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Operación Chamartín Receives the Green Light for 10,500 Homes

17 April 2018 – El País

The Ministry of Development, the Town Hall of Madrid and the property developer Distrito Castellana Norte have reached an agreement to give the green light to Operación Chamartín, the largest urban planning project in Madrid. After more than two decades of blockades, the new plan reduces the buildability of the previous projects, with the construction of 10,510 homes in the north of the capital, 6,500 fewer than initially planned, plus a large business centre and the remodelling of the train station.

The Minister for Development, Íñigo de la Serna (pictured above), confirmed on Tuesday, that his Ministry, the Town Hall of Madrid and the property developer Distrito Castellana Norte had finally reached an agreement to initiate the procedures for the modification of the General Urban Development Plan (PGOU) of the Madrid Nuevo Norte project, known as Operación Chamartín.

In this way, the largest urban development plan in Madrid has been unblocked (at least on paper) after 25 years of obstacles and litigation cases under different governments, both from the Central Executive as well as from the Town Hall of Madrid, although the building work will not start for several years.

The project is a modification of the agreement principle reached last July, but with significant changes, such as a 6% reduction in the buildability, down from 2.83 million m2 to 2.66 million m2. Compared to the size of the project when Ana Botella was leader of the Town Hall in 2015 (3.37 million m2), the decrease in buildability amounts to more than 26% (…).

Details

20% of the homes will be subsidised (2,100 homes), double the minimum established by law, and the Town Hall led by Manuela Carmena has already announced that it will allocate the cession of use that corresponds to it to social housing. Moreover, a business centre spanning 1 million m2 is going to be built and Chamartín train station will be renovated, with the permission of Adif, a subsidiary of the Ministry of Development.

De la Serna explained that the documentation to begin the processing of the project was registered on Monday with a document that seeks to give the green light to this urban transformation, which means that in July, the initial approval will be received and the process will be completed by the end of the year (…).

Original story: El País (by Ramón Muñoz)

Translation: Carmel Drake

EC Approves Sale of 80% of BBVA’s RE Arm to Cerberus’s Subsidiary

9 April 2018 – El Mundo

On Monday, the European Commission authorised BBVA’s sale of 80% of its real estate business to a subsidiary of Cerberus Capital Management (Cerberus) after concluding that the deal would not represent any problems in terms of competition in the market given the “limited” overlap in terms of the activities of the two entities.

The bank chaired by Francisco González (pictured above) announced an agreement at the end of November by virtue of which it would transfer 80% of its real estate business to the US fund Cerberus for a price of approximately €4 billion.

Specifically, BBVA and Cerberus agreed to create a joint venture for the real estate business in Spain.

The real estate business referred to in this agreement comprises around 78,000 real estate assets with a gross book value of approximately €13 billion, as well as the assets and employees necessary for the management of the business. The whole business has been valued at approximately €5 billion.

The services of the EU’s Competition Authority examined the operation through the simplified procedure, which is reserved for less problematic cases.

In the words of the bank when the operation was announced, the agreement with Cerberus is an “opportunity” to take advantage of the experience of an industrial partner who is an expert in the management and sale of real estate assets and to benefit from the strong outlook of the Spanish economy.

Original story: El Mundo 

Translation: Carmel Drake

Barcelona’s Town Hall Approves Expansion Of Pedralbes Shopping Centre

10 November 2017 – Expansión

The Town Hall of Barcelona has granted the licence corresponding to the expansion and renovation of the El Dau building, located on Avenida Diagonal in the Catalan capital, which is home to the Pedralbes Centre shopping arcade. The property is owned by the real estate firm Inmobiliaria Colonial.

Original story: Expansión

Translation: Carmel Drake

Zaragoza’s New TorreVillage Outlet Will Create 1,000 Jobs

25 October 2016 – Expansión

The new TorreVillage outlet, which is being driven by the owners of Pikolin, will create 1,000 jobs over six years

TorreVillage, the outdoor shopping outlet that is due to be built in Zaragoza, has finally been given the green light after a year and a half of debate. The concerns of Zaragoza en Común (ZEC), the political party that now leads the Town Hall in the Aragonese capital, have been set at bay by an alternative proposal, which has been backed by votes from the opposition parties: PP, PSOE and Ciudadanos.

The project involves an investment of €60 million and the property developers expect to create more than 1,000 direct jobs during the first six years of activity. The initiative is being drive by Iberebro, the real estate company owned by the Solans family, which also owns Pikolin. The outlet will be constructed on a site that has, until now, housed the central headquarters of that company, which is moving to the Zaragoza Logistics Platform (Plaza).

The shopping outlet will comprise a fashion village, an international centre for business innovation, a restaurant and concert area, an area for large format retail stores and 2,000 free parking spaces. It will house approximately 90 stores from leading brands, offering discounts of between 30% and 70% and its goal is to complete with the villages already in operation in Madrid, Barcelona and Toulouse.

The goal is to attract visitors from Aragón, País Vasco, La Rioja, Navarra, Soria, Lérida and the south of France, as well as to capture some of the traffic travelling to the Pyrenees from Madrid and the Community of Valencia. In this way, it seeks to benefit from the geostrategic location of Zaragoza, by adopting a similar philosophy to the one followed by the developers of the Puerto Venecia shopping centre, also located in the Aragonese capital, which opened in 2012 and which is one of the largest shopping centres in Europe.

Original story: Expansión (by Marcos Español)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Merlin & Metrovacesa Will Approve Their Merger On 15 Sept

12 August 2016 – Expansión

Metrovacesa and Merlin have both convened General Shareholders’ Meetings on 15 September 2016, in order to approve their merger. Before the operation, the companies will distribute a combined dividend amounting to €116 million in total. Specifically, Merlin will distribute a maximum of €66 million to its shareholders, whilst Metrovacesa will pay out €50 million.

The main shareholder of Metrovacesa is Banco Santander, with a 70% stake, followed by BBVA, with 20% and Banco Popular, with almost 10%.

The agreement between Merlin and Metrovacesa includes a penalty of €75 million, plus the reimbursement of costs incurred, in the event that their respective General Shareholders’ Meetings do not approve the operation.

In addition to approval from the shareholders, the merger requires the green light from the Competition authorities. The companies notified the CNMC about the deal at the end of July and, according to the agreed timetable, the transaction will be completed in the fourth quarter.

The merger will give rise to a new real estate giant in the tertiary sector – offices, shopping centres, logistics warehouses and hotels – with a gross asset value (GAV) of €9,300 million and annual gross rental income of €450 million.

In addition, the operation will involve the grouping together of rental homes from Metrovacesa and Testa – owned by Merlin. The combination of the residential businesses of both groups will include more than 4,700 homes, with a GAV of €979 million. Testa Residencial will take on bank debt amounting to €250 million.

It is expected that Merlin will render advisory, planning and strategic management services to Testa Residential for a period of 30 years from the operation close, for a cost of €7.7 million p.a., which may be increased by 1.5% p.a. and which may be paid for through the capitalisation of shares.

Original story: Expansión (by Rebeca Arroyo)

Translation: Carmel Drake