Tag: IE

Project Caleido will Revolutionise the Commercial Offer on Paseo de la Castellana

9 May 2019 – Expansión

From the end of 2020 onwards, Project Caleido, which is being promoted by the property developer Inmobiliaria Espacio and the Philippine company Megaworld Corporation, is going to launch 14,000 m2 of commercial space at the northern end of Paseo de la Castellana in Madrid, whereby providing a much-needed leisure area for workers in the Cuatro Torres business district.

The commercial space will seek to imitate a typical high street with between 70 and 80 premises distributed over two floors. The premises will house restaurants (35%), services (11%) and retail, technology, accessories and cosmetics brands.

Caleido’s offering will also include a boutique cinema, a supermarket, a gym, an exhibition and events centre and an eSports space. The developers have already marketed 30% of the space and expect to fill another 20%  of the premises before the summer.

According to a study performed by GfK, Caleido will receive more than 3 million visitors per year and will serve not only the employees that already work in the area, but also the more than 6,000 students who will be studying at IE’s new high-rise campus in the fifth tower as well as employees and patients of the Quirónsalud Group’s new advanced medicine centre.

Original story: Expansión (by Rebeca Arroyo)

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

Caleido’s Makers to Create a Brand New Neighbourhood Around the Cuatro Torres

24 February 2018 – El Economista

The plans involve the creation of a street that will link the area surrounding the La Paz Hospital with Plaza de Castilla and which will have retail units, squares and terraces along it.

In two years time, the barren concourse that currently welcomes the employees that work in Madrid’s Cuatro Torres will be converted into the antechamber of a new retail and leisure space, which is going to be built in the north of Madrid with the arrival of the fifth tower, known as Caleido.

This project from Inmobiliaria Espacio and the Philippine firm Megaworld Corporation will result in the construction of a fifth iconic tower.  The latest addition to Madrid’s skyline will not for known for its height, given that at 160 m2 tall, it will be the shortest of its neighbours, but it will be recognised for the services and life that it is going to bring to the area.

The designs involve the creation of a high street, which will run from the La Paz Hospital area towards Plaza de Castilla, passing through the Madrid Business Area complex, where the Cuatro Torres are located, generating a neighbourhood vibe with several squares and terraces, as well as restaurants and areas for events. In this way, Caleido will not contain a shopping centre, but rather will offer different retail units, which will be opened opposite the new building and which will represent an addition to the businesses integrated into the property.

Specifically, the retail area, which is going to occupy a space of around 13,000 m2, will be distributed over the first level of the four-storey rectangular base on which the tower is going to be built.

The design of this project has been carried out by the architecture firm Fenwick Iribarren and represents that studio’s second piece of work in this office complex, given that it was also the brains behind Torre Espacio, which was also built by the Villar Mir Group (Espacio) back in the day (…).

According to Mark Fenwick, who founded the firm with Javier Iribarren in 1990, “Our objective with this project was to create a service area for the 24,000 people who work in the Cuatro Torres and whereby create urban spaces and meetings areas, such as squares and terraces, which are going to occupy around 7,000 m2, and which will join together the office complex with the neighbourhoods that surround it, to extend the use of this space to the whole community”, said the architect.

The construction of this project also includes the creation of a public park spanning more than 3 hectares, which is going to be located on the adjoining plot and which is also going to be managed by the property developer behind the tower. That space will house facilities for sports, culture and open-air concerts.

Madrid as a destination

In the academic year 2020-2021, Caleido is going to become the first vertical campus in Madrid, given that its main tenant is the Instituto de Empresa (IE), which will occupy all of the 36-storey tower and half of the horizontal building, leasing 50,000 m2 of space in total. The other part of the lower building is going to house an advanced medical centre to be operated by the Quirón-Salud Group (…).

The complex, whose development is expected to involve an investment of around €300 million, will also have a 1,250 space parking lot, 630 of which will be for public use. (…).

Espacio Caleido has already started to market the project, which hopes to attract trendy brands in fashion, technology, sports and restaurants. It is targeting international firms that do not have a presence yet in Spain and the plan is to start signing agreements after the summer. The complex is also considering the creation of leisure area that may house a cinema with an exclusivity concept, as well as a Gaming (videogames) and eSports (electronic sports) area.

Original story: El Economista (by Alba Brualla)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Torre Caleido: Construction Begins of Madrid’s Fifth Tower

1 February 2018 – Expansión

After five months of preparations underground, the construction phase of the 35-storey skyscraper has finally begun. The 180 m tall tower is going to house the IE campus, as well as a horizontal building that will be home to sports facilities, a shopping centre and parking areas.

The starting gun has been fired for the above-ground work on what will become the fifth tower in Madrid. The future skyscraper, measuring 180 m2 tall and comprising 35 storeys, is going to house the new vertical IE campus, which will emerge from a second building, with a base that is going to be 280 m long and 60 m wide, which will form an inverted T-shaped complex, known as Project Caleido.

Inmobiliaria Espacio, the subsidiary of Grupo Villar Mir and Megaworld Corporation, the business conglomerate owned by the Philippine multimillionaire Andrew Tan, are the owners of the company responsible for the construction and operation of the project, with a planned investment of €300 million and which will result in the generation of more than 5,000 jobs during the construction and operation phases (…).

Caleido –designed by the architecture studios Fenwick & Iribarren and Serrano Suñer Arquitectos– will be located in the epicentre of the new financial district in Madrid and will serve to eliminate a blot on the landscape in the north of the capital by connecting Paseo de la Castellana and Avenida de Monforte de Lemos, as well as to revitalise the existing business complex, explains Fernando Serrano-Suñer, one of the architects behind the project (…).

“To date, we have completed the first two phases, involving the demolition work and the construction of the foundations, which are now complete. This week, we will award the construction work, which has been tendered for through a very transparent process, audited by Dypsa”, says José Antonio Fernández Gallar, Director General of Inmobiliaria Espacio.

Third phase

Now, the third phase of construction is going to be launched, involving the building of the tower and the base (…), where the campus sports facilities, a 600-seater auditorium, an indoor swimming pool, libraries, a dining room, a complete shopping floor and a hospital centre specialising in sports medicine run by Quirón will all live alongside 7,000 m2 of green space (…).

Leisure will also play an important role in the complex, with sports areas and events spaces. “We are studying the possibility of including a cinema of some kind, but it would not conform with the traditional style, it would include an e-gaming and e-sport element, something that doesn’t exist in Spain at the moment”.

Moreover, the base will include parking for students and professors, as well as parking for the retail space and another public parking lot, with a total surface area of 42,100 m2 spread over several floors and with capacity for 1,900 parking spaces (…).

In terms of the skyscraper, the 180 m tall building will house 70 classrooms, work and rest areas, as well as double-height spaces to replicate meeting places in traditional campuses (…).

“The project is progressing at a good pace. We have completed the first phase and we are moving forward with the idea that the work will be finished by 2020”, he said.

Original story: Expansión (by R. Arroyo and R. Ruiz)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Villar Mir Redesigns Fifth Tower & Delays Award of Construction Contract

20 November 2017 – Eje Prime

Grupo Villar Mir has listened to its partners and the Town Hall, and is going to redesign Torre Caleido, the fifth tower in Madrid. The skyscraper, which is going to be built next to the Cuatro Torres, will be adapted to the requests of Megaworld Corporation, its Philippine partner, and the local government led by Manuela Carmena. Amongst other features, the project is now going to include a supermarket and a cinema, as well as more lifts than initially planned, as requested by the Town Hall.

This redesign of the building will result in a delay in the award of the construction contract, which is now expected to take place during the final month of the year. Nevertheless, OHL, the construction company that forms part of Grupo Villar Mir, is currently positioned as the favourite to build the skyscraper, since to date, it has carried out the demolition and the work to prepare the land, which spans a surface area of 33,326 m2, according to El Economista.

An investment of approximately €160 million is estimated for the main construction work to build the skyscraper, out of a total projected budget of €300 million. Moreover, Torre Caleido already knows who its most important tenants are going to be, namely: IE and Quirón. The business school has acquired 50,000 m2 of the skyscraper in its move to become the first high-rise campus in Spain, whilst the healthcare group will turn its section of the building into a state-of-the-art medical centre.

On the outside, Villar Mir has redesigned the plans to include a shopping area, which will contain a supermarket and two cinema screens, an express wish of Megaworld, the company that controls 49% of the project’s capital. The tower will have 36 storeys as well as a four-floor base, which will be 20m tall.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

Torre Caleido: Villar Mir Unveils Plans For 5th Tower

11 January 2017 – El País

Yesterday, the President of Inmobiliaria Espacio, Juan Villar Mir, presented the plans for the fifth tower on the Paseo de la Castellana in Madrid, which will house the first high rise campus in the city and which will have 36 floors. He did so at an ceremony attended by the mayoress of Madrid, Manuela Carmena (Ahora Madrid) and the delegate for Sustainable Urban Development, José Manuel Calvo. The new skyscraper, designed by the studio Fenwick Iribarren y Serrano-Suñer Arquitectura, will be constructed in Madrid next to the complex known as the Cuatro Torres and will house the new headquarters of the IE University business school.

Construction of the fifth tower, which has been named Caleido, will cost €84 million. The building, which will be constructed at Paseo de la Castellana 259, will house the Instituto de Empresa (IE)’s university campus, a Quirón group medical clinic specialising in preventative medicine and sport, a shopping area and green spaces. The project, presented yesterday on the 42nd floor on the adjoining building Torre Espacio, will create 1,559 jobs during the construction phase and another 3,992 jobs once it is fully operational, according to the developer. It will be the shortest tower in the complex, at just 181m tall.

(…). The IE will occupy a surface area of 50,000 m2, with capacity for up to 6,000 students. By virtue of the lease contract that it has signed, the business school will occupy the property from 2019 onwards for a period of twenty years, extendable for another 55 years.

The total investment, including building costs, urbanisation of the plot allocated to green space, taxes and fees, will exceed €300 million. (…). The project will allow pedestrian access between the Castellana and the Monforte de Lemos thoroughfare, Parque Norte and Parque de los Pinos.

Villar Mir acquired the right to construct this skyscraper in April 2015 as the result of a public tender promoted by the Town Hall of Madrid. According to the terms set out by the Town Hall, most of the property must be used for healthcare or educational purposes, given that the plot must have a social purpose. Operation of the plot, which is owned by the Town Hall, has been granted to the company Torre Vida S.A.U. for 75 years, in exchange for an annual fee of €4 million, the highest offer of the four companies that competed in the public tender.

The Town Hall will assess, in coordination with the EMT and the Regional Transport Consortium, the requirement to reinforce and improve the transport infrastructure that supports the area, given the forecast increase in activity in the area as a result of the new building. (…).

Original story: El País (by Pelayo Escandón)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Plans For The 5th Tower Begin To Take Shape

1 April 2016 – Expansión

The skyscraper, located in the heart of the capital’s financial district, will house the new headquarters of the IE University, as well as a clinic and shopping centre.

The plans for the fifth skyscraper in the Cuatro Torres complex – the new financial district in the capital, which currently comprises the Torre de Cristal, Torre Caja Madrid, Torre Sacyr Vallehermoso and Torre Espacio – are taking shape and a date has been set for the inauguration of the tower: the end of 2019, according to the IE University, one of its future tenants.

The business school will expand its facilities and open its new headquarters in the north of Madrid.

Specifically, the fifth tower will house the IE Campus in a building that will be 165 m tall and have a surface area of 50,000 m2 on the Paseo de la Castellana. In addition, this site will also be home to a clinic and a shopping centre.

The plot of land belongs to the Town Hall of Madrid, which has granted its use to Inmobiliaria Espacio. In parallel, the subsidiary of the Villar Mir Group has reached an agreement with the IE University to offer it this space under a 20-year rental agreement, which may be renewed for additional 55 years.

Details of the project

“From now on, the Town Hall of Madrid, Inmobiliaria Espacio and IE University will work together to ensure that the project meets the needs of the city of Madrid in the best possible way”, explain sources at IE. According to these sources, work will be carried out over the next three months to determine the “details” of the project.

OHL Desarrollos will be responsible for the construction of the new infrastructure, which will include auditoriums, sports facilities, green spaces and a 35-storey tower with classrooms and educational areas. Meanwhile, the studios Fenwick Iribarren and Serrano-Suñer Arquitectura will lead the design of the project.

At the new IE Campus, university degree training will be delivered in areas such as Business Administration, Architecture, Technology, International Relations, Law, Communication and Psychology.

In parallel, the IE University, which has been located on María de Molina in Madrid since it was first founded, will continue to perform activities for the business school and other post-graduate programs at its current facilities.

According to the institution, the IE Campus will have a “new, cutting-edge” design for its educational space, offering open areas dedicated to teaching, teamwork and networking between the university and business communities. The Campus will also have a vertical space, which will reproduce the working environment of companies and organisations from all over the world, as well as a horizontal space with sports facilities, large auditoriums and green areas for exclusive use by the institution’s educational community.

Original story: Expansión (by Rebeca Arroyo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Villar Mir & IE To Sign An Agreement For Fifth Tower

26 January 2016 – El Confidencial

Nine months after winning the bid arranged by the Town Hall of Madrid to construct a skyscraper in the capital’s new financial district, Grupo Villar Mir has reached an agreement with Instituto de Empresa (IE) to allow the business school to occupy the majority of the building.

El Confidencial has confirmed with several sources close to the negotiations that the two parties expect to sign an agreement this week. And that signature will signal the starting gun for Madrid’s new skyline, as well as ensuring the viability of the project after several months of uncertainty.

The future picture of the five skyscrapers underwent some serious difficulties last summer when the initial candidate proposed by Grupo Villar Mir, the prestigious Mount Sinai hospital group, decided not to go ahead with its plans to open a health centre in the fifth tower.

In fact, the owner of OHL was awarded the land on the basis of the proposal that it would house a private hospital, with recreation and retail service areas. The plans were presented together with a letter of intent from Mount Sinai, saying that it would occupy the fifth tower, but that ended up being worthless.

Following the exit of the US group, Villar Mir began making contact with several real estate consultancy firms to find a new tenant that would comply with the requirements imposed by the town hall, namely that the property must be used for health or education purposes. Those conversations have ended up with the proposed agreement with the IE Business School.

The prestigious centre, whose MBA has just been chosen as the 12th best in the world and the best in Spain according to the Financial Times, is continuously looking for spaces to expand its educational offering. As such, it is now the neighbour with the most properties in the prestigious neighbourhood of Salamanca, which is home to its different centres, above all, around Calle María de Molina.

With the move to the fifth tower, the educational empire controlled by Diego del Alcázar would expand its classrooms beyond its traditional area of operation, but would maintain its policy of operating within Madrid and in the most representative areas for the business world.

75 year concession

The fifth tower is expected to be completed within four years, by 2020. It is an ambitious plan, which Grupo Villar Mir will tackle in partnership with the Swiss fund Corestate. The two partners have created the company Iberian Corestate, whose first operation will involve the investment of €240 million in the new skyscraper.

On the basis of the original design that won the bid, the new building will have 52,500 m2 of public space and 17,500 m2 of retail space. It will be constructed on land that will continue to be owned by the town hall, but which will be operated by Grupo Villar Mir for the next 75 years.

The group was awarded this concession after committing to pay a fee of €4 million per year to the town hall for the duration of the concession period, a figure that is much higher than the €1.9 million bid starting price.

Original story: El Confidencial (by Ruth Ugalde)

Translation: Carmel Drake