Tag: logistics centre

Amazon Will Invest €200M In Its New Centre In Barcelona

29 June 2016 – Expansión

Amazon’s new logistics centre in El Prat de Llobregat (Barcelona) will be ready in the autumn of 2017. Yesterday, the US multinational e-commerce giant completed the acquisition of land covering 150,808 sqm, next to the airport, from the Generalitat for €30 million. It also announced that it will hire 1,500 direct workers between now and 2020.

This represents the largest investment in terms of job creation in Cataluña in the last five years. The project, financed in its entirety by the group, will absorb a budget of more than €200 million, including the cost of the land, according to sources from Amazon.

The e-commerce giant, founded by Jeff Bezos, will construct a logistics platform in El Prat with a surface area covering more than 60,000 sqm, the equivalent of eight football pitches. It will be its second largest warehouse in Spain, after its complex in San Fernando de Henares (Madrid), which it acquired in 2012. That site has a surface area of 28,000 sqm but Amazon is currently working to expand those facilities, which means that the two centres will be around the same size.

Amazon’s Catalan platform will allow the company to cope with its strong growth, satisfy future demand and ensure that its deliveries to clients are fast and reliable. The centre at El Prat will not only supply the Spanish market, it will also handle orders from across Europe, given that the complex will be incorporated into Amazon’s European logistics network, comprising 29 centres located in seven countries and capable of supplying customers with the more than 132 million products available in its online megastore.

Amazon Fulfillment, the group’s logistics company, has hired the construction company Dragados – which forms part of the ACS Group – to carry out the building work, which will start on Friday. The aim is that this centre will be operational by the autumn of 2017 and it will open with an initial workforce of 500 people. That figure will gradually increase over the next three years, to reach 1,500 people by the end of 2020.

Original story: Expansión (by S. Saborit)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Cifuentes Finalises Sale Of Land In Meco (Madrid) To Inditex

4 April 2016 – El Confidencial

Arpegio, the Community of Madrid’s public land management company, may receive a cash inflow this year if it manages to finalise the sale of a plot of land measuring 100,000 m2 that it owns in the town of Meco, just next to Inditex’s large logistics centre in the region. The land would be an ideal site for the Galician company to expand its facilities and Arpegio wants to generate profits from the plot, and whereby benefit from the investor boom surrounding such assets. Sources at the regional Government say that Inditex has expressed an interest in taking over the land, but Arpegio needs to resolve certain environmental problems that arose in this area precisely when Inditex first opened its centre there (in April 2007) and the R-2 highway was constructed, and a wetland area was created, which is now home to thousands of birds of 165 different species, many of which are protected.

Whilst the regional Government led by Cristina Cifuentes has been working to auction off this plot, the Town Hall of Meco is planning to amend the partial plan for the SUS-AE1 sector in May, required to protect the wetland and change the classification of this land, which is currently industrial. Inditex has declined to confirm or deny whether it is interested in the land, which according to market sources, could be sold for between €100 million and €120 million. Meanwhile, the fund Gazelly has already taken steps to try to buy another 300,000 m2 plot next to the land owned by Inditex, which also sits alongside the wetlands, although real estate sources say that this vehicle is acting on behalf of a third party. (…).

Original story: El Confidencial (by Ruth Ugalde)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Amazon To Open Logistics Megacentre In Barcelona

15 December 2015 – Expansión

Amazon now officially has a site for the construction of its logistics centre in Cataluña, to serve customers in Southern Europe. Yesterday, the Catalan Land Institute (Incasòl), a body that forms part of the Generalitat, awarded the firm a plot of land in the Mas Blau II industrial estate, in El Prat de Llobregat (Barcelona), near El Prat airport, for €30 million.

The US e-commerce giant did provide any more details about the award, which involves a plot of land measuring 150,808 m2, with a maximum buildable surface area of 210,000 m2.

The company is designing a due diligence to sketch out the project, say sources at Amazon. The agreement is expected to be signed at the end of January, after the prescribed period of one month for the execution of the operation.

Bidding

This plot of land has been in great demand, given that Incasòl has received offers from other firms in recent months, bidding for the same area as Amazon.

The plot is located in one of the most important economic and industrial areas of the Barcelona metropolitan area.

“The new owners will be allowed to build a ground floor building and add three more floors in order to house the logistics centre plus spaces linked to its main activity: offices, retail and restaurants”, said sources at Incasòl yesterday.

The public body stated that it will be responsible for the construction of the 3.5 km-long underground power line, with a capacity of 15,000 kilowatts, which will involve a total investment of €1.2 million.

Once constructed, this centre will be one of 29 complexes that Amazon owns across seven countries in Europe. The centre in El Prat could become one of the largest – it will be even larger than the centre already in operation in San Fernando de Henares (Madrid) – in terms of its capacity to prepare orders.

Amazon is already undertaking work to construct a new centre measuring 45,000 m2, next to its complex in Madrid, which occupies a surface area of 32,000 m2. The company expects to create one thousand jobs over the next three years.

Original story: Expansión (by Tina Díaz)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Amazon To Double The Size Of Its Logistics Centre In Madrid

19 November 2015 – Expansión

The US giant Amazon is going to double the surface area of its logistics centre in San Fernando de Henares, Madrid, to 75,000 m2.

Today, Amazon will begin construction of a new warehouse measuring more then 45,000 m2 in San Fernando de Henares, Madrid, adjacent to its current logistics facilities at the site. (…).

The new centre, which will serve customers all over Europe, will begin shipping orders in Q2 2016. (…).

The centre currently occupies a surface area of 32,000 m2, although its storage capacity amounts to 70,000 m2, thanks to the construction of towers that have allowed it to optimise the space. The last of these towers, which added an additional 12,000 m2 of space, was constructed to support Amazon’s entry into the food and cleaning sector this autumn. (…).

Warehouse in Barcelona

Amazon’s logistics capacity in Spain may be further extended with the construction of a warehouse in Barcelona, which will also serve customers all over Europe, especially in the South of the continent. The electronic retail company has submitted a non-binding offer, amounting to €30 million plus IVA, for a site measuring 150,808 m2 in the Mas Blau II industrial estate, in El Prat, which currently belongs to Institut Català del Sòl (Incasòl).

Original story: Expansión (by M. Prieto)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Disbesa-Darnés Acquires 5th Logistics Centre In Valencia

15 July 2015 – Misnaves.es

The Disbesa-Darnés group has invested €3.5 million in the purchase and renovation of a 13,000 m2 distribution platform in the ‘Mediterráneo de Albuixech’ industrial estate in Valencia.

The new logistics platform includes two warehouses, measuring 4,000 m2 and offices measuring 1,000 m2. This is the group’s fifth logistics centre; it already owns plants in Maçanet de la Selva (Gerona), Pinto (Madrid), Málaga and Alicante.

As a result, the company now has logistics assets covering more than 100,000 m2 in Spain, as follows: Gerona (33,300 m2), Pinto (30,000 m2), Málaga (15,000 m2) and Alicante (11,000 m2), as well as the 13,000 m2 that was opened less than a month ago in Valencia.

Besides these five logistics platforms, the group also has 33 distribution centres located in Cataluña, Madrid, Levante and Andalucía, where 1,200 employees work.

Original story: Misnaves.es

Translation: Carmel Drake

Merlin Buys Logistics Centre In Meco For €22.2M

13 May 2013 – Mis Naves

The Socimi Merlin Properties has purchased a logistics centre located in the R-2 industrial estate in Meco from the real estate asset management company Kefren Capital for €22.2 million. The property, built on a plot of land measuring 50,727 m2, occupies a surface area of 35,285m2, and contains four modules, 31 loading bays and 4 HGV doors. The Dachser Group leases the entire platform.

The legal advisors to the transaction were Broseta on the sell-side and Garrigues on the buy-side.

KCRE acquired this asset in August 2014 following the bankruptcy of the company Coperfil and it financed the transaction through Nordic investors, which acquired capital, as well as by securing a loan for the project from CaixaBank.

Original story: Mis Naves

Translation: Carmel Drake

Carlton Group: Spain’s Real Estate Sector Records 2nd Best Year In A Decade

16 February 2015 – Property Funds World

Spain’s commercial real estate investment sector rose to approximately EUR9 billion in 2014, exceeding the most optimistic forecasts,  according to a new report by The Carlton Group.

2014 was the second best year within the last decade in terms of volume for Spanish commercial real estate investment, (surpassed only by 2007 when the value of each asset was significantly higher), the report said.

“Spain has once again become a relevant destination for real estate investors and the positive trend is expected to continue over the next few years,” says Javier Beltran, Managing Director of Carlton Iberia (Spain and Portugal) and head of Carlton’s Madrid office.

The report cites the “unparalleled arrival” of a very large number of international institutional and “off radar” investors from Asia, Middle East, Latin America, North America and Europe, along with the new Socimi, the Spanish REITs, that have contributed to the increased volume and value of commercial real estate transactions in Spain.

In 2014, the most desired Spanish assets for investors were prime office buildings and shopping centers, (two of the largest shopping centers in Spain were transacted during 2014), along with hotel, logistic and car park sectors, the Carlton report said.

Many investors have also started to buy “well located land development sites”  in Madrid, Barcelona and Spain’s Southern coast. This has contributed to an increase in construction activity that is also expected to rise in coming years.

The report points to the increased number of international investors, the general improvement of the Spanish economy, along with the renewed interest in Spanish banks’ lending capacity as contributing factors to a revaluation of real estate assets that is expected to continue during the next few years.

It also attributes a very robust hospitality investment market to the record number of international visitors coming to Barcelona, Balearic and Canary Islands, Madrid, Marbella, Valencia and Alicante over the last two years.

Prices in the Spanish residential market are stabilising and have shown slight increases in some areas of main cities, with the trend expected to increase price and activity, the Carlton report said.

The report concludes that Spanish real estate markets are “becoming more professional and international and all that is very good news,” says Carlton’s Beltran.

Original story: Property Funds World

Edited by: Carmel Drake

Final Approval For Intermodal Logistics Centre In Aranjuez

11 February 2015 – misnaves.es

The Community of Madrid has granted the final approval for a specific amendment to the Urban Plan for Aranjuez, which will make way for the construction of the so-called Intermodal Logistics Centre, the first one of its kind to be built in the south of the Community of Madrid.

The centre will be constructed on a surface area of 34 hectares and will be completed in two phases, with investment from Adif expected to amount to €13 million and €8.5 million in each phase, respectively.

Previously, the central Government had already created the company Mixta Madrid Sur Logística Aranjuez, in which Adif holds a 47% stake; the remaining 53% is held by three private companies, which contributed initial share capital of €4.5million.

According to the mayor, “this approval will allow us to expand the railway network structure, to create a logistics centre in Aranjuez that will receive trains travelling along the Valencia-Madrid corridor, amongst others”. The mayor also highlighted that “the development of this logistics centre represents a new opportunity for both direct and indirect employment in Aranjuez”.

In addition to the surface area that the platform itself will occupy, the plot offers a further 70,000 square metres of space where other activities may be conducted, not only industrial but also tertiary including as hotels and the like. In total, the plot measures 350,000 square metres.

Original story: misnaves.es

Translation: Carmel Drake

Lidl To Build Its Largest European Logistics Centre In Alcalá

20 January 2015 – Cinco Días

The German company Lidl’s project to build its largest logistics centre in Europe, in the Madrid suburb of Alcalá de Henares, will get underway on Wednesday with the laying of the first stone.

The construction work and commissioning of the new platform, which will open in the summer of 2016, will mean the investment of €70 million and the creation of hundreds of jobs, the company reported.

The project, which the supermarket company announced more than three years ago, will be located on land next to the M-300, previously occupied by Electrolux, which closed its doors in 2011, with the redundancy of 400 workers.

Priority will be given to former employees of the celebrated Zanussi products wishing to work at the logistics centre, under the terms of the commitment that the German multinational company signed when it acquired the facility.

Lidl has three stores in Alcalá and a total of 530 stores across Spain.

In Europe, the chain has almost 10,000 supermarkets, located in 26 different countries and employs 335,000 workers.

Original story: Cinco Días

Carmel Drake

Merlin Buys Imaginarium’s Logistics Centre For €10.7m

30 September 2014 – Europa Press

Merlin Properties has acquired the complex of warehouses that house the logistics centre of the toy company Imaginarium in Zaragoza, for €10.7 million, according to reports by the Socimi.

The complex comprises three buildings: two for logistics and storage plus one for use as offices. The toy company rents the buildings, which are located in the ‘Plaza’ logistics area of Zaragoza, one of the largest of its kind in Spain.

Similarly, the Socimi has purchased another warehouse located in Almussafes (Valencia) in the same area as Ford’s factory in Spain for €12.2 million.

This warehouse, which it acquired from a fund managed by CBRE Global Investors, occupies a surface area of 26,613 square metres and is leased in its entirety to Ford, Johnson Controls and Truck & Wheel.

Merlin Properties said in a statement that these two investments “consolidate” its entry into the industrial asset sector.

Moreover, following these purchases, the listed real estate company now has property investments amounting to €1,069 million, i.e. it has spent almost all of the €1,292 million it raised through its IPO.

Original story: Europa Press

Translation: Carmel Drake