Tag: LSGIE

More Than 1 Million People Visit Plaza Río 2 In <1 Month

13 November 2017 – Press Release

On its first two days of opening (20 and 21 October), the Plaza Río 2  shopping centre recorded its highest footfall figures, with 86,000 visitors on each day, taking the average entry rate to 6,000 people per hour. 

Plaza Río 2 expects to receive 1,500,000 visitors between Black Friday and 6 January 2018, which marks the end of the Christmas campaign.

The Plaza Río 2 shopping centre is taking stock of its performance since it opened on 20 October 2017. And it is doing so with a round number. In just over 20 days, it has broken the threshold of 1 million visitors. This data reflects the fact that the public like the wide range of possibilities on offer there.

During its first two days of opening (20 and 21 October), it recorded its highest footfall figures, with 86,000 visitors on each one of those dates, which represents a spectacular average entry rate of 6,000 people per hour. Plaza Río 2 opened on a date that was not particularly well suited to trading, given the weather, which makes the 1 million visitor figure even more impressive. If we look at the days of the week that have received the most footfall, Saturdays are the busiest day so far, followed by the bank holidays.

In terms of where the visitors are coming from, it must be said that they are arriving from both sides of the banks of the Manzanares River. Plaza Río 2 represents a breath of fresh air for the area from a commercial perspective and, moreover, has managed to entice people from other parts of the capital. In short, the new public is on the lookout for new leisure spaces. The managers of the centre are very happy with the results obtained so far and state that they hope to receive 1,500,000 visitors between Black Friday and 6 January 2018.

With 160 establishments filling its 40,000 m2 space, the centre managed by the property developer Sociedad General Inmobiliaria de España (LSGIE) offers a unique shopping experience that has been enhanced by a very interesting gastronomic proposal. The Mirador de Plaza Río 2, with the largest restaurant terrace in Madrid (3,000 m2), is home to 9 dining premises, catering for every culinary taste.

With an investment of €200 million and 100% of the stores leased before it opened, the centre has created 1,800 direct jobs and provided employment to 2,000 people during the construction phase. Moreover, it has managed to attract brands that are not typically found in shopping centres, such as the case of Victoria’s Secret, Armani Exchange and H&M Home.

Plaza Río 2 comprises 6 floors, 3 dedicated to shopping, 2 to parking and 1 to dining. Its modern, urban and state-of-the-art style has made it a commercial attraction for visitors to the Matadero and Madrid Río, as well as for residents of Usera, Arganzuela and Madrid centre. Natural light is the main protagonist of the building, which is equipped with the most advanced systems in terms of energy efficiency and sustainability. It has 35 bays for recharging electric vehicles and the building’s lights automatically adjust the intensity of the light they emit depending on needs.

The French property developer Sociedad General Inmobiliaria de España (LSGIE) has been responsible for undertaking this project, which represents its eighth shopping centre in Spain and its fifth in the Community of Madrid, after it first ventured into the capital in 1983 with Madrid 2 La Vaguada.

Original story: Press Release

Translation: Carmel Drake

Spain’s Shopping Centres Reinvent Themselves As Leisure Mega-Resorts

23 October 2017 – Expansión

Star asset / The boom in e-commerce and change in consumer habits are revolutionising the traditional concept of retail. Offering new experiences and turning their properties into iconic spaces are some of the maxims of the owners of shopping centres.

Much more than retail spaces. The new generation of shopping centres is evolving to incorporate a leisure concept for the whole family and to adapt to the demands of the millennials. Aquariums, artificial lakes, ski resorts, diving pools; everything fits into these new megaresorts designed for leisure, experiences and shopping.

“We have to implement new concepts, but without taking our eye off the ball in terms of the retail mix”, explain sources at Unibail-Rodamco, the largest listed commercial real estate company in Europe, which owns 13 centres in Spain, worth more than €3,500 million, and which plans to invest an additional €650 million in the country between now and 2024.

“We have introduced the DEX (Dining Experience), which aims to revolutionise restaurant spaces in shopping centres through a combination of architecture, design and leisure to offer a multi-sensorial experience”, explain the sources. They are adamant that “physical stores are not incompatible with e-commerce. In fact, we are seeing lots of the companies that originated in the digital environment now looking for physical points of sale. Amazon has opted to sell through physical stores with its acquisition of Whole Foods in the USA. We have also seen the same thing with Hawkers, the sunglasses brand, which recently opened its first physical store in Madrid”.

“Shopping centres are having to evolve to adapt themselves to the new needs and wants of customers, combining technology, multi-channels and experiences to reach more demanding end consumers”, explains Luis Lázaro, Head of the Shopping Centre division at Merlin Properties, which plans to invest €100 million over the next few years in both modernising the image of its centres as well as in updating its commercial offer.

José Manuel Llovet, Director of Retail at Lar – which owns 14 shopping centres in Spain – explains that the Socimi is working on improving the customer experience. “We are investing more than €60 million in Capex to adapt and modernise our centres, improve services and experiences, as well as implement the omnichannel strategy”.

Sources at Intu, owner of Puerto Venecia (Zaragoza), Intu Asturias (Asturias) and Xanadú (Madrid), which also has several important projects underway, say they use the shopping resort concept as the formula for attracting consumers, turning shopping centres into “tourist and leisure attractions”, and adopting a strategy of fewer operators with larger surface areas.

Meanwhile, Sociedad General Inmobiliaria de España (Lsgie) inaugurated Plaza Río 2 on Friday. One of the main features of that centre, located on the banks of the Manzanares River (Madrid) is its Mirador (lookout), which they define as “the best restaurant terrace in the capital” (…).

Carolina Ramos Alcobía, Director of the Shopping Centre Leasing department at Aguirre Newman, points out that Spain is promoting a model that moves away from the traditional shopping centre. “The trend is moving towards an aesthetics of open shopping centres, which are more like small towns or urban shopping centres; moreover, that concept is very highly favoured by the Spanish climate. The key is to get away from the stress associated with hectic, uncomfortable shopping centres” (…).

According to Ramos, “we are undoubtedly witnessing the largest transformation of shopping centres since they first opened in Spain, almost forty years ago. If they don’t spruce themselves up, they won’t survive” (…).

Investor appetite

In terms of investment (…), according to Javier García-Mateo, Real Estate Partner in Financial Advisory at Deloitte, “a voracious appetite exists for medium-sized shopping centres, which we have not seen for more than ten years”. According to data from Deloitte, so far this year, investment in shopping centres amounts to €2,300 million. In 2016, investors spent €3,769 million buying shopping centres in Spain, almost doubling the figure recorded in 2015 (…).

Original story: Expansión (by R. Arroyo and M. Anglés)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Victoria’s Secret & Armani To Open Stores In Plaza Río 2 Shopping Centre

16 October 2017 – Expansión

On Thursday 20 October, the luxury Italian brand Armani is going to open a new store in Madrid. However, the new establishment is not going to be located on one of the capital’s high-end streets, such as Serrano or Ortega y Gasset, but rather in a shopping centre: the new Plaza Río 2.

Located on the banks of the River Manzanares, the Plaza Río 2 shopping centre is the latest project from the French real estate giant La Société Générale Inmobilière (LSGI). With a total investment of almost €200 million, the company has managed to secure tenants for the entire retail space, which measures 38,931m2, out of a total surface area of 127,873 m2.

The new tenants include household name brands, including several belonging to the Inditex group, such as Massimo Dutti and Zara Home, as well as new faces in the shopping centre business in Spain.

Such is the case of the aforementioned Armani group, which will open an Armani Exchange store for the first time in Spain; Armani Exchange is the Italian group’s brand that targets a younger audience.

Meanwhile, the underwear firm Victoria’s Secret, famous for its annual catwalk show with supermodels, will also make its debut in a shopping centre in Madrid with a store in Plaza Río 2.

Until now, the firm, owned by the US group L Brands, has had a presence in two shopping centres in Barcelona, as well as in the airports of Málaga, El Prat and Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas, in the cosmetics and accessories format. Just a few days ago, it opened its first high-street store in the Spanish capital, in premises measuring 150m2 on Calle Fuencarral, which will be joined by its new establishment in Plaza Río 2 next week.

Another first in the new shopping centre will be the H&M Home line. The Swedish firm has reserved a surface area of 3,000 m2, spread over three floors, where it will open a store that will offer its H&M Home household collection for the first time in the centre of Madrid.

Plaza Río 2 is the eighth shopping centre that LGSI has opened in Spain. Through its subsidiary LSGIE, the company has promoted well-known establishments such as Madrid 2 La Vaguada, one of the first shopping centres that ever opened in Spain. In addition to this latest new opening, the group plans to renovate and expand its different assets in the Spanish market, according to sources at LSGIE.

Original story: Expansión (by Rocío Ruiz)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Plaza Río 2: Madrid’s Newest Shopping Centre Will Open In October

3 March 2017 – Mis Locales

A new shopping centre will open in Madrid in October and it will be strategically located, next to Calle 30. The shopping centre is being built on the banks of the Manzanares River, opposite the Matadero cultural centre in Madrid, and its area of influence will span 500,000 inhabitants.

The new shopping centre will mainly serve the districts of Usera, Carabanchel, Villaverde Centro, Arganzuela and Puente de Vallecas. It will be directly accessible from the A-42 (Toledo) and the A-4 (Andalucía) motorways and will have good public transport links, including several bus and metro stops and a local train station.

Plaza Río 2 will have a surface area of 40,000 m2 and will house more than 150 stores, spread over three floors. In turn, it will have a fourth floor, the “Mirador del Río”, which will be used exclusively for restaurants. The shopping centre will offer fashion and gastronomy from the largest domestic and international groups in each sector.

The property is being developed by Sociedad General Inmobiliaria de España (LSGIE), which is whereby adding a new shopping centre to its portfolio. In total, the company now owns nine premises, including Plaza Norte 2, Gran Plaza 2, Plaza de la Moraleja and Madrid 2 La Vaguada.

Original story: Mis Locales

Translation: Carmel Drake

Balkany To Open Plaza Río 2 Retail Park In Madrid In 2017

20 January 2015 – Cinco Días

Madrid will have a new shopping centre in 2017. The first one to be built in the heart of the capital for more than a decade. The Plaza Río 2 project will be built alongside the Madrid Río park, and will be developed by the company Sociedad General Inmobiliaria de España (LSGIE). The company is led by Robert de Balkany, a Romanian-French multi-millionaire, related by marriage to the European monarchy and a close friend of the former King Juan Carlos. One of the directors of LSGIE, Jaime de Marichalar, is the ex-husband of Elena de Borbón.

The shopping centre, which will be located on Calle Antonio López, less than four kilometres from the Puerta del Sol, will cover an area of 40,000 square metres, with 180 shops over three floors and more than 1,500 parking spaces.

LSGIE has mandated the company SCCE – a subsidiary of the French group SCC, also controlled by the Balkany family – to begin commercial work and look for businesses who want to open stores in Río Plaza 2. For the moment, it has managed to close a deal with its first illustrious tenant: Alcampo announced a few days ago that it will open a store in the new centre occupying an area of 5,000 square metres.

The most recent shopping centre to be opened in the central area of Madrid was the one located in the former Príncipe Pío train station (also next to the Manzanares river) in October 2004. Since then, only smaller centres have opened, such as the one recently opened on Paseo de la Castellana, 200 (which houses 6,000 square metres of retail space).

Over the last 10 years, during which time Spain has gone through the toughest economic crisis since the Civil War, only a handful of retail parks have been developed in the Community of Madrid, although some of those have also borne the stamp of Robert de Balknay. Such is the case of the Plaza Norte 2 complex – in Alcobendas – the largest shopping centre in Spain, covering 50,000 square metres, and most recently, Gran Plaza 2 – in Majadahonda – whose red tape was cut in 2012 by Robert de Balkany himself and the then President of the Community of Madrid, Esperanza Aguirre.

Six shopping centres have been opened in the city of Madrid since 2004 (in Montecarmelo, Canillejas-Plenilunio, Manoteras, Carabanchel-Isla Azul and the Ensanche de Vallecas-La Gavia) according to data from the Spanish Association of Shopping Centres (Aedecc), but none of those are as central as the planned Plaza Río 2.

Project Canalejas

Another project that is also expected to open its doors in 2017 are the Galarías Canalejas, a luxury shopping centre, covering 7,000 square metres, being developed by Inmobiliaria Espacio and the OHL Group, just 250 metres from the Puerta del Sol.

Plaza Río 2 will be located directly opposite the Matadero Madrid, a group of buildings that have been renovated by the Town Hall in recent years to offer cultural activities (exhibitions, theatres, festivals…) and which has become a magnet for artists and creatives alike. In the area surrounding the capital’s new park, Madrid Río, a project known as Operation Calderón will also be taking shape, involving the demolition of Atlético de Madrid’s current football stadium and the construction of several residential towers.

The original project for the development of the site that will house Plaza Río 2 was approved by the Town Hall in June 2013 and involved the creation of a special urban development plan, which included the construction of a 27-story hotel on top of the shopping centre. However, sources from the company LSGIE say that the project that they have developed never included plans for the construction of that hotel.

The shopping centre’s developers value the location of this site due to its easy access from the M-30 ring road (which runs under the Madrid Río river park), as well as from the roads to Toledo (A-42) and Andalucía (A-4). The proximity of several popular neighbourhoods, such as Usera, Arganzuela, Carabanchel and Puente de Vallecas, has also played a role. According to SCCE’s calculations, 175,000 people live within five minutes of Río Plaza 2 and 500,000 people live within a radius of 10 minutes.

According to the designs for the project, the shopping centre will be directly accessible from the Madrid Río park. Just at that point, there is already a bridge that provides access to the facilities of the Matadero Madrid, the cultural centre Casa del Lector and the Palacio de Cristal-Invernadero de Arganzuela.

The Man Who Brought Us The Mall

The CEO of LSGIE and the SCC group, Robert de Balkany, was the person responsible for importing the concept of the shopping centre or mall from the United States to Europe. It was in 1962 when, after a trip around North America, this Romanian-born Frenchman decided to launch his business venture, which has led him to control the largest shopping centre conglomerate in Europe, with more than 120 properties. He developed his first centre – Parly 2 – in the metropolitan area of the French capital. It opened its doors in 1969. “When I returned from my trip to Detroit, I realised that shopping would never been the same again. The world had changed and consumers wanted service, comfort and activities”, explains Balkany in a corporate publication prepared for the 50th anniversary of the SCC group. “Design had been democratised. I had discovered some land in Chesnay, to the west of Paris, very close to Versailles, and I hired an American architect to join the adventure, to build the first shopping centre in Europe”. Then came Velizy2, Rosny2, Evry2, Ulis2, St Genis2…

Next came international expansion, into Spain, where the SCC group today manages 20 shopping centres, including La Vaguada (the first one opened in the country in 1983) and Plaza Norte 2 (the largest in Spain, with an investment of €300 million and where 2,500 people work). Then came Belgium, Italy, Monaco, Abu Dhabi…

Today, the empire built by Balkany manages 135 shopping centres around the world, with a turnover of €50 million and more than 500 employees.

Original story: Cinco Días (by M. M. Mendieta)

Translation: Carmel Drake