Tag: luxury apartments

OHL Pre-Sells Half of the Luxury Apartments in Canalejas

28 December 2017 – El Independiente

The pre-sales of luxury apartments in the Madrilenian Canalejas complex, the only one in Spain – and one of just a few in Europe – to be serviced by the hotel chain Four Seasons, is going from strength to strength. Knight Frank and Colliers, the two firms that have been exclusively appointed to manage their sale, have already placed almost half of the homes with their contacts and clients during the private launch, in other words, before the For Sale sign has been officially put up, according to sources speaking to El Independiente.

Even the penthouse, the jewel in the crown of the building promoted by Juan Miguel Villar Mir, together with his construction firm OHL, has an owner: a European millionaire, who is going to pay more than €9 million for a 500 m2  home in one of the most iconic areas of Madrid.

To date, most of the homes on this block of prime Madrilenian real estate in Canalejas – next to the Puerta del Sol – have been sold to wealthy Spanish families even though, initially, they were expected to attract interest from foreign millionaires, specifically, Latin Americans. “Wealthy families from Latin America prefer the traditional and exclusive Salamanca neighbourhood, whilst Spaniards are more interested this concept, which is going to revolutionise the centre of Madrid”, explain sources in the real estate sector.

The 22 most expensive new build homes currently available in Madrid have a minimum surface area of 130 m2 and a minimum asking price of €2.5 million, which means that buyers paying more than €13,000/m2. The combined value of all of the homes amounts to around €90 million.

The apartments are located on the 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th floors of the Canalejas Complex, have between one and three bedrooms each, have independent access (as well as through the Four Seasons hotel) and will be handed over completely finished and equipped, with the exception of furniture.

The homes form part of a complex that comprises seven historical buildings, which in recent decades housed the former headquarters of Banesto, Central Hispano and Zaragozano.

For the time being, most of the homes have been reserved by Spanish millionaires.

The complex spans a surface area of 50,000 m2 in total and in addition to the twenty homes, is going to house a five-star Four Seasons hotel with 200 rooms, an underground parking lot with 400 spaces, a retail outlet for bank use and a 15,000 m2 shopping arcade.

Original story: El Independiente (by Ana Antón)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Twin Peaks Acquires Top 6 Floors Of Paseo De Gracia 30 In Barcelona

14 November 2017 – Expansión

Barcelona’s luxury residential market has a new player. The Twin Peaks Capital family office, which is headquartered in Madrid but which is funded by capital from the Catalan Escoda family, has acquired the building located at number 30 Paseo de Gràcia in Barcelona. It is going to convert the property into super luxury apartments, which it expects to sell for prices of around €15,000/m2.

According to sources close to the operation – which does not include the retail premises – the fund has paid just over €25 million to the former Agrupació Mútua for the top six floors of the building, which span 3,200 m2. This property, which used to house the headquarters of Iberia in Barcelona, will undergo a comprehensive renovation, which will require the injection of an additional €25 million. The operation has been advised by CBRE.

Twin Peaks Capital was founded in Madrid in 2016 and its capital is split between the Escoda brothers and its CEO, the former director of Knight Frank, Ernesto Tarazona.

Original story: Expansión (by Marisa Anglés)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Centro Canalejas’ Luxury Apartments Will Be Sold For c. €13,000/m2

4 November 2017 – Expansión

Centro Canalejas, located just a stone’s throw from Puerta del Sol, in the heart of Madrid, will open its doors at the beginning of 2019. It will house the first hotel to be operated by the Canadian luxury chain Four Seasons in Spain, as well as high-end homes, which will be sold for an average price of €13,000/m2. Moreover, it will include a shopping arcade on the lower floors and a 400-space parking lot.

The complex, promoted by OHL Desarrollos, Grupo Villar Mir and Mohari Limited – a company controlled by the Israeli businessman Mark Scheinberg– will unify seven historical buildings, some of which were constructed at the beginning of the nineteenth century, into a single unit, involving an investment of €525 million.

A luxury hotel operated by Four Seasons will occupy the majority of the space in the centre. Specifically, the hotel will have 200 rooms, whose surface areas will range from 45 m2 to 400 m2. They will occupy the entirety of the second, third, fourth and fifth floors, although the hotel will have a presence throughout the whole building. It will have 4,200 m2 of common areas as well as a spa, banquet halls and meeting rooms, one of which will have capacity for 600 people. Moreover, it will have two restaurants, one on the first floor, measuring 400 m2, and another on the seventh floor, measuring 425 m2.

Exclusive homes

The complex will also contain 22 exclusive homes with surface areas of between 150 m2 and 700 m2 for one of the penthouses, which will include a 350 m2 terrace. The homes, which will be located on the upper floors of the building, will be sold for an average price of €13,000 /m2.

“We have not started to market them yet. We obtained the definitive licence in July and we expect to start work in November, but several interested parties have already approached us”, explained Francisco J. Meliá, CEO of Centro Canalejas Madrid and Director General at OHL Desarrollos, the company responsible for developing the project.

Flagship development

Moreover, the centre will have a shopping arcade, measuring 15,000 m2, spread over three floors. The retail space will house luxury fashion and accessories brands, as well as gastronomic offerings.

The property developers and those responsible for the development have highlighted the architectural challenges involved in adapting the buildings to their new uses whilst respecting their heritage value and they underlined that more than €7 million has been invested in the conservation of 16,700 pieces.

“Centro Canalejas is going to be a flagship development in Madrid and not only because of its ocean liner shape”, explained the architect Carlos Lamela, Director of Estudio Lamela and author of this architectural project.

Original story: Expansión (by Artur Zanón and Rebeca Arroyo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Herrero & Lebois Are Behind Madrid’s Latest Luxury Homes

14 June 2017 – Voz Pópuli 

The owner of Kiss FM, Blas Herrero and the Mexican investor Rodrigo Lebois have completed one of the most significant real estate operations of recent times in the Spanish capital. The two businessmen have spent around €50 million on the building located at number 11, Plaza del Marqués de Salamanca, which they plan to convert into 15 luxury apartments measuring 300 m2 each.

According to sources close to the operation, the building has a surface area of 8,800 m2, with 1,000 m2 on each of its eight storeys. Until now, the property belonged to an aristocratic Asturian family and was authorised for residential and hotel use. During the sales process, the owners received nine offers: two from domestic investors and seven from overseas buyers, according to El Mundo.

The buyers plan to create three apartments per floor, and claim that they will be “the most luxurious homes in Madrid”. The building has a commercial premise on the ground floor and a rooftop, which will not be touched during the renovation work, which is due to begin soon. Until now, the homes in this building have operated under lease contracts. (…).

Blas Herrero and the real estate market

The operation again certifies Blas Herrero’s interest in the real estate market, in which he has made several significant investments in recent times. Just over three years ago, he paid €16.75 million – in a legal auction – for the Hotel Foxá 32 Suites, located next to Chamartín Station. A few months later, he reached an agreement with Barceló to manage the 158 rooms in this 5-star hotel establishment for 12 years (…).

For his latest purchase, of the building on Plaza del Marqués de Salamanca, Herrero has teamed up with the Mexican magnate Rodrigo Lebois, President of Unifin Financiera, one of the most active investment firms in Latin America, which specialises in pure leasing, factoring, automotive credit and insurance. At the time of the purchase, Lebois expressed his desire to keep one floor for his own personal use.

A third Mexican investor has also participated in the transaction, whose name has not been revealed, according to sources close to the operation.

Original story: Voz Pópuli (by Rubén Arranz)

Translation: Carmel Drake

British Developers Lead Revival Of Costa Del Sol’s Property Sector

4 January 2017 – El País

The United Kingdom’s decision to leave the European Union in June has not discouraged London-based property developers from investing in Spain. Among the companies looking to establish a presence along the Mediterranean are Round Hill Capital, which has chosen the Costa del Sol as its launch pad into Spain.

The group, set up by Michael Bickford, has opened offices in Madrid, where it is also looking to buy property, along with Barcelona and the western part of Malaga’s coastline. It has paid €30 million for a 50-hectare plot of land in Ojén, close to Marbella, from Sareb, the entity set up by the government in 2012 to absorb the toxic assets of the country’s banks. It intends to build 600 luxury apartments there. Palo Alto will be the first major property development in the area since 2008, when the country’s real estate sector crashed.

With a total investment of €250 million, Palo Alto is planned in 10 phases, with work on 75 properties due to begin early in the new year. Ojén’s local council has approved construction and other permits in less than two months.

Matías Villaroel, Round Hill Capital’s Spanish manager, says that the company had second thoughts about the project immediately after the Brexit vote, but decided to go ahead because the properties are not being targeted at British buyers.

Round Hill Capital has already sold half of the first phase of the development, mainly to Germans, Belgians, and Scandinavians. Prices for the apartments range from €440,000 to €950,000.

A few kilometers along the coast in Torremolinos, another British property developer, Intu, is going to build what it says will be the largest shopping and leisure complex in Andalucía, covering some 200,000 square meters. The company is still awaiting final approval, but says it intends to begin work early in the new year, with completion due in 36 months.

Intu, which built the Puerto Venecia shopping center in Zaragoza, says it intends to invest some €600 million in the project, with a further €500 million coming from other partners. The company adds that it expects to generate some 2,500 jobs to build the project, which will then provide work for around 4,000 people.

The most recent report commissioned by the British Chamber of Commerce into the opportunities for UK businesses in Spain concludes that neither the uncertainty over the Brexit referendum nor the absence of a Spanish government put investors off during the first six months of 2016. It notes that 64% of UK companies in Spain intend to maintain their investments here, with 8% saying they intend to increase their presence, while 28% said they intended to reduce their investment. The United Kingdom is Spain’s fifth-biggest source of foreign direct investment, making up 11% of the total.

British ambassador to Spain Simon Manley says he is “optimistic” and believes that the EU and the UK will reach agreement over Brexit that will protect trade ties.

Also in Marbella, Pacific Investment is building five upscale villas at a cost of €25 million. Each of the properties, which will sit on between 2,000 and 3,000 square meters of land, will cost around €7 million.

Estepona, in the west of Malaga province, has been keen to attract developments, granting building permits within three months. Over the course of 2016, it has approved planning permission for four property developments for some 198 apartments, along with around 20 free-standing houses. Among the main players is London-based Kronos Home, which is building 70 luxury apartments in the Arroyo Vaquero area, some eight kilometers west of Estepona. It has plans to build in other areas of the Malaga coastline.

Original story: El País (by Esperanza Codina)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Estepona Receives 287 Million In Luxury Real Estate Investments

3 February 2016 – ABC

Real estate in Estepona is flatly taking off. Investment property in luxury homes recorded consitently upward figures. “The euro is too low and that makes the British and the Nordic countries, which have the most valued currency, have raised their purchasing power by 20 percent,” Eddie Martinez, representative of Siesta Home, one of the companies that is considering investing in that town of Málaga, comments to ABC.  The City Council has received requests for construction of five maximum level residential properties that can exceed 287-million-euro investment. These are luxury constructions aimed at a customer with a high purchasing power and mainly coming from northern Europe countries.

So far, there are three promoters that have started their business and that are selling villas and luxury apartments on the ground. “Panoramia” from the Company Ikasa expects to build 400 homes in lands of the city with a progressive investment of 205 million euros during the coming years. In a first step, the company has already planned the building of the first 74 residences in the Park of Las Mesas. It is an exclusive area of ​​126,000 square meters, whose main attractive is to offer a place for both rest and longer stays.

As reported by the company, the complex will be equipped with an area of ​​large commercial centers, gardens, sports facilities, school and institute. A place that is not only intended to spend holidays or retiring, but also to build a life in the area. “Estepona ensures the greater appreciation of real estate investment on the entire Costa del Sol” says Haryán Rodriguez, CEO of Ikasa, who affirms that “the latest political developments in the neighboring towns make their recovery and growth rate double that of the rest of the coast”.

Under this revaluation Siesta Home is also making a strong commitment with urban development in the city. The company, of Scandinavian origin, is building luxury villas at 150 meters from the beach. This is a promotion of 52 mansions in “Sunset Bay Village”. The investment will be around EUR 50 million and will be a residential complex with private security and clubhouse for proprietors.

According to the promoter, the prices of these houses will start from 695,000 euros. “It is a combination of cultures,” says Eddie Martinez. The company seeks to build on this coastal enclave a residential complex that combines modern buildings with the Mediterranean vision of Estepona. “The views of the complex are also a mix of cultures with the appearance of the Strait of Gibraltar and the African coast,” emphasizes Martinez.

With the arrival of the new year, the municipality has given the green light to another housing investment. It is an enclosed  luxury complex with paddle courts, putt-green and facilities such as gym or spa. It is a complex of 123 homes with an investment of around 32 million euros in the area of El Marqués de Guadalmina. The properties are located within a privileged enclave, with direct access from the highway and the proximity to the sea or the Benahavis mountains. Zahira Group has already begun marketing these products with prices ranging from 139,000 euros to 417,000 euros per residence. On the other hand, in the area of Guadalobón, 50 luxury villas have already been planned.

Original story: ABC (by J.J. Madueño)

Translation: Aura Ree

Judge Approves Liquidation Plan For Olga Urbana

15 December 2015 – Valencia Plaza

Commercial court number 1 in Alicante has approved the liquidation plan for the developer of the In Tempo building in Benidorm, the tallest residential skyscraper in Europe, construction of which began in 2006. Olga Urbana is the construction company behind this unfinished building, which has now been put up for sale. The company has filed for bankruptcy and Antonia Magdaleno has been appointed as the bankruptcy administrator.

The company that constructed the building filed for bankruptcy after its main creditor, Sareb, which inherited the loan originally granted by Caixa Galicia amounting to just over €100 million, requested legal intervention in the company. According to the court order, Sareb proposes that the direct sales phase last for at least five months.

In addition, if during the first three months of this phase, an offer is received to directly purchase the building for a price equivalent to at least 70% of its appraisal value, then Sareb asks that it be awarded to the bidder without waiting for the five month period to end. Nevertheless, the sale must involve the property in its entirety; offers will not be accepted for individual homes.

Original story: Valencia Plaza (by Estefanía Pastor)

Translation: Carmel Drake

The ‘German Bad Bank’ Acquires Gran Vía, 68

18 May 2015 – El Confidencial

The building located at number 68 Gran Via, which used to belong to Carlyle, has a new owner: the ‘German bad bank’, FMS Wertmanagement, the equivalent of Sareb in Spain.

The building located at number 68 on the coveted avenue in Madrid has a new owner. FMS Wertmanagement, more commonly known as the ‘German bad bank’ – the equivalent of Sareb in Spain – has acquired the property, which was the first acquisition made by the private equity firm Carlyle in Spain at the end of 2005.

This asset used to belong to the real estate fund Carlyle Europe Real Estate Partners II (CEREP), which filed for bankruptcy in March 2012. It is estimated that the fund paid €45 million and so had to obtain a loan from the German entity Hypo Real Estate to finance the transaction – Hypo was taken over by the German Government in 2009 – and the debt has ended up in the hands of FMS. According to sources close to the transaction, this asset, which is currently worth around €21-23 million, has had lots of suitors.

In fact, in addition to FMS, the holding company that owns the investments of the businessman Manuel Jove (Inveravante) and the US fund, Autonomy, which has an opportunistic profile and arrived in Spain in 2013, both submitted bids.

In the context of the bankruptcy, the sale has been conducted by the bankruptcy administrator; and all indications suggest that FMS could have acquired the building for the amount of the debt, around €40 million. The sources consulted by this newspaper say that the German bad bank intends to seek a buyer for the property, at a time when the Spanish real estate market has taken off (again), and in an area (Madrid’s Gran Via) that has sparked so much interest and activity over the last year and a half.

Carlyle’s real estate ‘troubles’ in Spain

We have to go back almost ten years to see Carlyle’s first foray into the real estate sector in our country. At the end of 2005, the firm bought this property, which dates back to the beginning of the 20th century, from the Urconsa group – it was formerly owned by La Unión and Fénix Español – with a view to renovating it and turning it into luxury apartments. With a surface area of 7,600 m2, comprising three retail floors and eleven additional floors for residential use, it is totally empty at the moment.

Carlyle had intended to build 75 luxury apartments, preserving the original façade of the iconic building in the centre of Madrid. Its commitment to the real estate sector in Spain was clear and it expected to have the renovation completed within two years. However, its plans took a turn for the worse.

The Town Hall of Madrid did not grant the construction licence until April 2008, according to Cinco Días, and by 31 October 2010, only one of the commercial premises was leased out.

“We are delighted to have made our first investment in Spain. The residential market in Madrid is buoyant and we think that there will be strong demand for these new apartments in a building as impressive as this. We hope that this will be the first of many investments in Spain”, said Rachel Lupiani, Director of Carlyle Real Estate, after the deal was announced. She was responsible for closing the transaction, which was advised by the consultancy firm CB Richard Ellis and the law firm Clifford Chance.

In Spain, Carlyle also acquired land on Calle Alcalá in Madrid and the Telefónica headquarters in Barcelona – for which it paid €219 million in 2007.

The German bad bank is now looking for a buyer

The German bad bank, which operates in a similar way to Sareb, was created in 2010 with assets from the nationalised bank Hypo Real Estate. These included almost €900 million of non-performing assets and loans, including the debt relating to Gran Via, 68.

Just like in the case of Sareb in Spain, FMS is now looking for buyers for many of its non-performing assets and loans. In fact, at the beginning of this month, it sold the Gaudí debt package, which it had also inherited form the nationalised Hypo Real Estate, to the Californian fund Oaktree. That portfolio included debt relating to the Hotel Arts de Barcelona, a five-star property managed by Ritz-Cartlon, as well as another luxury hotel located in the Portuguese town of Cascais, five shopping centres, four office buildings, 17 storeooms and other residential and industrial assets.

Original story: El Confidencial (by E. Sanz and R. Ugalde)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Barceló To Operate The Torre Madrid Hotel

18 January 2015 – Cinco Días

Metrovacesa and Barceló Hotels & Resorts signed a 20-year lease contract on Friday morning for the operation of the future hotel in the Torre Madrid, built by Metrovacesa in the Plaza de España in 1957.

The companies report that the hotel will provide superior four star accommodation, with 256 rooms, a cafeteria, a restaurant, a spa, meeting rooms and common areas.

“Metrovacesa plans to undertake major investment in the refurbishment of the first 9 floors of the building, covering approximately 22,000 square metres, with the aim of converting the hotel into a destination of choice in Madrid, unique in its design and facilities”, the companies report in a statement. The new Barceló hotel will operate alongside luxury apartments, which occupy the top floors of the building, and will become the chain’s fourth hotel in Madrid.

In 2011, Metrovacesa, a then listed company, informed the CNMV about the sale of homes in Torre Madrid for €28.7 million. The cheapest home in Torre Madrid, covering around 80 square metres, cost €530,000. The most expensive home occupies 240 square metres. The height and orientation determine the final price of homes of a similar size.

In 2005, Metrovacesa put two of Madrid’s most famous skyscrapers, the Edificio España and the Torre Madrid, up for sale. Santander acquired the Edificio España for €389 million in the same year; and last year the entity agreed the sale of the building to the Chinese group, Wanda, for €265 million.

Original article: Cinco Días

Translation: Carmel Drake