Trinitario Casanova’s Baraka Group to Build Hotel in Valdebebas

14 October 2019 The executive Trinitario Casanova is planning on building a new hotel in Madrid Norte, the capital’s new residential area, between Valdebebas and Operation Chamartín. Casanova’s Baraka Group confirmed that it would develop the new hotel on a 38,000-m2 plot of land its owns near to the Real Madrid sports complex and the access to Madrid-Barajas airport. The project reportedly also includes plans for rental offices on the same site.

The area where the hotel will be located is in the ‘Valdebebas Fintech District’ in the new Madrid Nuevo Norte in the north of Madrid, where 11,400 new homes are already under development.

Original Story: La Información – Ana Sánchez Juárez

Adaptation/Translation: Richard D. K. Turner

Acciona Acquires a Plot of Land in Valdebebas as Ferrovial Looks to Sell Another

17 September 2019 Madrid’s real estate sector has seen a series of major transactions in recent months. In the most recent, Acciona acquired a 31,700-m2 plot of land from the company Celteo Business, including 26,018 m2 for residences and 5,755 m2 for stores. According to market sources, the conglomerate paid 2,000 euros/m2, a two-fold increase over the average price just five years ago. The deal, which totalled approximately 63 million euros, secured enough land to build about 260 homes.

Ferrovial, for its part, has decided to wrap up its development business and is looking to sell a plot of land just in front of the Cercanías train station. The firm is asking for about 2,000 euros per square meter or roughly 54 million euros for a 27,200-m2 plot of land. The land consists of 22,700 m2 for residences and 4,500 m2 for stores and would fit about 230 new homes.

Before sales begin on the Madrid Nuevo Norte development, Valdebebas is one of the few areas in Spain’s capital offering new housing. “Valdebebas is the only option for many families looking to buy a newly-built home… while it is also one of the few areas with finalist land for developers,” says Samuel Population of CBRE.

According to a study by Foro Consultores, there are currently 11 new developments underway in the area, totalling 857 new homes, almost half of which have already been sold.

The prices of the homes, according to the same firm, range between 450,000 and 650,000 euros, with the average price per square meter between 3,800 and 3,700 euros.

Original Story: El Confidencial – Elena Sanz

Adaptation/Translation: Richard D. K. Turner

Developers Eye More Than €30 Billion in New Business in Madrid

21 August 2019

Developers are eyeing huge new possible investments they expect to build approximately 130,000 new homes over the next 25 years. That is in addition to major new investments in offices, retail spaces and industrial buildings. The sale of homes and other properties is expected to exceed €30 billion.

Developers are planning two new centres of investment in the north and southeast of the capital. The developments include Operation Chamartín (since renamed Madrid Nuevo Norte) and five new neighbourhoods to the southeast: Los Berrocales, Valdecarros, Los Cerros, Los Ahijones and El Cañaveral.

Operation Chamartín was finally approved last month by the municipal assembly, after a 26-year hiatus. A report by the city council forecasts that total sales of homes, offices and commercial areas will reach €13.198 billion, €10.2 billion of which will come from offices and retail areas. 10,500 homes will also be built in the area surrounding the Chamartín train station, 24% of which will have subsidies.

A development with a total of 118,737 homes is also planned for the city’s southeast. Sales for this area are expected to reach more than €20 billion over 25 years with profit margins reaching 20%. El Cañaveral, where construction has already begun, will see total investments of €3 billion. Next will be Los Berrocales and then Los Ahijones by 2021. Lastly, work will begin on Los Cerros and Valdecarros, with plans for more than 50,000 homes, the first of which will be ready in a decade. The owners of these developments, excluding El Cañaveral, calculate investments exceeding €13 billion, generating 965,000 direct and indirect jobs over the next few years.

Original Story: Cinco Días – Alfonso Simón Ruiz

Adaptation/Translation: Richard D. K. Turner

BBVA to Sell Its 75% Participation in the Madrid Nuevo Norte Project

30 July 2019 – Richard D. K. Turner

The Madrid City Council has unanimously approved the Madrid Nuevo Norte project, also known as Operation Chamartín, after a twenty-five-year wait. The project must now gain final approval from the Community of Madrid government and weather lawsuits from community and environmental groups.

District Castellana Norte (DCN), which is 75% owned by BBVA together with Grupo San José (25%), is the developer in charge of the project. Though BBVA has publicly affirmed its commitment to see the project through, increased oversight by the ECB and a change in the bank’s leadership have fuelled speculation that BBVA will sell its participation of a single major investor.

Despite some changes to the urban development plan, Operation Chamartín will lead to the construction of 10,500 homes (20% with some kind of protection), a new financial district and the refurbishment of the Chamartín train station. In total, investors will plough roughly €6 billion into the project over about two decades. Construction is expected to commence in 2021.

Original Story: El Confidencial – Ruth Ugalde

Operation Chamartín Expected to Receive Go Ahead

15 July 2019 – Richard D. K. Turner

The mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, expects that the City Council will approve Madrid Nuevo Norte, also known as Operation Chamartín, in September. Operation Chamartín is a development north of the city of Madrid, near the Chamartín train station, that licensing issues have kept in limbo since 1993.

BBVA owns 75% of DCN, the development’s main protagonist, while the rest belongs to Grupo San José. The firm controls the rights to a large part of the land, which, in reality, is still owned by Adif, the state-owned railway company. Thus, DCN will pay Adif more than €1.2 billion euros over 20 years after the development receives approval.

The Madrid Nuevo Norte involves the construction of 10,500 homes and a new financial zone, in a potential investment of more than €13 billion.

Original Story: Idealista

Madrid’s Regional Government Gives Green Light to Operación Madrid Nuevo Norte

19 May 2019 – El Mundo

According to information obtained by El Mundo, the Community of Madrid is going to send its Environmental Assessment Report regarding Operación Chamartín to the Town Hall of Madrid on Monday, which will leave the path clear for the municipal plenary to vote on the plan before the local elections are held on Sunday 26 May.

The urban development project, which is now known by its new name, Madrid Nuevo Norte, will see the construction of 10,500 homes at the northern end of Paseo de la Castellana, together with the development of offices, retail areas, green spaces and three new metro stations.

The only requirement stipulated in the definitive report issued by the Community of Madrid is that agreements be made upfront about who is going to pay for the public building works, including the Canal de Isabel II installations, the construction of the three new metro stations and the preparation of the surrounding roads.

According to the protocol of execution signed a month ago by the Town Hall of Madrid, Adif – the public entity that owns the land – and Distrito Castellana Norte (DCN) – the private company that is promoting the development – the three leading players will share the cost of developing the aforementioned infrastructures, whereby ensuring that local taxpayers do not have to foot the bill.

Original story: El Mundo (by Marta Belver & Isabel F. Lantigua)

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

Regeneration in Madrid: the City’s Office Supply is Set to Increase by 25%

25 February 2019 – Eje Prime

The major urban development projects underway in Madrid are going to multiply the availability of office space in the capital. Madrid Nuevo Norte, the real estate plan from Aena and the work being planned in Las Tablas, Valdebebas and Pegaso will add 3.3 million m2 of office space to the existing supply in the capital. In this way, an increase of 25% is expected, according to a report compiled by Deloitte and reported by Expansión.

Currently, Madrid has an office surface area spanning 13 million m2, of which 9.5% is unoccupied. The average rent in the financial district amounts to €33/m2/month. Together with Barcelona, the city accounts for 85% of all office inventory in Spain, and is the largest business centre in the country by surface area, with more than twice as much space on offer than the Catalan capital.

In the short and medium term, 400,000 m2 of new space will be handed over in Madrid and almost 375,000 m2 in Barcelona, according to Deloitte. For the owners, it is not only important to create new supply, but also to attract new tenants, as well as to increase rents and the valuation of buildings through the transformation of spaces.

Of the major urban development projects underway in Madrid, Valdebebas is probably the most ambitious. It constitutes a business district, called Valdebebas Fintech District, spanning more than 1 million m2, which is also going to include hotel services. Besides that program, there is also a business centre being planned in Madrid Nuevo Norte, with three skyscrapers measuring 250m, 230m and 190m tall, respectively.

The renovation of the space also forms part of the regeneration project. Over the next four years, more than 300,000 m2 of office space in Madrid will be restored. In parallel, the owners of offices in Barcelona are planning to replace buildings with a surface area of more than 58,000 m2.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

Madrid Nuevo Norte’s New Offices will be Home to 125,000+ Employees

22 October 2018 – Eje Prime

Madrid Nuevo Norte, the focus of the recently announced new homes, is also going to be home to a business centre. Offices are going to be built in the financial epicentre of the Spanish capital to house 125,472 employees in total. Moreover, the district is going to be home to the tallest building in Spain, with up to seventy floors.

The project is going to house the Chamartín Business Centre, where almost all of the properties for businesses are going to be located. They will house two thirds of the 1.5 million m2 that are going to be dedicated to offices in Madrid Nuevo Norte, according to reports from Cinco Días.

The volume of business in terms of office development will exceed €10 billion; in the case of house building, that figure will reach €3.0 billion. The project’s economic report shows a range of profitability from the real estate business in the new district of between 11.2% and 16.4%.

After several adjustments, Madrid Nuevo Norte has decreased its total buildability by 21%, down from 3.37 million m2 per the initial plan to 2.66 million m2. Similarly, the district has been divided into four areas: Chamartín station, the business district, Fuencarral-San Roque-Tres Olivos and Fuencarral-Las Tablas. Each one will have its own timetable and urbanisation costs.

The project is going to be financed almost in its entirety by the landowners, which will disburse an average of €1.2 billion. With the aim of covering the urbanisation costs, the Town Hall of Madrid will spend €307.89 million, which will be added to €24.78 million from the Community of Madrid and €220.49 million from Adif, the concessionaire of the rights.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

Madrid Nuevo Norte will Generate €13.2bn of Business for the RE Sector

12 October 2018 – Eje Prime

Madrid Nuevo Norte represents good news for the Spanish real estate sector. The Town Hall led by Manuela Carmena expects the project, which received the green light at the end of September, to generate €13.2 billion of business for the real estate sector.

The urban development project, to the north of Chamartín train station, is going to house 10,485 new homes, as well as 1.5 million m2 of offices and another 103,119 m2 of commercial space. The acquisition of the plots will involve a total cost of €3.74 billion and the construction costs will exceed €2.78 billion.

The Town Hall of Madrid has confirmed that the tertiary assets will contribute the bulk of the income for the property developers that participate in the construction of Madrid Nuevo Norte. Together, the sales price of those properties will amount to €10.2 billion. In the case of the development of new homes, the business will amount to €2.98 billion, according to reports from Cinco Días.

The results of an economic study for the project show a range of returns of between 11.2% and 16.4%, although the Town Hall warns that the margin will depend heavily on factors such as the evolution of the real estate market and the acquisition price of the land. In terms of the latter, an orientative cost of €2,899.47/m2 is forecast for private housing located in the financial centre.

Following several adjustments, the total buildability of Madrid Nuevo Norte has decreased by 21%, down from 3.37 million m2 according to the initial plan to €2.66 million m2 under the current plan. In addition, the district has been divided into four areas: Chamartín station, the business centre, Fuencarral-San Roque-Tres Olivos and Fuencarral-Las Tablas. Each area will have its own construction timetable and urbanisation costs.

The project will have to be financed almost in its entirety by the landowners, who will disburse €1.2 billion on average. The Town Hall of Madrid is going to spend €307.89 million with the aim of covering the urbanisation costs, which will be added to €24.78 million from the Community of Madrid and €220.49 million from Adif, the concessionaire of the rights.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

Carmena Invites Ministry of Development to Reactivate Operación Campamento with 11,500 Homes

25 September 2018 – El Confidencial

The mayor of Madrid, Manuela Carmena, announced today that she has invited the Ministry of Development to reactivate Operación Campamento, originally proposed in 2005, to be built on disused military land in the south-west of the capital, with the construction of 11,150 homes instead of the 22,100 units projected by the PP initially. This is one of the last remaining urban development projects in Madrid, together with the developments in the southeast of the city and Operación Chamartín, which received initial approval from the Town Hall of Madrid last week.

In April 2015, the Ministry of Defence – the owner of the plots – announced their sale through an online public auction on Addmeet, but in the end, the operation was left hanging. Then, as El Confidencial reported, the asking price for the plots – through the public auction process – amounted to between €200 million and €250 million.

Now, three years later, and with the urbanisation process underway for Madrid Nuevo Norte (MNN) – the new name for Operación Chamartín – Carmena seems to be willing to place enough land on the market to try to put a stop to the sharp rise in prices, both in the purchase and rental markets, that the capital has experienced over the last two years and which has also led Carmena herself to propose to the central Government a moratorium or an automatic extension of the rental contracts that are due to terminate before the Urban Lease Law (LAU) is reformed.

Manuela Carmena made this announcement during her opening speech in the debate over the state of the city, in which she vindicated the Government’s actions in urban planning and its willingness to put a stop to the inequality that exists between the north and the south of the city (…).

As already happened with MNN, where the total buildability was reduced by 21% – from 3.37 million m2 in the previous plan to 2.66 million m2 in the current plan – along with the number of homes – from 18,500 to 10,510, mostly social housing properties – the operation will not go ahead at any price and, according to Carmena’s comments, the total buildability would also be reduced in this new Operación Campamento and the construction of public housing would be strengthened.

Operación Campamento in numbers

Designed on plots of land owned by the state, the Town Hall wants to build 11,150 homes, of which 40% will be private – 4,150 -, 37% will be social housing properties with limited prices – 3,800 – , and 23% will be social housing properties, of which 1,100 will be rental homes.

So-called Operación Campamento was launched in 2005 with the signing of an agreement between the then Minister of Defence, José Bono, and Minister for Housing, María Antonia Trujillo, and the then mayor of Madrid, Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón, for the construction of two phases of up to 22,100 homes on this disused military site to the west of the Spanish capital. Even though today, around half of the homes should have already been built, not a single brick has been laid.

Despite the strategic location of the plots, the reality is that only the Chinese businessman Wang Jianlin, owner of the Wanda group, publically announced his intention to undertake the €3 billion investment on them. That offer never came to fruition because the auction never went ahead (…).

Operación Campamento is one of the most important residential developments in Madrid capital after Operación Chamartín. It spans 1.5 million m2 – with more than 1 million m2 of buildable space – on which offices, hotels, shopping centres, private and public housing, as well as sports facilities and schools could be built. Moreover, the operation would include placing part of the highway to Extremadura (the A-5) underground as well as the construction of a transport interchange at the Aviación Española metro station, where a parking lot is planned for around 2,000 vehicles.

Original story: El Confidencial (by E.S.)

Translation: Carmel Drake