Naturgy to Relocate 4,000 Employees in order to Rent Out Offices

30 May 2019 – Expansión

Francisco Reynés, the President of Naturgy, is adjusting costs through a mega real estate plan that will see the company optimise its office space at all of its headquarters across Spain, in order to free up plenty of square metres to be re-let or sold.

In total, around 4,000 employees will be moving offices in an operation that could affect up to 50 different offices. The first moves will be made in Madrid and Barcelona, where around 2,500 workers will be affected, with the firm’s departure from its large headquarters on Avenida de San Luis, 77 in the Spanish capital and on Plaza del Gas, 1 in the Catalan city.

The aim is to leverage new opportunities offered by design (open-plan offices), technology (working from home) and internal reorganisations to cut real estate costs. Austerity and pragmatism will prevail over other factors such as aesthetics and corporate image.

Original story: Expansión (Miguel Ángel Patiño)

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

Spain’s Largest Landlords are Merlin, Colonial, GMP & Mapfre

19 April 2019 – Expansión

Merlin, Colonial, GMP and Mapfre: three Socimis and one insurance company together own 16% of the total office space in Madrid. Blackstone, Realia, Mutua Madrileña, Tristan, Pontegadea and Starwood complete the Top 10 ranking.

According to a report from Deloitte, the ten largest landlords own more than 3.1 million m2 of leasable space in Madrid, out of a total spanning more than 13 million m2 (24%). In Barcelona, there is 6.1 million m2 of leasable space.

Leading the ranking is Merlin, which owns 7% of the total stock in Madrid and more than 3% in Barcelona. Its 140-strong office portfolio is worth €5.5 billion and accounts for 45% of its total assets. The Socimi’s tenants include BBVA, Endesa, Inditex and PwC, and its star assets include Torre PwC in Madrid and Torre Glòries in Barcelona.

Behind Merlin is Colonial, which owns 3.8% of the office stock in Madrid and 4.6% in Barcelona (where it is the market leader). Its key assets include the building located on Paseo de la Castellana, 52, two properties on Calle Miguel Ángel (numbers 11 and 23), all in Madrid, and Torre Marenostrum in Barcelona.

Completing the podium is GMP, which owns 2.8% of the gross leasable area in Madrid, including Torre BBVA and Torre Ederra, both in Azca. Meanwhile, the insurance companies Mapfre and Mutua Madrileña own 2.7% and 1.4% of the total stock in the Spanish capital, respectively.

In addition, the funds have strengthened their positions in recent months. The US fund Starwood purchased a portfolio of offices in Madrid and Barcelona from Autonomy for €125 million. It also acquired the San Fernando Business Park, in conjunction with Drago, from Oaktree for €120 million.

The British fund Tristan has also been active, with the acquisition of an office complex on Avenida de Manoteras in 2017 and the purchase of six offices spanning 78,000 m2 from Colonial in 2018 (…).

Original story: Expansión (by R. Arroyo)

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

Criteria Finalises the Purchase of a 8,000 m2 Building in 22@ for €35M

9 April 2019 – Eje Prime

InmoCaixa, the real estate arm of La Caixa’s holding company Criteria is finalising the purchase of a 8,000 m2 building located at number 331 Calle Llull, in the 22@ district of Barcelona.

The building is managed by the German fund manager GLL and the purchase price is reported to amount to €35 million.

The property is currently leased in its entirety, mostly to Torraspapel, the paper company belonging to the Lecta group, which occupies 7,000 m2.

Original story: Eje Prime 

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

WeWork to Launch its ‘Custom Buildout’ Business in Spain

28 March 2019 – Idealista

The US co-working company WeWork is studying the rental of entire buildings in Spain to dedicate to its custom buildout business. The service offers large corporations assets fitted out and managed by the brand. The company is already looking at potential properties in Barcelona.

WeWork now has ten co-working office spaces in Madrid and Barcelona (5 in each city), but its plan is to offer large corporations a new service that would house their headquarters and manage all of their needs, leveraging the firm’s know-how in the office management segment.

According to its business model, WeWork speaks to its clients first to understand their needs and desires. It then searches for the best offers, assumes the risks of a long-term contract and the capital investment, and manages the property for the company on an on-going basis, offering services such as fresh fruit, water and security, as well as events for employees.

In this way, the firm would start to compete directly with stalwarts of the sector such as CBRE, JLL, Savills Aguirre Newman and Cushman&Wakefield.

WeWork already offers this service to several corporates around the world, including Starbucks, Facebook, Adidas, Salesforce, Blackrock and Citi, amongst others.

Original story: Idealista (by Custodio Pareja)

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

Hines Negotiates Rental of its Jewel on Paseo de Gracia with Nike & Victoria’s Secret

25 March 2019 – Eje Prime

The US firm Hines is holding negotiations with Nike and Victora’s Secret to lease the retail premise in the former headquarters of Banco Popular.

The investment fund acquired the property at number 17 Paseo de Gracia for €90 million in March 2017, and, after completing a €10 million renovation project last year, is going to lease the building’s office space to the coworking group WeWork.

The two retail brands are competing to occupy the prime store, which has a surface area of more than 2,000 m2 and which is being marketed by CBRE.

Hines’s portfolio in Spain comprises fifteen assets, of which ten are located in Barcelona and the rest in Madrid.

Original story: Eje Prime (by I.P. Gestal & P. Riaño)

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

Office Space in Barcelona’s 22@ District Will Grow by 335,000 m2 by 2021

11 March 2019 – La Vanguardia

According to a report by the consultancy firm BNP Paribas Real Estate España, the supply of office space in Barcelona’s 22@ district will grow by 335,000 m2 over the next three years, of which 77,800 m2 will be handed over during 2019, compared to 33,200 m2 in 2018.

In light of the scarce supply and high demand in the area, average prices rose by 20% in the second half of 2018 to reach between €1,500/m2 and €1,600/m2 in prime areas.

Rental prices also rose in 2018, by 8%, to reach an average of €16.7/m2/month. They are set to continue to rise this year headed for historical maximums.

Original story: La Vanguardia

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

Busining Leases 4,900 m2 in one of the Kio Towers to Open a Coworking

20 February 2019 – Eje Prime

Busining is going to create a new business centre in Torre Realia The Icon, one of the former Kio Towers in Madrid. The company, which specialises in coworking spaces, has leased 4,900 m2 of space from Realia, the owner of the property. The space is distributed over five floors in the iconic building located at number 216 Paseo de la Castellana where it is going to open offices and meeting rooms. The operation has been advised by Cushman&Wakefield.

The tower, known as The Icon, is one of the most iconic buildings in the Spanish capital and is considered to be the first skyscraper in the world to be built at a sloping angle. Its architect, Philip Johnson, was the first recipient of the Pritzker award.

With this operation, Busininng, which has five business spaces in Madrid, is expanding its offer in the business district of the Spanish capital. “This new operation is another example of the consolidation and growth of the coworking phenomenon in the Spanish market”, said Ignacio Oyarzun, Associate in the Business Space area at Cushman & Wakefield.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

Colau Halts Investments in Barcelona’s 22@ District

10 December 2018 – Catalunya Press

Colau’s municipal government has halted several investments in the 22@ district of Barcelona, which affects companies such as Acciona, Värde Partners and Metrovacesa.

According to sources in the real estate sector, several multinationals will also end up missing out, including the French company Bouygues, the family business Espais and private funds, such as Semillas Fito.

The histories of each firm are very varied. Shaftesbury purchased an abandoned factory in 2017, where it wants to build an office building spanning 16,000 m2, a turnkey project where the multinational technology firm Cisco is going to open a research centre for intelligent cities. The land purchase involved an investment of around €10 million, according to El Confidencial.

The US firm Värde spent €50 million in total during 2017 buying land in the area affected by the revised plans of Colau, who now wants to modify the urban planning arrangements, which will mean the suspension of all projects. It was one of the largest land operations of last year in Barcelona, involving 52,000 m2 of buildable office space. At stake, a €70 million investment, which is now under threat.

Acciona has been in the area since 2001 and is the owner of an entire block between Calles Perú, Bolivia, Fluvia and Selva de Mar, which spans a surface area of 53,380 m2 and where it wants to build 33,200 m2 of office space.

Sources in the real estate sector indicate that the suspension of all of these projects, involving approximately 2 million m2 of office space, is only going to serve to put more pressure on prices in the consolidated 22@ area, which has now been completed south of La Diagonal, where Torre Glòries and the other offices are now occupied. In other words, prices will rise.

Original story: Catalunya Press

Translation: Carmel Drake

Spaces Launches its Third Co-Working in Madrid on Paseo de la Castellana

24 October 2018 – Eje Prime

Spaces is launching its third project in Madrid. The co-working space brand, owned by Regus, has opened a complex located at number 200 Paseo de la Castellana, in the heart of the Spanish capital’s business district.

The company leased 5,155 m2 of space in the complex in February. The facilities comprise more than 160 offices and 700 workstations. The space is owned by the Socimi Silvercode Investments, although it is managed by Drago.

The Castellana 200 property is the third office that Spaces has opened in the Spanish capital, where it also has another complex in Madrid Río and another in Atocha. In addition, Regus has a fourth asset in the 22@ district of Barcelona.

Castellana 200 was built in 2011 and spans an office area comprising two buildings, one smaller one, which Spaces has moved into, and another measuring 15,127 m2, which is home to tenants such as Discovery Channel, Linkedin and CBRE. The companies that have already decided to move into Spaces Castellana 200 include Ikan Biotech, Pervasive Technologies and Alliance Borntein, amongst others.

Spaces, founded in Amsterdam in 2008, competes directly with other groups such as WeWork. The company is experiencing exponential growth with the opening of 130 new centres, whereby it hopes to close 2018 with 150 centres in total all around the world. Moreover, it is consolidating its position in large markets such as in the USA, the UK, France and another 30 countries around the world.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake