Tag: parking spaces

El Corte Inglés Reduces the First Phase of its RE Sales Process to €1bn

29 March 2019 – El Confidencial

El Corte Inglés is refining the plan for its real estate divestment strategy. After hiring Javier Catena as the new Director of Real Estate, the group has decided to sell off its assets in phases and will begin by activating the sale of 95 assets, from an initial perimeter of 130.

The department store giant has engaged PwC to open the tender process for investors, with the aim of receiving final offers by the end of April.

The revised portfolio includes 14 commercial premises, 16 plots of land and 65 assets of various types, such as flats and parking spaces, which together span a total surface area of 1.2 million m2 and which are primarily located in Madrid, Barcelona, Málaga and Sevilla.

Investors may bid for all or part of this first portfolio, or even for specific assets only. Most of the properties for sale are being offered with the option of a sale and leaseback arrangement, whereby the vendor would remain as the tenant following the sale.

By reducing the perimeter of this first phase to 95 properties, ECI has decreased the proceeds that it expects to receive from RE sales this year to €1 billion, compared to the figure of between €1.5 billion and €2 billion that it had announced in December.

Original story: El Confidencial (by R. Ugalde)

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

The Government Puts the Eurocis Complex in Central Madrid up for Sale for c. €196M

16 March 2019 – Crónica Global

The Spanish Government has authorised the sale by public auction of a set of offices, storerooms and garages in central Madrid, known as the Eurocis complex. The complex, which comprises 94 registered assets spanning an office surface area of 45,937 m2, plus 396 parking spaces, 1 commercial premise and seven underground storerooms, is located in the Salamanca district in the block bordered by Calles María de Molina, Núñez de Balboa, General Oraá and Castelló.

The asking price is €196 million and candidates have two months to submit their offers in closed envelopes. Until last year, the complex used to house several departments of the Ministry of Finance, but its urban planning classification means that it could be used for private purposes in the future. The future buyer is expected to completely renovate the building and convert it into modern offices or a large shopping centre.

Original story: Crónica Global 

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

Traffic Restrictions in ‘Madrid Central’ Drive up Parking Space Prices

16 March 2019 – El País

The Town Hall of Madrid, led by Manuela Carmena, introduced new traffic restrictions in the city centre (Madrid Central) in November last year on a provisional basis. As of Saturday 16 March, fines are now being levied on vehicles that enter the area illegally.

Only those vehicles owned by people who own or lease a parking space within the designated area may access the area, regardless of the environmental label assigned to their vehicles, if they are not residents. As such, parking spaces are in demand and so their prices have soared in the last 4 months.

In fact, prices have risen by between 20% and 30% following the imposition of the traffic restrictions. For a parking space that used to cost €20,000, vendors are now asking €25,000, and for a space costing €40,000 previously, vendors are now asking between €45,000 and €48,000, according to Daniel Lucía, founder of the company ParkingYa!, created twenty years ago and which sells more than 250 parking spaces per year.

According to Pisos.com, the average price of a parking space in the Centro district is now €52,100. In the Spanish capital in general, the average price amounts to €21,300. Moreover, even though the prices of parking spaces rose by between 10% and 20% across Spain in 2018, they are still 30% cheaper than in the years before the real estate bubble, when parking spaces in Centro and Salamanca were sold for €90,000 or €100,000.

These assets generated stable returns of 6.2% across Spain in 2018, compared with 5.5% in 2017, according to Idealista. In Madrid, the yield was 3.4%, although that figure varied by district. Location is key, as that typically determines the ease with which a space can be leased. Parking spaces in the city centre are always less profitable (generating less than 4%) than those on the outskirts but they are safer investments as are rarely unoccupied.

Original story: El País (by Sandra López Letón)

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

Socimi Vivenio to Invest Another €142.5M to grow its Portfolio

11 March 2019 – Idealista

The Socimi Vivenio, owned by Renta Corporación (3%) and the Dutch fund APG (95%), has approved a capital increase amounting to €142.5 million, as it seeks to continue to grow its portfolio. The company will use the funds to buy new residential assets to incorporate into its portfolio, which is worth €470 million, according to the Alternative Investment Market (MAB).

Vivenio’s portfolio currently comprises 24 residential properties (containing more than 2,000 homes, 2,020 parking spaces and 1,600 storerooms) spanning a surface area of 185,500 m2, located mainly in Madrid and Barcelona. It also owns some assets in Valencia and Palma de Mallorca. The Socimi was created in April 2017 and has been listed on the MAB since the end of 2018.

Original story: Idealista 

Translation: Carmel Drake

IBA Capital & Angelo Gordon Acquire Barajas 1 for €37.5M

7 March 2019 – Eje Prime

IBA Capital Partners and Angelo Gordon have joined forces to purchase the Barajas 1 office building from GMP for €37.5 million. The property is located at number 29 Calle Trespaderne in Madrid, has a gross leasable area of 29,173 m2 and includes 204 parking spaces. Its main tenants are SGS and Vodafone and the advisor to the operation was CBRE.

The purchasers are planning to renovate the building, modify the façade, renew the common areas, remodel the vacant homes and adapt the technical facilities.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

Moraleja Green Gets a Makeover with 19 New Stores

7 March 2019 – Expansión

Moraleja Green, the shopping centre located in Alcobendas, in north  Madrid, saw its visitor numbers increase by 12% in Q4 2018, following the completion of a €12 million renovation project by its owner Kennedy Wilson. The US fund purchased the shopping centre, which has a surface area of 30,200 m2 and 1,300 parking spaces, from ING in 2015. Following its renovation, the medium-high end retail space opened 14 new stores last year and will welcome five more in 2019, with brands such as Mango, Dolores Promesas, Scalpers Women, Poete and Parfois all opening premises.

Shopping centres in Spain are enjoying something of a renaissance, despite the surge in online shopping. They offer consumers a plethora of in-person entertainment options besides retail, including gastronomic, leisure and sports facilities.

In particular, Moraleja Green’s renovation has allowed it to expand its gastronomic offering to include Tierra Burrito, Pizza Jardin and NYB restaurants, amongst others. The shopping centre also offers charging points for electric vehicles and access to wifi throughout its premises.

Original story: Expansión (by Rebeca Arroyo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Inbest Completes its Purchase of a Property in Valencia from El Corte Inglés

5 March 2019 – Las Provincias

The fund manager Inbest Real Estate has formalised its purchase of an asset on Calle Colón in Valencia from El Corte Inglés. The property spans a commercial surface area of 7,600 m2, has 84 parking spaces and contains an office building measuring around 1,800 m2.

The deal forms part of an agreement reached between Inbest and the department store giant last August, which saw the fund acquire assets from ECI in Bilbao and Madrid for €184 million (for the three buildings).

Inbest was only created a year ago, but its portfolio already comprises iconic real estate assets worth more than €350 million, located on the main commercial thoroughfares of Madrid, Bilbao and Valencia.

Original story: Las Provincias

Translation: Carmel Drake

Zambal Extends the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Rental in the Torres Ágora until 2023

26 February 2019 – Eje Prime

Zambal has renewed its contract with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and has consolidated one of its main assets. The Socimi, managed by IBA Capital Partners, has signed a new rental contract with the public body for the Ágora Towers, the facilities that house most of the personnel assigned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation.

The new rental contract will last for four years, of which the first two are mandatory, according to reports made by the real estate company to the Alternative Investment Market (MAB).

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been the tenant of the Ágora Towers, located at number 26 Calle Serrano Galvache in Madrid, since 22 October 2012 (…). Zambal has been the owner of the complex, which comprises two 15-storey twin buildings with three basement floors, since December 2013. The towers have a gross leasable area of 30,469 m2 and 469 parking spaces (…).

Original story: Eje Prime (by Roger Arnau)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Marathon Acquires 2 Office Buildings in Madrid from CaixaBank

14 February 2019 – El Confidencial

The US fund Marathon Asset Management, one of the first to back the recovery of the residential property development sector in Spain, has set its sights on the peripheral office market. According to sources speaking to this newspaper, the firm has purchased a complex measuring 17,557 m2 in Madrid from CaixaBank.

The complex comprises two office buildings and 300 parking spaces, as well as several commercial premises and is located at number 43 on Avenida Institución Libre de Enseñanza in the Julián Camarillo area, which is home to the offices of companies such as Atos, Indra and Prisa.

It is the second operation of its kind that Marathon has carried out in the past three months, given that in November, it acquired a mixed-used complex, also in this area from Credit Suisse. That complex comprised an office building and a hotel managed by Barceló.

Specialising in value-added operations, as demonstrated in the past, with its anticipation of the recovery of the residential property development market with its investments in Habitat and San José Desarrollos (now Vía Célere), the fund is convinced about the potential of the secondary office market in Spain, which it has placed at the centre of its investment target.

In fact, Marathon is interested in closing more acquisitions of this kind both in Madrid, where it plans to continue growing in the Julián Camarillo area, and in Barcelona, where it is looking at opportunities in areas such as 22@.

Last sale by CaixaBank

The fund, which has been advised in its purchase from CaixaBank by Cuatrecasas, Arcadis and Doble Dígito Brokerage, is planning to carry out a comprehensive repositioning of the asset, given that its current occupancy rate amounts to just 30%, according to market sources. They also indicate that the acquisition price will have amounted to around €15 million.

This complex was originally promoted by Grupo Veintidós in 2010, a company that ended up transferring ownership of the complex to CaixaBank, which lodged it in its real estate subsidiary Building Center.

Meanwhile, the bank reached an agreement with Lone Star last year to sell 80% of its real estate business, which means that this could be one of the last operations that the real estate subsidiary carries out under the control of the entity.

Original story: El Confidencial (by R. Ugalde)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Saint Croix Buys an Office Building in Madrid for €24M

31 January 2019 – Diario Vasco

The Socimi Saint Croix Holding has acquired an office building located on Calle Juan Ignacio Luca de Tena 17 in Madrid for €23.95 million.

The price of the building, which also includes 166 parking spaces, has been paid in part with two commercial premises owned by the company whose value amounts to €3.5 million, according to the Spanish National Securities Market Commission (CNMV).

Specifically, the commercial premises are located on Calle Caleruega 66, 68 and 70 as well as on Calle Rutilo 21, 23 and 25, both in Madrid.

In addition, the company has paid €20,385,500 in cash to complete the purchase price.

During 2019, the Socimi is planning to undertake a comprehensive renovation of the building to reposition it and adapt it to the standards demanded by the market.

Original story: Diario Vasco 

Translation: Carmel Drake