Iberia’s Former HQ in Barcelona is Being Converted into Luxury Apartments Costing c. €15,000/m2

4 April 2019 – El Confidencial

The fund Twin Peaks Capital is on a mission to convert Iberia’s former offices in Barcelona into 21 super luxury homes. The prices of the new properties at number 30 Paseo de Gracia are expected to go on the market for between €11,000/m2 and €15,000/m2. The penthouse might even fetch €19,000/m2, breaking all previous records in the Catalan capital and even higher than the most expensive prices in Madrid.

Twin Peaks Capital purchased the neoclassic style building from the former Agrupació Mútua in 2017 for €25 million. The property spans a surface area of almost 4,000 m2 distributed over five storeys, plus an attic, and the future homes will measure between 80 m2 and 270 m2, with first-rate finishes, plus common areas with terraces and a stunning swimming pool on the roof.

The properties will be marketed by BNP Paribas Real Estate and 25% of the development has already been sold, mostly to Catalan buyers and investors. The homes are expected to be ready during the second quarter of 2020.

Original story: El Confidencial (by E. Sanz)

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

Commercial Premises on Calle Serrano & Paseo de Gracia are More Expensive Than Ever

28 March 2019 – Expansión

The “golden miles” of Madrid and Barcelona seem to be immune to the consumer crisis and the boom in e-commerce that is negatively affecting other high streets across the country, for the time being at least. In fact, business is booming on Calle Serrano and Paseo de Gracia, driven by demand from large international luxury brands, which are only willing to open their flagship stores on those two streets.

Recent arrivals on Calle Serrano include Salvatore Ferragamo, Bottega Veneta, Saint Laurent and Bang & Olufsen. Meanwhile, the newest tenants on Paseo de Gracia include Moncler, Loro Piana (LVWH), Isabel Marant, Antropologie and Christian Louboutin.

Moreover, demand is driving up rents on those streets. In Barcelona, prices on the golden mile rose by between 5% and 6% in 2018, to €275/m2/month, according to Ascana. In Madrid, the price increase was less marked, up by just 1%, but nevertheless, the average price amounted to €284/m2/month, a new historical record.

Original story: Expansión (by Marisa Anglés)

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

WeWork Leases 2 New Office Spaces in Barcelona

4 October 2018 – Eje Prime

The US group, WeWork, is continuing its conquest of Spain and is getting ready to make its mark in the centre of Barcelona. The company, which specialises in flexible office spaces, will add a new complex to its portfolio in the Catalan capital after signing the lease on a building. The Corner, located at number 444 Avenida Diagonal, owned by Emesa. In parallel, the group is finalising the lease of the former headquarters of Banco Popular on Paseo de Gracia, in a property controlled Hines.

The building on La Diagonal is owned by Emesa, the investor group owned by Emilio Cuatrecasas, and used to house the headquarters of the law firm Cuatrecasas. The Corner, located at the intersection of La Diagonal and Paseo de Gracia has a surface area of 3,400 m2 distributed over seven floors (plus a basement), with an average surface area of 400 m2 each.

Emesa has owned the property on La Diagonal since 2017, when it paid €35 million to acquire it. The asset had been on the market since the beginning of the year after Cuatrecasas abandoned its traditional location to move to the 22@ district. Emesa had considered the possibility of leasing the building to several tenants, but in the end, it will be occupied in its entirety by WeWork.

In the meantime, the coworking giant is finalising another major operation. The company is close to signing the lease on the former headquarters of Banco Popular on Paseo de Gracia, a building that has been owned by Hines since March 2017, which paid €90 million for it.

Spaces, one of WeWork’s main rivals, expressed interest in that building in July. Nevertheless, sources at the company indicate that its operation never materialised. The building, located at number 17 Paseo de Gracia, has a surface area for offices and a retail premise, and has just been renovated by its owner.

With these moves, the US giant is taking positions in the centre of Barcelona; until now it had focused its presence on the 22@ district. In May, WeWork leased 4,500 m2 of space in the WIP building, owned by the Swiss fund Stoneweg.

That building is located next to the first complex that the group opened in Spain, in the Luxa building on Calle Tánger of the technological district. In Madrid, WeWork operates a space at number 43 Paseo de la Castellana, another at 77 on the same street, and a third at number 27 Calle Eloy Gonzalo.

Companies specialising in the management of these types of work spaces are revolutionising the office market all over the world. WeWork and Spaces are just two of the largest players on the global stage and both arrived in Spain in 2017.

Original story: Eje Prime (by Pilar Riaño & Jabier Izquierdo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

CBRE: Investor Interest in High Street Stores Skyrockets

5 July 2018 – Cinco Días

Stores on the most commercial streets of Spain have become an object of desire for investors in the real estate market. Large funds and insurance companies alike are investing in these types of assets and experts predict that a new record is going to be set in the segment this year.

Investors are expected to spend around €1.1 billion on these types of commercial premises in 2018, according to forecasts from the consultancy CBRE. That figure would exceed the amount invested in high street stores in 2017 by €300 million, equivalent to a growth rate of 36.9%. Of interest are shops on commercial thoroughfares such as c/Preciados and c/Serrano in Madrid and Paseo de Gracia and Portal de l’Àngel in Barcelona. In fact, those two cities accounted for 79% of total investment last year. “Nevertheless, other cities in Spain are on the rise and there is growing demand for investment products in cities such as Bilbao, Valencia, Sevilla and Málaga”, according to the report “The Keys to Retail in Spain”, published by CBRE yesterday.

Investors regard these types of well-located assets as a good option for placing their money, a solid alternative in the context of low-interest rates and because these high street stores perform better (than other commercial assets) in the face of competition from online retailers. Currently, according to CBRE; the returns on these properties amount to 3.5% in Barcelona and to 3.25% in Madrid; in other cities (with more risk), the returns are greater.

The stars of these acquisitions are mainly the large funds. Hines, M&G, AEW, Thor, Union Investment, CBRE GI and Deka. “In 2017, in addition, an insurance company entered the high street sector for the first time: Generali acquired the Pull & Bear store on Calle Preciados in Madrid”, according to the report. Other active players include the Socimis, such as Tander, Ores, and Silicius, which have started to express interest.

In terms of large operations so far this year, in January, the German fund Deka acquired 16 Inditex stores for €400 million. Another significant operation was the acquisition of Mercado de San Miguel by the Dutch fund Redevco, for €70 million.

Original story: Cinco Días (by Alfonso Simón Ruiz)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Twin Peaks Buys Plot of Prime Residential Land in Pozuelo (Madrid)

4 June 2018 – Eje Prime

Pozuelo de Alarcón has land for sale and nobody wants to miss out on the chance to acquire a slice of it. The Madrilenian town, the richest in Spain in terms of income per capita, has had a large portfolio of land up for sale for a few months now, and the family office Twin Peaks has opened the bidding in the flurry of purchases that are expected to be signed soon. The family office has acquired a plot of buildable land owned until now by Banco Santander.

The plot in question is included in the Arpo Partial Plan, the name given to the whole portfolio. Definitive approval is expected to be given for the reparcelling and urbanisation of the plots soon, which will allow investors to start building the first homes on the site. As such, the operation by Twin Peaks comes as it tries to position itself ahead of the great appetite from international funds, which are already working on buying plots on this site, according to El Confidencial.

In fact, Oaktree is already very close to sealing two operations with Iberdrola for the acquisition of plots located on the perimeter of Arpo. For Twin Peaks, the land attached to its real estate portfolio will allow it to continue growing in the luxury market in Madrid. In Barcelona, the other major Spanish city in which the firm has a presence, it acquired an asset on the central Paseo de Gracia last November for €25 million.

Pozuelo is a prime and very attractive market for property developers and funds in the residential boom that the Spanish capital is experiencing. Its high rents and ability to generate high yields are a showcase for luxury in the sector, which has seen how in just two and a half years, land prices in this municipality have risen by 20%, boosted by demand and, above all, by the shortage of buildable land available for development in Madrid.

Property developers such as Metrovacesa, which owns land spanning 46,000 m2 in Pozuelo alone worth €25 million, Vía Célere and iKasa already have important projects in place in this prime area of the Spanish residential market.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

Núñez i Navarro Builds a Prime Residential Development on Paseo de Gracia

30 May 2018 – Eje Prime

The industry stalwart Núñez i Navarro wants to generate returns from some of its old investments. The company has started work on the renovation of one of the buildings that it acquired in Barcelona before the crisis to convert it into a residential property. The asset is located at number 125 Paseo de Gracia, one of the most prime areas of the Catalan capital for the residential sector, as sources at the company explained to Eje Prime. Moreover, Núñez i Navarro has more than a dozen new developments under construction and on the market.

The group, founded more than 65 years ago, expects to begin handing over the new homes at the end of this year. The building, which used to house offices, will comprise around twenty apartments with between one and three bedrooms. These homes, whose average price has not been revealed, will be mainly targeted at international clients and will be available for rent.

Núñez i Navarro acquired this property during the process to buy a batch of assets at the end of the 1990s. The company purchased a portfolio of four buildings in Barcelona from the insurance company Eagle Star for €26.6 million. That lot contained three buildings on Paseo de Gracia, at numbers 125, 127 and 129, as well as the property at number 641 Gran Vía de les Corts Catalanes (…).

“This project on Paseo de Gracia joins the twenty or so other renovation jobs that Núñez i Navarro has carried out in Barcelona, highlights of which include the Andreu Tower, also known as La Rotonda, the Torre Enric Cera, the Casa Lleó i Morera, Hotel 1898 on la Rambla, the only colonial style hotel in Barcelona, Hotel Gran Vía, and the Can Trías de Bes farmhouse in Sant Joan Despí, amongst others”, explain sources at the group (…).

Diversification 

Although the group’s main business is residential, the company has diversified somewhat over the years in order to generate new revenue streams. The company has a major presence in the office sector in Cataluña, with a particular concentration in the city of Barcelona. For example, its portfolio contains assets such as number 35 Paseo de Gracia (Casa Lleó Morera) and number 20 Plaza Cataluña.

The group is also strong in other businesses such as industrial warehouses, car parks and hotels (…).

Financial information 

The company, the largest unlisted real estate firm in Cataluña, saw its profits soar in 2016 to €33.1 million, compared with €12.9 million in the previous year. In this way, the group returned to positive growth, coming close to its best ever result, recorded in 2007, when it generated profits of €48.6 million (…).

By contrast, Núñez i Navarro’s turnover worsened in 2016. The company generated revenues of €110 million, down by 5.1% compared to the same period a year earlier, when its sales amounted to €116 million. The company’s consolidated own funds amount to €595 million.

Original story: Eje Prime (by C. Pareja)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Barcelona’s Prime Office Rents Now Exceed Their 2007 Levels

20 March 2018 – Eje Prime

The rental prices of prime offices in Barcelona are returning to their pre-crisis levels. Specifically, to their 2007 figures. That is the conclusion drawn by Cat Real Estate, the real estate consultancy firm, which confirms that in the most expensive areas of the office market in the Catalan capital, demand has risen again and assets have gotten more expensive.

Specifically, the Catalan company recently closed an operation involving the sale of a 450 m2 office on Paseo de Gracia for €6,500/m2. That transaction shows that in Barcelona, “we have returned to 2007 prices in terms of the value of office purchases in the main commercial areas”, says Nacho Castella, CEO of the consultancy firm.

The buyer of that asset on Paseo de Gracia was an international fund. In this regard, Cat Real Estate explains that “the improvement in consumption has reactivated interest in domestic operations above all from international players keen to take positions on the high street once again”

“Barcelona continues to be an important location for overseas investors”, says Castella. Cat Real Estate forecasts that the real estate market will continue to rise in 2018. During the first quarter of the year, the consultancy has already brokered forty operations involving a volume of real estate assets under management of €480 million.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

Medcap Diversifies & Allocates €50M to Alternative Investments & Portugal

19 March 2018 – Eje Prime

Medcap is starting 2018 by making new investments and entering new markets. Diversification and alternative assets are going to be the focus of the group over the coming months, which has just invested €50 million on its entry into Portugal and the launch of a healthcare assets investment division, according to explanations provided by Dimas de Andres, the group’s CEO to Eje Prime.

One of the main operations that Medcap is going to carry out this year, as well as continuing “to keep an eye on opportunities in the prime retail sector, which is one of the fund’s main activities” is going to be the launch of two out-of-town retail parks in the Portuguese market, specifically, in Lisbon and Porto.

The company has invested €30 million in the purchase of 2 plots of land, one spanning 19,000 m2 and the other measuring 27,000 m2, for the complete development of two commercial areas, which are going to be leased in their majority to a supermarket group, according to explanations from Medcap.

Medcap Real Estate, a company owned by the De Andrés Puyol family, has also explained that it is going to back alternative investments this year. The company is currently involved in a healthcare project in the Community of Valencia. With an investment of between €15 million and €20 million, Medcap is going to construct the building with all of the needs that a healthcare operator may have, in order to put it on the market and lease it or resell it.

With these types of assets, the company is going to focus its efforts on Valencia and Cataluña. “We are not afraid to continue buying in Spain: our investments in Madrid and Barcelona are still intact”, explains the CEO of the company. “We are long-termists and we are not afraid of the political situation”, he says.

In addition to its investments, the group is also starting a divestment phase in 2018. The company has already sold the NH Murcia Hotel, located in Cartagena, and a supermarket, also located in Cartagena, for €12.5 million. “At the end of the day, divestment forms part of our business too”, say sources at the company.

MedCap, ten prime assets

At the beginning of 2015, the De Andrés Puyol family constituted Medcap Real Estate to manage its portfolio of assets, formed as a result of the contribution by Inversora del Reino de Valencia of one of its branches of activity, which included all of the urban assets leased or offered as rental properties, as well as all of the shares of the subsidiary specialising in managing operations relating to prime retail.

Medcap’s shareholders have a long history in the real estate business, with extensive experience in the search for, development of and letting of assets. Medcap focuses its activity mainly on the prime segment given the greater stability of that sector. Nevertheless, it also has a portfolio of rental properties for operation such as supermarkets in more secondary areas.

Medcap has a pipeline of assets in different stages of development or study in Spain, the Netherlands and Italy. Its most noteworthy properties include the building at number 80 Paseo de Gracia, where the luxury firm Louis Vuitton has its flagship store in the Catalan capital, as well as the Desigual megastore on Plaza Cataluña and the Apple store on Paseo de Gracia, according to the firm’s annual accounts.

In Madrid, until January, the group was the owner of the Adidas flagship store at number 21 Gran Vía (pictured above), which it sold to Triuvua; and the Louis Vuitton flagship store at number 66 Calle Serrano in Madrid, amongst others. The valuation of Medcap’s prime retail assets exceeds €475 million, according to the most recent valuation performed by the company.

Original story: Eje Prime (by Custodio Pareja)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Spain’s Most Expensive Homes are Located on c/Serrano & Paseo de Gràcia

1 March 2018 – Expansión

Two realities in the housing market / The recovery in prices with respect to 2008 is leaving disparate scenes. The gap between the most expensive area of Madrid, on Calle Serrano, and the most affordable district, San Cristóbal, amounts to 61 percentage points.

In the heart of Madrid, on Calle Serrano, a 90 m2 apartment costs around €857,700 (€9,530/m2) on average, 5% less than in 2008. Meanwhile, 16 kilometres south of the Golden Mile, in San Cristóbal, those same 90 m2 cost around €78,300 (€870/m2), 66% cheaper than during the years of the real estate boom. This situation is repeated right across the country, where, in many cases, the housing market is experiencing two realities in the same city. “The current housing market in Spain is certifying the recovery of house sales and reflects that there is still scope to acquire homes at much lower prices than 10 years ago”, said José María Basañez, President of TecniTasa.

Despite the high degree of activity in the sector at the moment, with increases of around 5%, it is not uncommon for people to buy a home now for less than it would have cost in 2008. In 2017, house prices were 35% below the peaks of the real estate boom, according to a Report about housing Maximums and Minimums prepared by the appraisal company TecniTasa. The situation changes as you approach the hot spots of the main capitals. The difference between the most expensive and most affordable areas of Madrid is 61 percentage points, of Barcelona is 38 points and of Sevilla is 54 points. The most affordable homes in the Andalucían capital are found in the areas of Amate/ Pino Montano/Macarena Norte and Bellavista (€990/m2), nevertheless, it is one of the few areas where prices are higher than they were a decade ago (up by 24%). It is followed by La Rambla de Pedro Lezcano in Telde (Las Palmas) where prices have risen by 9.7%; the centre of Orense (5.7%); Las Gándaras (Lugo), where prices have risen by 4.4%, and the historic centre of Toledo (1%).

The fact that the most luxurious homes are still 30% cheaper than they were in 2008, on average – on c/Serrano and Paseo de Gràcia, they exceed €9,000/m2 – and the most affordable homes are still 40% lower – in El Pilar de la Estación (Toledo) and Barrio Guinea (Castellón), they cost around €400/m2 – “is one element to take into consideration when making a purchase decision”, explain sources at the appraisal company.

Original story: Expansión (by I. Benedito)

Translation: Carmel Drake