Tag: Poblenou

The Student Hotel Invests €10M in its Second Hall of Residence in Barcelona

20 April 2018 – Eje Prime

The Student Hotel has doubled its presence in Barcelona. The Dutch company has invested €10 million in the remodelling of its new student hall of residence in the Catalan capital. The asset, located in the Pobleneu neighbourhood, will be called TSH Campus Marina and will have a surface area of 21,200 m2, which will be able to accommodate around 500 students.

With this new building, the group is debuting the TSH Campus brand, which is going to specialise in accommodation for undergraduate and post-graduate students. In addition to the 500 bedrooms, the complex will also contain 50 kitchens, four swimming pools, study rooms and a laundry, as well as a restaurant (La Forastera), which will be managed by Grupo Raval, according to explanations provided by the company.

The company, owned by Charlie McGregor and the funds Aermont Capital and APG, arrived in Spain in 2015 with the purchase of two halls of residence in Barcelona from the Melon District group. Like in the case of the hall of residence in Poblenou, the company’s first property in the Catalan capital, located in Poble Sec, was also subjected to a complete renovation.

Plans for the future: €240 million of investment and an opening in Madrid

One of The Student Hotel’s next steps in Spain is going to be the opening of its first hall of residence in Madrid in 2019. That purchase forms part of a €240 million investment plan that the company led by McGregor is going to carry out in the country, where it plans to open up around ten properties for students.

The objective of the company is to find opportunities in Bilbao, Sevilla, Santander and Granada, amongst other cities, to continue growing its domestic portfolio and for Spain to become its second reference market, behind only Italy, where it expects to have thirteen halls of residence. In total, The Student Hotel is going to invest €1.6 billion to accumulate forty establishments across Europe by 2021.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

Colau Buys Residential Building From Renta Corporación For Social Housing

23 October 2017 – Expansión

Ada Colau is pushing ahead with her mission to recover residential buildings for the citizens of Barcelona. Her most recent battle has seen her conquer Renta Corporación, one of the traditional real estate companies dedicated to the purchase of old buildings in El Eixample and the subsequent rescission of contracts with tenants, with the aim of renovating and selling the properties. The Town Hall has exerted its right of first refusal for the building located at number 394 on Calle Còrsega in Barcelona, between Bruc and Girona, for which it has paid €5.85 million.

For its purchase of the building, Ada Colau’s Government has argued that the operation comes in response to “extraordinary and urgent measures to mobilise homes resulting from mortgage foreclosure processes”, together with “measures to protect the right to housing for people at risk of social exclusion”.

The Town Hall’s intention is to hand over the building, free of charges, to Patronat Municipal d’Habitatge so that it can be used as homes for social purposes.

The right of first refusal and withdrawal is a practice included in the Housing Law that the Parlament approved in 2007, although its use had been rare until now. It received a boost following the election of Ada Colau as mayor of the Catalan capital in June 2015.

The most recent balance reported by the municipal government includes the first year and a half of the mandate. In that regard, the Town Hall applied the right of first refusal and withdrawal in 87 of the 154 homes that it acquired.

Those figures have increased this year with several operations in that vein. The most significant deals have taken place at number 7, 9 and 11 on Calle Lancaster and number 37 on Calle Leiva.

In the first case, the Town Hall spent €5.65 million buying 41 homes spread over three blocks. In the second case, it paid €2.75 million to Anida – a subsidiary of BBVA – to avoid the sale of the block to a fund.

The municipal government also exercised its right of first refusal and withdrawal this summer to buy three plots of land on the former La Escocesa factory premises, in Poblenou, for €10.11 million. The hundreds of luxury homes that were planned for those plots are no longer going to be built, with social housing properties and facilities now planned for the site instead.

The housing plan that the plenary approved at the beginning of the year includes modalities that go beyond constructing new blocks for rent-protected and social housing homes. They include continuing with the acquisition of homes from financial institutions or their transfer for a period of time, buying blocks in neighbourhoods where the urban fabric is consolidated – such as in Calle Còrsega – and exploring co-housing: the transfer of homes at below-market prices for between 50 and 100 years.

Original story: Expansión (by M. Anglés and D. Casals)

Translation: Carmel Drake

A UBS Fund Buys The ‘Cornerstone’ Office Complex For €80M

22 July 2015 – Expansión

A fund managed by the Swiss group UBS has purchased the Cornerstone office complex, in the 22@ district of Barcelona, for €80 million. The asset was previously owned by the British fund Benson Elliot.

The building was developed by Benson Elliot and its construction was completed in 2013. A year and a half after opening, it has an occupancy rate of 70% and its tenants include ADP and Henkel. The transaction was advised by Cushman & Wakefield.

The office complex has a total surface area of 20,700 m2 and is located in the neighbourhood of Poblenou in Barcelona, known as the 22@ district, one of the new business areas in the city.

Original story: Expansión (by Marisa Anglés)

Translation: Carmel Drake