Tag: Premier

Trinitario Casanova Sells Large Plot In North Madrid To Gestilar-Morgan

13 November 2017 – El Confidencial

It has taken Trinitario Casanova more than a year to make his move since he became a landowner in Valdebebas, one of the main areas of development in the north of Madrid. But in the end, he has acted and he has done so with one of the new stars in the market, the joint venture created by Gestilar and Morgan Stanley. The parties are currently finalising an agreement, which, if nothing goes wrong, will be signed this week and which will result in the sale of all Casanova’s residential plots.

It was in the spring of 2016 when the owner of the Baraka Group purchased Parque Empresarial El Olivar, a company owned by the Cort Lagos family. With it, he acquired 114,000 m2 of land, spread over eight residential plots, plus one for industrial and commercial use that by itself measured 46,000 m2.

Since then, Casanova has been focused on removing the company from the bankruptcy situation that it fell into four years ago and which had reached the liquidation phase when Baraka appeared. This objective was achieved on 27 September, when the Mercantile Court number 5 of Madrid resolved “to declare the reactivation of the dissolved company Parque Empresarial del Olivar”, according to the ruling to which El Confidencial has had access.

With this sentence in his hand, Trinitario has been able to sit down and negotiate, with ease, to sell the three residential plots that he still owns in Valdebebas, given that the other five were auctioned off before Baraka managed to purchase Parque Empresarial and were pre-awarded to Grupo Amenábar and Premier. The party chosen by the businessman as the new owner of his land is the joint venture that Gestilar and Morgan Stanley have created.

The property developer owned by the García-Valcárcel family has been analysing these plots in Valdebebas for a while, and other giants, such as Castlelake, the fund behind Aedas Homes, had also expressed their interest in the past. The negotiations accelerated following Parque Empresarial’s exit from bankruptcy and last week, they managed to reach the point of agreement, according to the sources consulted.

As El Confidencial revealed, Gestilar and Morgan Stanley have constituted a joint venture, which they plan to endow with €100 million, whose vocation is to acquire plots of land over the next four or five years. They plan to build around 1,000 new homes thereon, a figure that equals the entire portfolio that Gestilar currently has under development.

An important portion of this plan may be achieved only with the success of the operation in Valdebebas, one of the most sought-after areas in Madrid, and therefore in all of Spain, but also one of the areas most affected by legal uncertainty. For years now, the courts have been ruling against the way in which this development has been carried out, which has forced licence granting processes to be suspended on several occasions.

Trinitario Casanova, who took on the debt of Parque Empresarial when he acquired the entity, will continue to be present in the development, as he will retain control of the 46,000 m2 industrial and commercial plot, where he wants to boost the activity of his construction company Trabis, an aim that is always behind the real estate movements of the Baraka Group.

Original story: El Confidencial (by Ruth Ugalde)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Valdebebas: Carmena Cuts 160 Homes & Insists On Social Housing

16 February 2017 – El Confidencial

Fewer homes and no unsubsidised properties. That is the condition that the Town Hall of Madrid has put on the table to unblock the “commercial pill” of Valdebebas, the last plot of land in the area that is still waiting to receive the necessary administrative and legal blessings before the cranes can move in.

On Tuesday, the Town Hall presented its buildable surface area and density proposals for the area, where 1,000 homes were going to be constructed on a plot that was initially going to house the largest shopping centre in Europe.

As expected, the Town Hall has reduced the buildable surface area, although by more than initially expected. Specifically, it has reduced the space allocated to residential use by 18,000 m2, an adjustment that affects almost all of the 14 plots (around 16,000 m2) that Pryconsa acquired from the Compensation Board last year.

The direct consequence of this change is that the company owned by the Colomer family is going to have to recalculate its figures and construct between 140 and 160 fewer homes. This represents a reduction of just over 15% compared to the number initially proposed, all of which were going to be social housing properties.

The other major loser under the Town Hall’s proposal is Premier, the owner of a plot of land allocated for unsubsidised housing, with a buildable surface area of almost 11,000 m2. The Town Hall has said that it must now build in accordance with some kind of protected housing scheme, as well as reduce its buildable surface area by 2,000 m2.

By contrast, the Joyfe College and the Valdecam Cooperative, which acquired land on which to construct 65 social housing properties, will not have to make any changes to their plans (…).

Next steps

After its meeting with the Town Hall on Tuesday, the Valdebebas Compensation Board, which represents almost 5,000 owners in the area, will present the Town Hall’s proposal to its governing board. That body, in which only large landowners participate, may opt to take a decision or may refer it to the assembly, so that all of the owners, and not just the large ones, take the decision.

The problem that the Compensation Board now faces is that it has to reduce the price at which it sold its plots to Pryconsa and Premier, given that the use and buildable surface area of those plots has been modified. This means that it will have fewer resources to allocate to all of the social service works – healthcare, education, sports facilities – that are required in the area. (…) This new proposal emerged after the ruling from the Superior Court of Justice of Madrid (TSJM) last year, which overturned the special plan for the area.

It is possible that the Compensation Board will reject the Town Hall’s plan and wait until the Supreme Court makes its ruling regarding the TSJ’s ruling. The problem is that, if it endorses the existing ruling, it will return to the initial situation, in other words, no homes will be built at all, given that the 109,000 m2 in this area were initially designated for the construction of a large shopping centre.

That would mean having to start conversations with the Town Hall from scratch, whereby further delaying the resolution of the problem. It would also have to deal with land buyers invoking clauses that allow them to break contracts and deprive the whole neighbourhood of a new school that the almost 10,000 residents are anxiously awaiting, given the lack of educational provisions in the area.

Original story: El Confidencial (by Ruth Ugalde)

Translation: Carmel Drake