Tag: Puerta del Sol

Excem Launches 2nd Socimi & Spends €22M On 1st Asset In Madrid

31 July 2017 – Eje Prime

Excem is on a roll. The company has just launched its second Socimi, Sociedad de Inversión Turística (Situr), dedicated to hostels and tourist apartments. The group, led by the Hatchwell family, will invest €250 million on the launch of this new investment vehicle, which will be led by Amir Yerushalmi, former director of the US fund Gaia. Moreover, the new entity has just acquired its first asset in Madrid for €22 million.

In March, as Eje Prime announced, the company activated its second company specialising in hostels for young people, whereby following the roadmap drawn by the group when it proposed the project, which also includes the creation of a third Socimi specialising in assets destined for use as co-working spaces.

The company constituted the hostel business, which operates under the name Excem Capital Partners Hospitality, and which at the time had just one administrator, Philip Hatchwell Altarar.

The investment to be undertaken by this second Socimi will amount to €250 million between now and 2018, approximately. The company has set itself the objective of owning 3,500 beds in a dozen buildings, primarily in Madrid and Barcelona, as well as in other tourist cities around the country.

Excem’s second project responds to a “latent demand”, according to the company, which maintains that each year young people from all over the world spend more than $230,000 million travelling and that there are only six companies in the world specialising in offering them high-quality accommodation at competitive prices.

With the company structure already in place, Excem has acquired its first asset through Situr. The company has purchased an asset located at number 3 on Calle Postigo de San Martín, in Madrid. That property, which is located opposite the Monasterio de Las Descalzas and Puerta del Sol, has a surface area of 4,000 m2 and 400 beds. Excem has spent €22 million on this purchase.

Excem’s second Socimi has been created with the aim of acquiring between ten and fifteen buildings, during the first phase and starting in Madrid, to build up a portfolio of 3,500 beds in the historical centres of the main cities in Spain, Europe and the USA, which will be managed as hostels.

In addition to this first asset in Madrid and a second committed property in Málaga, Situr has already chosen more than 30 buildings in main cities across Spain to continue its acquisition plan. According to the company, “we expect to undertake a capital increase for Excem Socimi Situr between September and December 2017 and start to debut on the MAB in 2019” (…).

Original story: Eje Prime (by C. Pareja)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Salazar Family Sells Gran Hotel Velázquez To Didra Group For €58M

1 June 2017 – Idealista

The Salazar family, the former owner of SOS Cuétara, has just divested the last jewel in its hotel crown in Madrid: it has sold the Gran Hotel Velázquez for €58 million.

The establishment has 142 rooms, is located on the capital’s Golden Mile and its new owner is the Didra Group, famous for constructing residential developments in luxury urbanisations in Madrid. Didra plans to close the hotel in July for 18 months to undertake a comprehensive refurbishment.

The Salazar family, through Corporación Hispana Hotelera, owned four hotels in the capital in its heyday. However, it started to sell off its properties three years ago to finance the fine imposed on it by the courts for the embezzlements at SOS Cuétara, which went on for 10 years.

In this way, the family sold the Ada Palace, an establishment located on Madrid’s Gran Vía, close to Puerta del Sol, to an Asian investment group, for €35 million. In addition, it sold the María Elena Palace Hotel, which is also located in the heart of the capital.

The latest hotel to have been sold has been the Gran Hotel Velázquez. Last year, the Salazar family was about to close the deal with the Didra Group, but it was then thwarted because of the buyer’s lack of liquidity and because the courts suspended the operation. Nevertheless, the family has now received the green light to close the sale and so has just one hotel establishment left in its portfolio: the Hotel Osuna, located on the outskirts of the capital, near the airport.

This agreement is expected to be made public within the next few days.

Original story: Idealista

Translation: Carmel Drake

Poker Stars’ Founder Pays OHL €225M For 50% Of Canalejas

11 April 2017 – Expansión

Grupo Villar Mir has completed the sale of 50% of Project Canalejas, the luxury home, hotel and shopping complex that it is developing in a set of historic buildings in the centre of Madrid, to the Israelí businessman Mark Scheinberg, founder of the online poker firm Poker Stars, for €225 million, according to a statement filed yesterday by OHL with Spain’s National Securities and Exchange Commission (CNMV).

The corporation owned by Juan Miguel Villar Mir is developing this project in conjunction with its listed construction company OHL. Both entities have sold part of their respective stakes in accordance with the percentage that they control and as part of the asset sales plan that they have in place to cut their debt. Specifically, Grupo Villar Mir has sold 32.5%, and has whereby reduced its stake in the project from 65% to 32.5%. Meanwhile, OHL has sold another 17.5%, which has reduced its shareholding from 35% to 17.5%.

OHL reported yesterday that it will record revenues of €78.75 million from the sale of its stake in the complex, and that it has already received €73.5 million, leaving an outstanding balance due of €5.25 million. The company explained that the outstanding balance will be paid in two instalments: one in December this year, amounting to €1.75 million, and the other (€3.5 million) will be received when the project is commissioned.

Grupo Villar Mir and OHL, which have recorded a combined gain of €82.85 million from this operation, will retain control over the management of the project until it is commissioned, scheduled for the beginning of 2019. Canalejas is developing a group of seven historic buildings, which comprise an entire block in the centre of Madrid, next to La Puerta del Sol, which Villar Mir bought from Santander in December 2012 and which have a combined surface area of 50,000 m2.

The project involves the refurbishment of the properties, whilst retaining their architectural and artistic features, to house 22 luxury homes and a five-star hotel, which the chain Four Seasons has already committed to operating, in what will be its debut in Spain. The complex will also have a 16,000 m2 shopping arcade and underground car park.

Original story: Expansión (by E. M.)

Translation: Carmel Drake

50% Of Lagasca 99’s Luxury Homes Have Been Pre-Reserved

27 March 2017 – Expansión

A “unique” project, destined to become a “European and international architectural icon”. That is the ambitious challenge that the Socimi Lar España and the largest fund manager Pimco have set themselves in an unusual project for both partners, namely: the luxury residential building, Lagasca 99. Lar España and its largest shareholder purchased the company Juan Bravo 3 at the end of 2014. At the time, the company owned the plot of land at the address of its name, in the exclusive neighbourhood of Madrid.

The company had been created in December 2006 by the real estate company Eurosazor, controlled by the businessman Rafael Ortiz. Ortiz had wanted to construct the most exclusive development in the capital, inspired by the One Hyde skyscraper in London. Nevertheless, financial difficulties left Eurosazor and Juan Bravo 3 filing for bankruptcy and the project never got off the ground. Then, Lar and Pimco invested €120 million to acquire the plot of land (along with the loans linked to the company that owned that land) and, ten years later, and also with the support of the renowned architect Rafael de la Hoz, the development has now resumed with a novel concept.

The future property, which will have a constructed surface area of 26,203 m2, will contain 44 homes, compared with the 60 units that Eurosazor had planned, and the 55 that were initially proposed by the new owners. These homes, spread over nine floors plus penthouses, will be located at different heights, including duplexes with ceilings measuring more than five metres high and duplex penthouses measuring up to 700 m2, including terraces and private swimming pools.

The building, which will offer five different types of homes, will incorporate elements such as bevelled corners and shark fins on the windows, which will allow natural light to enter the homes whilst at the same time ensuring the privacy of residents. Each home will have a minimum surface area of 330 m2 and will be sold for around €12,00/m2, and up to €14,000/m2 for the most exclusive units, say sources in the sector. In addition, each property will include two or three parking spaces – Colliers International will be responsible for marketing the properties.

The buyers of these exclusive homes (pre-reservations already exist for 50%) will have access to a gym and indoor swimming pool, as well as a wellness centre and a rooftop garden with an outdoor pool and landscaped roof. The development is expected to be ready by the beginning of 2018.

Lagasca 99 will compete against homes in the Canalejas complex to become the most luxurious development in Madrid. Located next to Puerta del Sol, the project run by Villar Mir (which Mark Scheinberg has just acquired a stake in) will build around twenty luxury apartments. Their residents will have access to the services of the five-star hotel in the same building, which will be operated by the Four Seasons chain.

Original story: Expansión (by Rocío Ruiz)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Thor Equities Buys Store In Puerta del Sol For €43M

13 March 2017 – Expansión

Madrid’s high streets and specifically, those with the greatest numbers of tourist visitors, are starring in some of the largest investment operations in the retail sector.

The latest example is the purchase completed by the US fund Thor Equities. The firm, which specialises in the management and development of all kinds of real estate assets, has completed the purchase of a 520m2 store at number 5, Puerta del Sol, in Madrid. It has paid €43 million for the property, which is leased to the tenant Futbolmanía.

The fund Thor arrived in Spain in September 2015, when it acquired another store in La Puerta del Sol, worth €9.5 million, which used to be owned by Kutxabank.

Several months later, it spent around €65 million on a building owned by El Corte Inglés. The property, which used to house a bookstore, has a surface area of 1,344 m2 spread over three floors. A search is currently underway for a tenant for that property, following the departure of El Corte Inglés, which remained as a tenant for a year following the sale.

The US fund has also acquired the building at number 16 on Calle Fuencarral. In these operations, Thor has been advised by the real estate consultancy Knight Frank.

“We still firmly believe in the Madrilenian market – and in particular, in the area of high footfall around La Puerta del Sol – due to the continuous growth of the Spanish economy and the increase in consumer confidence, as well as the persistent increase in the number of overseas visitors to the city, all of which are leading to increases in retail sales”, said Jared Hart, CEO at Thor Equities.

Internationally, Thor Equities owns high-profile properties in London, including 1 Dover Street, 145 Oxford Street, 105-109 Oxford Street and Bond Street House on 14 Clifford Street, as well as the Burlington Arcade, as well as buildings on the Champs Elysees in Paris.

Original story: Expansión (by Rocío Ruiz)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Hyatt Returns To Madrid To Manage Hotel On Gran Vía, 31

10 March 2017 – Cinco Días

Hyatt is returning to Madrid. The hotel chain is coming back to the capital nine years after abandoning its role as the manager of Hotel Villa Magna. This week, the company has announced that it will manage the future hotel whose doors are going to open at number 31 Gran Vía, a property that is owned by the company Exacorp One, itself owned by the Mexican Díaz Estrada family.

The hotel chain will open an establishment there during the fourth quarter of this year, under the Hyatt Centric brand, according to a statement made this week by the firm. As such, it will become the first establishment to bear the hotel chain’s urban brand in Spain.

The future hotel will have 159 rooms, a restaurant called “Hielo y Carbón” (Coal and Ice) and a roof-top terrace, which will open during 2018. Jorge Díaz Estrada, Director of Exacorp, recognises that “the hotel’s central location, combined with its unique design, will attract business and pleasure travellers alike”.

In addition to this property, Díaz Estrada has entered Madrid’s real estate market with a bang in recent years with the purchase of several buildings. The most iconic property in its portfolio is Apple’s current flagship store in Puerta del Sol. In addition, the firm has acquired properties at numbers 25 and 27 Calle Montera.

Meanwhile, Hyatt’s return represents yet another boost for the hotel sector in the city. A real commitment from the international brands, which will be further strengthened by the arrival of Four Seasons in the Canalejas Complex and the W, which Starwood is going to open across the road. These establishments will encourage more international travellers and will, according to sources in sector, favour an increase in average prices for hoteliers.

In addition, a number of Spanish hotel chains have also strengthened their presence in the area in recent times. In this vein, Barceló has opened a hotel in Torre de Madrid, close to where Riu is expected to manage the future hotel in Edificio España. Meanwhile, NH, will open the doors to its new hotel on Gran Vía at the beginning of next year.

Original story: Cinco Días (by Laura Salces Acebes)

Translation: Carmel Drake

ECI Puts Logistics Assets Worth c.€300M Up For Sale

10 August 2016 – Expansión

The distribution giant El Corte Inglés has engaged Morgan Stanley to find investors who may be interested in acquiring assets worth between €200 million and €300 million, according to real estate sources.

Specifically, the company chaired by Dimas Gimeno intends to divest 33 assets, which have a surface area spanning more than 500,000 sqm, as well as five plots of land.

The assets on the market include rental contracts guaranteed for five, ten, fifteen and twenty years; and the deadline for submitting non-binding offers will close at the end of September.

Sources consulted indicate that some of the warehouses included in the sale are not sufficiently tall enough to meet with current demands from investors for this type of asset, which has forced them to adjust the duration of their contracts, as well as the rental prices.

The batch for sale, which comprises 38 assets in total, including the plots of land, contains: El Corte Inglés’ logistics centres in Bisbal del Penedès (Tarragona) and on La Peluquera industrial estate in Madrid. It also includes other assets on Las Atalayas industrial estate (in Alicante) and the Goro en Telde estate (in Gran Canaria).

By contrast, El Corte Inglés has not included any assets currently considered to be strategic in the batch. Thus, for example, the jewel in its logistics assets crown will not be included: its mega centre in the south of Madrid.

Reduce debt

The company, which seeks to reduce its debt balance with these divestment operations, may consider selling other types of non-strategic real estate assets in the future, as Expansión revealed in March.

These real estate asset divestments follow others completed by El Corte Inglés in recent years. In this way, in the summer of 2013, the distribution group completed the sale of a building next to Plaza de Cataluña in Barcelona to the fund manager IBA Capital.

Months later, it sold another property to the same investor on Calle Preciados in Madrid.

Other divestments

Last December, the chain sold another building in the iconic Puerta del Sol in Madrid for €65 million to the US fund Thor Equities. At the time, the group agreed to continue to occupy the building, which houses its book store and is located in one of the most important shopping areas of the capital, for another year.

Similarly, in February, the group sold the building that it had acquired ten years ago on Calle Fontanella in Barcelona for €17 million to a Russian investor, which plans to convert the property into a hotel.

By contrast, El Corte Inglés has also completed several important asset purchases in recent years. In this way, the company acquired a plot of land from the railway infrastructure manager Adif, right on Paseo de la Castellana for €136 million in 2014. This plot of land is located next to one of the company’s main shopping centres in the capital, in Nuevos Ministerios.

Original story: Expansión (by R. Arroyo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

The Salazar Family Sells Hotel Velázquez For €63M

26 July 2016 – El Confidencial

Beset by debt, the Salazar family, the former owner of SOS-Cuétara, has spent the last three years trying to get rid of its vast hotel and real estate empire, an emporium whose last great jewel was the Gran Hotel Velázquez in Madrid, a property for which it has just received an irresistible offer.

Corporacion Hispano Hotelera, the company owned by the Salazar-Bello family, has reached an agreement with the Didra Group, famous for having constructed the luxurious residential areas of Montepríncipe and El Encinar, to sell the property for €63 million, according to several sources close to the deal.

The Ardid Villoslada family, which is behind Didra, has been linked to the property development business for decades and was made famous due to the marriage of one of its members, Rafael, to Mariola Martínez Borduí, the granddaughter of the dictator Francisco Franco. One of their sons, Jaime Ardid Martínez Bordiú has closed this agreement, with a view to opening a luxury 5-star hotel.

On 23 August 2016, Corporación Hispano Hotelera will present this sale for approval by the General Shareholders’ Meeting, with the aim of wrapping up the final sale in January, once the Salazar family has also received the blessing from its creditor banks, led by Banco Popular.

With its privileged location, in the heart of the neighbourhood of Salamanca, just a stone’s throw from the Retiro Park and the capital’s golden mile, the Gran Hotel Velázquez is a sought-after establishment. Nevertheless, it needs to be completely refurbished, according to experts in the sector.

In fact, Didra is expected to invest between €15 million and €20 million refurbishing the property. It plans to retain the image of a more bourgeois Madrid that characterises it, and always under the maxim of reserving the right to manage it, meaning that the Ardid family’s plans do not include opening a large hotel chain.

Didra maintains a close relationship with brands such as AC and NH, with which it operates some of the properties in its hotel group Nevertheless, the plans that the Ardid family have in mind for the Gran Hotel Velázquez more closely resemble the concept of the Hotel Palacio de Villapanés in Sevilla, a 5-star property located in the neighbourhood of Santa Cruz, in a former seventeenth century palace, which Didra manages itself.

With this sale, Corporación Hispano Hotelera will be reduced to an empty shell, after selling off the majority of its hotels in just over two years. The house of cards first started to topple in the Spring of 2014, when it had to close down Hotel Ada Palace, located on Gran Vía in Madrid, after it was evicted by the owner of the property, Real Gran Peña, which denounced the company for not paying the rent.

A year later, Hotusa purchased the Hotel María Elena, located 50m from Puerta del Sol, and renamed it the Eurostars Casa de la Lírica; meanwhile, Platinum Estates acquired the Hotel Asturias, in Plaza de Canalejas for €21.5 million. (…).

Original story: El Confidencial (by Ruth Ugalde)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Sidorme To Trial Tourist Flats on c/Fuencarral In Madrid

4 April 2016 – Cinco Días

The arrival of summer will see a 180-degree turnaround in Sidorme’s strategy. The hotel chain, which currently manages 12 properties located in Madrid, Albacete, Granada, Valencia, Girona and Barcelona, will move into the tourist flat sector in June. In recent years, this segment has seen tremendous growth in Spain thanks to online platforms such as Airbnb and Homeaway and numerous hoteliers have declared war (on players in the sector) accusing them of unfair competition.

In the case of Sidorme, the property in question is located at number 46 on Calle Fuencarral in Madrid, just a few meters away from a hotel owned by the company. The building is owned by the company Bawar Real Estate, which is responsible for renovating it, and will contain 20 apartments.

“Our idea is that the apartments will be located within a 3-5 minute radius of the hotels that we have in the centre of Madrid, so that we can provide a personalised service from the hotel reception”, says the CEO of Sidorme, Jairo González (pictured above). In addition, the company is finalising a second building containing apartments, which will be located close to the hotel that the chain plans to open after the summer, on Calle Montera, very close to the Puerta del Sol. With this second project, in which Sidorme will invest €2 million, the chain will operate 40 tourist apartments in the centre of Madrid.

Through this initiative, Sidorme hopes to differentiate itself from BeMate, the online platform operated by Room Mate, which also markets tourist flats close to its hotels. After these two buildings, which will form the company’s testing ground, González says that Sidorme will add between 40 and 50 apartments per year, which will ideally be located in buildings dedicated exclusively to this activity. Sidorme is cautious about other cities, “if we do not already have a hotel there, then it will not work”.

Alongside this activity, Sidorme will continue with its growth plans for the hotel segment. It will open its first establishment in San Sebastián in June and its second property in the centre of Madrid in September. The company has halted its plans to dives hotels that it owns, after it failed to receive any financial offers that were in line with its expectations, set at around €30 million. It does not rule out a capital increase or the incorporation of new partners to accelerate its growth plans and it is open to growth through hotels in Madrid “if that is appropriate”, as well as in other secondary cities.

Original story: Cinco Días (by L.S.)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Inv’t In Commercial Assets Doubles To €920M In 2015

11 December 2015 – Expansión

From €32 million to €920 million in just five years. Those are the figures from the market for investment in commercial premises in Spain. According to the consultancy firm JLL, so far this year, investors and family offices, for the most part, have invested €920 million purchasing commercial premises, almost double the figure recorded in 2014, when they spent €452 million on these types of assets and 29 times the figure recorded in 2010, when investment in this segment amounted to just €32 million.

The almost €1,000 million invested this year has involved the purchase of around 400 properties, including the acquisition of the commercial building Gran Vía 32, which now houses the Irish textile group, Primark’s, largest store in Spain. For this building, Pontegadea, the investment arm of Amancio Ortega, paid €400 million. Another key purchase featured Sfera’s premises on Calle Preciados, 4 (Madrid), for which the fund IVG Inmobilien AG paid €70 million.

The purchase of high street premises has accounted for 23% of all real estate investment in commercial assets (including shopping centres) say the experts at JLL. “If 2014 was characterised by the recovery of the commercial investment market, then 2015 has really consolidated that trend, with total investment of €2,669 million during the first nine months of the year, up by 46% compared with the previous year. We expect that 2015 will finish with a figure of almost €3,000 million”, explain the experts at JLL in their report. By nationality, Spaniards account for 40% of commercial investments (including the purchase of shopping centres), due to the significant investments made by the Socimis.

The intense competition for the purchase of commercial premises has forced many investors to start analysing operations beyond the main shopping streets in Madrid and Barcelona, according to the experts at the consultancy firm. “Although Madrid and Barcelona continue to be the main point of entry for international firms, the low yields (which now amount to around 4%), have caused many investors to show interest in other locations, where investment returns are higher”, they explain. One example of this, is the German fund Patrizia’s first foray into Spain, which acquired a commercial establishment in Málaga leased to H&M.

Rental prices

In the case of rental prices, the market for commercial premises is also showing strong results. Portal de L’Àngel in Barcelona is still the most expensive shopping street in Spain, with an average rent of €250/m2/month, followed by Preciados in Madrid, where rents have increased by more than 6% with respect to the same quarter in 2014, to reach €245/m2/month. “Moreover, the current availability rate is very low in areas such as the Puerta del Sol and Preciados, which are now at full occupancy again”, says JLL.

Following the grand opening of Primark in 2015, we can expect to see the inauguration of Adidas, Tous and Parfois on Madrid’s Gran Vía next year, as well as Céline and Massimo Dutti on the Paseo de Gracia in Barcelona. Moreover, the Japanese fashion house Uniqlo is going to open its first store in Spain, also on the Paseo de Gracia, at number 11, in premises measuring almost 5,000 m2.

Original story: Expansión (by R. R.)

Translation: Carmel Drake