Tag: refurbishment

Barcelona’s Diagonal Mar Reopens After a €29M Refurb

14 November 2018 – Eje Prime

Diagonal Mar is reopening its doors. The shopping centre, located in the Catalan capital and owned by Deutsche Bank, has opened again after being subjected to a comprehensive refurbishment since July last year, in which €29 million has been invested.

Following the renovation, the complex has expanded its commercial surface area by 7,500 m2, which will allow it to welcome fifteen new retail operators and to create 150 new jobs. Moreover, Diagonal Mar has also renovated the restaurant area with seven new additions and thirteen renovated premises.

Diagonal Mar, which first opened in 2001, is located in the 22@ district of Barcelona. Now, the complex has a total surface area of more than 90,000 m2 distributed across 200 establishments dedicated to commercial and leisure activities.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

The Hotel Ritz in Madrid Closes its Doors for a €99M Refurb

27 February 2018 – Invertia

Following the purchase of the Ritz hotel in 2015 for more than USD 148 million (€120.7 million), its current owners, Mandarin Oriental and the Saudi group Olayan, announced that they would subject the property to an extensive renovation to significantly improve its facilities and services.

The investment by Mandarin Oriental, which administers the hotel under a long-term management agreement, quantifies its stake in the renovation at USD 60.5 million (€49 million), which is going to be financed through an appropriate combination of capital and debt.

Whilst the hotel is closed, its staff will participate in training programs and/or will be sent on temporary assignments at other Mandarin Oriental establishments, in preparation for the grand reopening.

Following the remodelling, in which the Spanish architect Rafael de La Hoz is participating, along with the French designers Gilles & Boissier, the hotel will have 106 rooms and 47 suites and Mandarin Oriental will be added to its current name ‘the Ritz’.

The intention of the owners is to improve the facilities and services at the hotel but to conserve its essence, which is defined by the “Belle Epoque” style of the original building.

Sources at the Hotel Ritz have informed Efe that the construction work will involve the remodelling of the dome and the installation of a swimming pool, amongst other aspects.

The same sources have said that the furniture and objects of value at the hotel will be stored in warehouses in Madrid and that a decision will be taken in the future as to whether some of them will be sold directly or through auction.

The hotel, located in the so-called “Golden Art Triangle” of Madrid, has hosted members of royalty, politicians, magnates and celebrities since its inauguration in 1910.

Original story: Invertia

Translation: Carmel Drake

Socimi Elaia Buys Former Staff Residence from BBVA for Hotel Conversion

12 February 2018 – Idealista

Real estate investment companies are continuing to star in real estate operations in Spain. On this occasion, the protagonist has been one of the latest companies to have debuted on the stock market: Elaia Investment Spain.

That vehicle, controlled by the Ruggieri family, one of the most wealthy in France, started trading its shares in October with a market value of €120 million. It specialises in assets linked to tourism and holds residential buildings, tourist apartments and hotels in its portfolio.

And it is in that sector that the Socimi plans to continue investing. On 7 February, it reached an agreement with BBVA to purchase the entity’s former employee residence in the town of Alfaz del Pi, in the province of Alicante.

The operation has been signed for €8.7 million and allows the Socimi to add more assets to its portfolio. The property has 140 rooms and spans a constructed surface area of more than 12,000 m2, located on a plot measuring 30,000 m2.

In this way, the complex has a large garden area, swimming pool, solarium, parking, tennis and frontón court, as well as a Social Club measuring almost 350 m2. With these facilities and its good location already in the bag (the residence is located just 200 metres away from the Playa del Albir, one of the most touristy municipalities in the Costa Blanca), the aim of the Socimi is to convert the property into a hotel complex.

According to confirmation provided by the French-controlled company to the Alternative Investment Market (MAB), the Socimi is in the process of marketing the property for its lease and the refurbishment work is in the process of being prepared.

According to explanations given by Manuel Climent, Director of transactions at JLL Hotels & Hospitality Group, who has acted as the advisor to the selling bank, “this operation confirms the interest from international investors in Spain and more specifically in holiday destinations. In 2017, more than 62% of the total transacted volume in holiday locations involved operations whose buyers were international. We expect this trend to continue during 2018, taking into account the strong operating results in the market and the growth forecasts”.

Original story: Idealista

Translation: Carmel Drake

RIU to Invest €2.5bn in New Hotels & Refurbishments Between Now & 2022

16 January 2018 – Expansión

RIU will spend €650 million this year on the refurbishment, construction and purchase of hotels, and will make investments of €2.5 billion in total between now and 2022, according to explanations provided yesterday by the group’s Director of Sales and Marketing, Pepe Moreno.

In this way, the Mallorcan chain is accelerating the rate of investment seen over the last five years, in which it committed to undertake investments amounting to €1.95 billion. Specifically, the company reached a record last year with investment of €600 million, which was €200 million more than forecast at the beginning of the year.

During 2017, RIU opened two new hotels – the RIU Dunamar in Costa Mujeres (México) and the expansion of the RIU República de Punta Cana– and it refurbished five hotels in their entirety. Moreover, in June, it purchased Edificio España from Grupo Baraka for €272 million.

RIU recorded revenues of €2.156 billion in 2017, up by 7%, and closed last year with 92 hotels, 43,135 rooms and 28,894 employees.

In 2018, the chain plans to open four hotels and undertake five major refurbishment projects.

In terms of the focus for growth, RIU wants to continue strengthening its urban business, which it inaugurated in 2010 with a hotel in Panama, and which nowadays includes six operational hotels. Moreno said that the company will continue to analyse opportunities in the main cities of North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia.

The RIU urban brand has two new projects underway: the first urban hotel in Spain, located in Edificio España (Madrid), which is expected to open its doors at the beginning of next summer (2019) and its second hotel in New York, on which work is underway, very close to Times Square, which will also be inaugurated in 2019.

In addition, the chain wants to grow in Asia, where it already has two projects under construction, in the Maldives and Dubai.

Moreno said that RIU will continue to bet on growing its owned hotels – the firm currently owns 84% of the hotels in its portfolio – and he said that the chain is not interested in growing inorganically or debuting on the stock market.

Original story: Expansión (by R. Arroyo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Núñez i Navarro Invests €4.2M In Office Refurb

1 December 2017 – Eje Prime

Núñez i Navarro is strengthening its commitment to the office sector. On Thursday, the real estate developer presented a new office project in L’Hospitalet de Llobregat (Barcelona). The building in question is the Marina Factory, whose remodelling is going to involve an investment of €4.2 million.

The work on the property will be completed in March next year, after 19 months. The asset, located at number 450 Rambla Marina, has six floors measuring 1,200 m2 and 1,430 m2 and two retail premises. In total, it has capacity to house 1,000 people throughout its 10,000 m2.

The Marina Factory is located in an up-and-coming area of L’Hospitalet de Llobregat. The boost from Plaza Europa, which is two kilometres away from the office, has converted the area into a first-rate office district, with companies such as the perfume group Puig, the consultancy firm KPMG and the group Gallina Blanca choosing to locate there.

Núñez i Navarro is one of the largest Catalan property developers and one of the companies in the sector that has best overcome the crisis, with a policy of low indebtedness.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

Centro Canalejas’ Luxury Apartments Will Be Sold For c. €13,000/m2

4 November 2017 – Expansión

Centro Canalejas, located just a stone’s throw from Puerta del Sol, in the heart of Madrid, will open its doors at the beginning of 2019. It will house the first hotel to be operated by the Canadian luxury chain Four Seasons in Spain, as well as high-end homes, which will be sold for an average price of €13,000/m2. Moreover, it will include a shopping arcade on the lower floors and a 400-space parking lot.

The complex, promoted by OHL Desarrollos, Grupo Villar Mir and Mohari Limited – a company controlled by the Israeli businessman Mark Scheinberg– will unify seven historical buildings, some of which were constructed at the beginning of the nineteenth century, into a single unit, involving an investment of €525 million.

A luxury hotel operated by Four Seasons will occupy the majority of the space in the centre. Specifically, the hotel will have 200 rooms, whose surface areas will range from 45 m2 to 400 m2. They will occupy the entirety of the second, third, fourth and fifth floors, although the hotel will have a presence throughout the whole building. It will have 4,200 m2 of common areas as well as a spa, banquet halls and meeting rooms, one of which will have capacity for 600 people. Moreover, it will have two restaurants, one on the first floor, measuring 400 m2, and another on the seventh floor, measuring 425 m2.

Exclusive homes

The complex will also contain 22 exclusive homes with surface areas of between 150 m2 and 700 m2 for one of the penthouses, which will include a 350 m2 terrace. The homes, which will be located on the upper floors of the building, will be sold for an average price of €13,000 /m2.

“We have not started to market them yet. We obtained the definitive licence in July and we expect to start work in November, but several interested parties have already approached us”, explained Francisco J. Meliá, CEO of Centro Canalejas Madrid and Director General at OHL Desarrollos, the company responsible for developing the project.

Flagship development

Moreover, the centre will have a shopping arcade, measuring 15,000 m2, spread over three floors. The retail space will house luxury fashion and accessories brands, as well as gastronomic offerings.

The property developers and those responsible for the development have highlighted the architectural challenges involved in adapting the buildings to their new uses whilst respecting their heritage value and they underlined that more than €7 million has been invested in the conservation of 16,700 pieces.

“Centro Canalejas is going to be a flagship development in Madrid and not only because of its ocean liner shape”, explained the architect Carlos Lamela, Director of Estudio Lamela and author of this architectural project.

Original story: Expansión (by Artur Zanón and Rebeca Arroyo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Deloitte: Hotel Inv’t Will Exceed €3,000M In 2017

7 November 2017 – Expansión

The extraordinary tourism data in Spain, the interest from investors in real estate assets and the purchase by international funds of hotel portfolios has catapulted investment in the Spanish hotel segment so far this year to €2,600 million. That figure is 21% higher than the total amount recorded in 2016, and is very close to the record figure of €2,700 million recorded in 2015, according to The Hotel Property Handbook report, prepared by Deloitte España.

In this way, the hotel sector now accounts for 35% of total real estate investment in the tertiary sector (non-residential assets) in Spain. The firm forecasts that, by the end of this year, the investment volume figure will have easily surpassed the €3,000 million threshold.

In terms of the main operations of the year, the purchase by the US fund Blackstone of the HI Partners hotel portfolio, comprising 14 establishments, from Sabadell for €630 million and the acquisition by the British fund London & Regional of four Starmel hotels – a joint company formed by Meliá and Starwood Capital in 2015 – for €230 million, have given the investment figure a real boost.

Record operations

These operations have been accompanied by several one-off hotel transactions, such as Edificio España, which was acquired by RIU in June for €272 million (…).

Other noteworthy operations so far this year include the purchase of Hotel Silken in Barcelona by the British fund Benson Elliot for €80 million and the acquisition of 55% of Hotel Diagonal Mar in Barcelona by Axa for €80 million.

For Javier García-Mateo, Partner at Deloitte Financial Advisory, institutional investors are seeing the opportunity to build large portfolios of holiday hotels in Spain, to integrate them into their international platforms in the Caribbean, South America and South-East Asia, developing a direct channel and obtaining greater negotiating power with tour operators. “In the end, Spain is establishing itself as the world’s main tourist market”, he says.

In this sense, we are seeing the natural migration of traditional hotel owners, who are divesting property to focus on management, such as in the case of the Meliá chain, which is making way for overseas investors who have greater financial muscle and so can launch more ambitious projects, explains Patricia Pana at Deloitte Financial Advisory.

In this context, the large tour operators are also participating in the investment fever and are buying assets in order to carry out a vertical integration of their business (…).

Interest from investors is partly driven by the record number of visitor arrivals – more than 84 million international tourists are forecast to visit Spain this year – and the strong evolution of key performance indicators such as the average daily rate (ADR), revenue per available room (RevPAR) and the occupancy rate.

Peak returns

Specifically, the ADR in Spain reached an average of €82.30 in 2016, up by 5% YoY; the occupancy rate rose by four percentage points to 66%; and RevPAR increased by 10% to €53.90.

The challenges for the sector now include improving the hotel portfolio to allow for an increase in prices. “If we compare our hotels with those in other urban and vacation destinations, the price per room of Spanish hotels still has a lot of potential, provided that renovation and transformation projects are carried out with the help of the main operators”, says Ana Granado, Director at Deloitte Financial Advisory (…).

Original story: Expansión (by Rebeca Arroyo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Rockefeller Family To Sell Luxury Homes In Madrid For €8,200/m2

6 October 2017 – El Confidencial

They won’t obtain the building permit from the Town Hall of Madrid until the end of this month, but they will start taking the first reservations from next week. The latest development of luxury homes to come onto the market in the heart of the Spanish capital is located on Calle General Martínez Campos 19 and it has a very special owner: The Rockefeller Group International. The company was founded by the magnate John Rockefeller, who created a genuine fortune thanks to his business in the oil sector at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century, and whose youngest grandson, the magnate, banker and philanthropist David Rockefeller, died just a few months ago at the age of 101.

The building was acquired by the real estate fund Europa Capital last summer, in partnership with Richelieu Developments, for €25 million. This fund, which is headquartered in London, is the vehicle through which The Rockefeller Group – which also controls the Japanese company Mitsubishi Estate – undertakes its investments in Continental Europe.

The property, constructed in 1931 and completed refurbished, has a surface area of 6,5000 m2 spread over seven floors and is located just 500m from Paseo de la Castellana, in Chamberí, and very close to the sought-after neighbourhood of Salamanca. The property will contain 27 luxury homes, with all kinds of amenities – a 24-hour concierge service, an indoor swimming pool, a rooftop swimming pool, a gym and spa area, a car park and storerooms – and will include five penthouse apartments, of which three will be duplexes.

The average price of the homes will stand at €8,200/m2, according to Alexander Vaughan, founder together with Stijn Teeuwen of Lucas Fox, a real estate agency specialising in the sale of luxury homes and which has made a strong commitment to the high-end market in Madrid.

The properties will be three and four bedroom homes as well as two and three bedroom penthouses with terraces. The homes will range in size from 200 m2 to 457 m2, and so the price of the units will vary from €1.6 million to €3.9 million. The three duplex penthouses will also have their own private terrace, off of the living room, and an additional terrace on the rooftop. The homes are expected to be ready by the end of 2019.

As is often the case with investments by foreign companies, Europa Capital, has sought out a local partner to construct the development. In this case, it has teamed up with the Madrilenian property developer Richelieu Developments, which specialises in luxury projects (…).

Luxury homes in Madrid are booming

The luxury residential market in both Madrid and Barcelona is in full swing. In the Spanish capital alone, there are more than twenty projects underway. Not in vain, according to the real estate agency Lucas Fox, an enormous appetite exists for these types of properties, which are still a lot more affordable than similar assets in other European cities, with a clear potential to appreciate and with returns that range between 4% and 5% in both cities. The “independentista effect” has not been felt yet in Barcelona, according to Rod Jamieson, Partner at Lucas Fox Madrid, who also marketed José Abascal 48 (a project that the fund Shaftesbury built) and Fernando VI 19 (a project that has been completed by Gran Roque Capital, owned by the Venezuelan Capriles family).

The agency is seeing huge bullish potential in the luxury market in Madrid, where the firm has increased (its turnover) by 30% in one year and see a 170% rise in its transaction value. Moreover, Lucas Fox has detected increasingly more international investors in the market. In fact, Latin American buyers now account for almost one third (31%) of all of the company’s sales, compared with 11% in 2016, whilst just under half (46%) are domestic buyers. Moreover, 62% of sales are being closed for investment reasons (…).

Original story: El Confidencial (by E. Sanz)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Deutsche Bank Invests €32M On Complete Renovation Of Diagonal Mar

22 September 2017 – Eje Prime

Deutsche Bank is subjecting one of its star assets in Spain to a facelift. The company is going to invest €32 million on the comprehensive renovation of a shopping centre that it purchased last year for €493 million, according to Isabel Bofill, the manager of the complex, speaking to EjePrime (…)

“In accordance with the needs of the market, we have decided to cut the cinema space in half and add an extra 5,000 m2 to retail”, explains Bofill. The complex is already immersed in the construction work and has all of the permits necessary for this new area of the shopping centre to start to take shape.

“It has taken us several years to get to this point, to give the shopping centre a facelift, but Deutsche Bank’s commitment to position Diagonal Mar (in the market) is real”, says Bofill. The first phase of this construction project will involve converting the third floor of the complex, which has been used only for leisure until now, into another floor for retail, together with restaurants and cinemas (…).

Although the decision regarding how many new stores will be created as a result of the construction work has yet to be taken, Bofill says that one of the objectives of this renovation is to respond to the current needs of retail: the megastores. “A shopping centre has to be in constant movement: when an operator disappears, it is not bad, it is simply the end of a phase”.

Bofill was referring to the departure of Fnac from Diagonal Mar, which is due to leave shortly, whereby freeing up 3,900 m2 of space for new players (…).

The comprehensive renovation of Diagonal Mar is expected to be completed by next June. To this end, Deutsche Bank has also committed to carrying out a rebranding of the whole complex and to a general overhaul of the whole centre. “We are going to change the lighting, the floors, the rest areas…we want it to be a completely new commercial thoroughfare”, explains the director.

Perhaps one of the most ambitious proposals at Diagonal Mar, which increased its footfall by 2.5% last year to 17.1 million visitors, is its plan to change the whole façade of the property. “It is old and if we want to project a younger image and appeal to new consumers, we have to make way for a guise that belongs in the 21st century”, explains the director.

Diagonal Mar is currently managed by the real estate consultancy firm CBRE.

Diagonal Mar was designed by Jean-Louis Solal and Robert A.M. Stern and inaugurated in 2001. Located next to the 22@ district in Barcelona, the shopping centre has a gross leasable area of approximately 90,000 m2 and its tenants include brands such as Alcampo, Cinesa, Media Markt, Primark, H&M and the Inditex Group.

Deutsche Bank acquired Diagonal Mar through its real estate arm in Spain, Deutsche Asset Management (Deutsche AM) (…), which has assets under management worth €1,300 million.

The company’s portfolio in the Iberian Peninsula currently comprises 17 real estate assets, specifically: seven shopping centres; seven office buildings; and three logistics assets, with a combined gross leasable area of 420,000 m2 (…).

Original story: Eje Prime (by C. Pareja)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Riu Gets Green Light For Its Renovation Of Edificio España

22 September 2017 – Eje Prime

After a very drawn out negotiation process and having being passed from Wanda to Grupo Baraka and then to the hotel chain Riu, Edificio España has finally received the green light for its renovation. The Town Hall of Madrid has granted the building permit to allow Riu to start to refurbish its Riu Plaza.

Sources at the Town Hall’s Sustainable Urban Development (DUS) department, explain that the Activities Agency granted the authorisation yesterday, which, given the complexity of the construction work, establishes a program of approval comprising two phases: firstly, the restoration work will be performed, and then the definitive licence will be granted for the inauguration of the hotel, according to EFE.

The first phase of the building permit covers work to conserve the façades, external work to recover recesses, the dismantling of embellishments and the replacement of windows and railings, as well as partial restructuring work, refurbishment and restoration for the adaptation of the existing structure and the dismantling of protected interior elements.

On the other hand, the second phase includes the definitive licence for the inauguration of the hotel activity and the retail space, with the performance of partial restructuring work, construction of internal partition walls and facilities, and external work to assemble the identifying elements of the hotel and the planned retail space, according to sources in the team led by José Manuel Calvo.

Located in the central Plaza de España, the property was constructed by Spanish architects Julián and José María Otamendi between the years 1948 and 1953, and it was the tallest building in Spain at the time. The Chinese multinational Wanda acquired the iconic building with the aim of opening a hotel, luxury homes and a shopping centre, but to that end, it wanted to pull down the existing structure and then reconstruct the façades at a later date, something that the municipal Government refused to allow.

In the end, Wanda sold the building to Grupo Baraka, owned by the Murcian businessman Trinitario Casanova, who visited the property together with the mayor of Madrid and who promised to build a hotel with two swimming pools and a shopping arcade, in collaboration with Riu.

The hotel chain then reached an agreement with Baraka to acquire 100% of Edificio España, and so it will be the entity responsible for undertaking the construction work, in two phases.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake