Tag: regional government

Colonial Sells Office Building on c/Alcalá to German Firm Real I.S.

1 October 2018 – Europa Press

Colonial has sold an office building in the centre of Madrid to the German financial firm Real I.S. The property is located on Calle Alcalá and is leased to the Regional Government’s Ministry for Education, according to a statement issued by the purchasing entity. The consideration paid has not been not disclosed.

The property in question dates back to the 19th century and was renovated in the 1990s. It is located at numbers 30 and 32 Calle Alcalá, Madrid, in the centre of the city and comprises office space spanning 9,100 m2, distributed over seven storeys, plus two underground floors for parking.

Real I.S. highlighted the investment opportunity offered by the property given its location and long-term rental agreement, as well as the “positive performance” of the real estate market in Madrid.

Original story: Europa Press

Translation: Carmel Drake

Danish Logistics Giant DSV Inaugurates Facilities In Cabanillas del Campo (Guadalajara)

22 November 2017 – Cadena Ser

Today (Wednesday), the logistics company DSV cut the opening ribbon at its new facilities in Cabanillas del Campo (Guadalajara). The Danish logistics operator has a presence in 80 countries with 400 facilities, spanning a combined surface area of 5 million m2. In Spain, it has 227,000 m2 of space and 1,200 employees across 25 different locations.

In the case of Cabanillas, a logistics centre measuring 50,000 m2 was inaugurated today on the new SI-20 industrial estate; it is expected to create around 200 jobs. This platform, the ninth that the firm manages in Spain, has storage capacity for 65,000 pallets.

The opening ceremony was attended by the Director of DSV Solutions Spain, Xavier Juncosa; the Danish ambassador to Spain, John Nielsen; and the first Vice-President of the Government of Castilla la Mancha, José Luis Martínez Guijarro, amongst others. The latter reminded the audience about the support given by the autonomous regional governments for new investments in the region and the creation of employment.

DSV already had a presence in the province with other logistics spaces and is now expanding its facilities in Cabanillas del Campo.

Original story: Cadena Ser (by Jesús Blanco Orozco)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Aragón Creates Logistics Group To Unify Sale Of 240 Ha

6 April 2017 – El Periódico de Aragón

Land covering 2,400,000 m2 (240 hectares) in total, a surface area that resembles the Zaragoza neighbourhood of Delicias. That is the volume of land that Aragón Plataforma Logística (APL), the new public company being created by the regional government, is going to sell. The objectives of the future company APL will be to unify the management, promotion and sale of assets that are currently owned by a variety of regional companies.

Specifically, it will group together three large industrial estates in Zaragoza (Plaza), Huesca (Plhus) and Teruel (Platea), as well as Zaragoza Expo Empresarial, la Sociedad para el Desarrollo de Calamocha (Sodecasa) and Plaza Desarrollos Logísticos (PDL, the property developer behind Caladero). With this supply of spaces, to which the Fraga platform (Plfraga) will likely be added soon, the region is looking to strengthen its position as the largest logistics market in the south of Europe.

APL, which should be constituted within the next few weeks through a decree, will be entirely owned by the regional government, specifically, the Corporación Empresarial Pública de Aragón, which will own 100%. The new management team at the Government of Aragón is seeking to optimise and streamline the operation of logistics, industrial and tertiary assets at all levels. (…).

The logistics sector accounts for 5.5% of the region’s GDP and has secured private investment amounting to more than €3,000 million since 2005 when the first phase of Plaza was launched. (…).

Original story: El Periódico de Aragón (by Jorge Heras Pastor)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Cordish Intensifies Its Commitment To Its Mega Project In Madrid

21 March 2017 – Expansión

The implementation of a waste plant next to the site and a request for more information from the Community of Madrid have not deterred the US group Cordish in its plans to invest €2,000 million on the construction of the largest tourist and leisure complex in Europe.

Last December, Cordish, a US group with operations in the urban planning, health and leisure resorts business, unveiled its plans for a mega real estate project in Madrid, which includes 2,700 hotel rooms, 100,000 m2 of retail space, three conference centres, cinemas and a leisure space with casino.

With a view to its implementation, Cordish has signed agreements to buy land in the area (up to 134 hectares). (…).

In parallel, Cordish is working with the Community of Madrid on a process that will allow it to be awarded the contract to build this project. Although the idea came from the US group, given that it has constructed similar tourist complexes in several cities in the USA, the regional Government is obliged to put its construction out to public tender, even though, it is likely that only Cordish will submit a bid. (…).

Recycling plant

(…). Weeks after the plans were submitted, approval was given for the opening of a new waste treatment plant, measuring 507,000 m2, between the towns of Torrejón de Ardoz, Loeches and Torres de la Alameda, which is exactly where the macro-complex was going to be located.

Nevertheless, Cordish considers that its plans for Live! Resort Madrid are “completely compatible” with the new plant.

“This recycling plant will be equipped with the latest technology and will be located 2 km from the edge of the leisure complex and on the other side of the AVE train tracks. In fact, Cordish understands that this plant is going to be the solution to the historical problem facing the Community of Madrid in terms of waste management and considers that both projects can co-exist and will even be beneficial for each other”, explain sources at the company.

During its initial phase, Life! Resorts Madrid will invest around €500 million. This first phase will be focused around a central square, where a hotel will be built, a convention centre and “probably” the gaming area.

In total, Cordish expects to spend around €2,200 million in Madrid, although that figure could increase to €3,000 million.

Original story: Expansión (by Rocío Ruiz)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Madrid Accounts For 70% Of All New Housing Permits

10 October 2016 – Inmodiario

The Community of Madrid has been boasting to property developers that it represents the real driver of the growth currently being seen in the real estate sector in Spain.

In this way, at the opening of the National Real Estate Conference, the Director of Transport, Housing and Infrastructure, Pedro Rollán, commented on the statistics and highlighted that licences for new residential construction projects in the region increased by 66% during the first five months of 2016, well above the national average increase of 27%.

During his presentation at the conference, organised by the Association of Property Developers and Construction Companies in Spain (APCE), under the title “From recovery to innovation”, Rollán commented that real estate is a strategic sector, whose contribution to GDP is essential for economic growth.

And, to this end, he stated that the sector’s reactivation is necessary to consolidate and strengthen the (overall) recovery. He emphasised the importance of the need to continue working and adapting the (RE) sector to new times, and of innovating to achieve the most accessible, comfortable and least contaminated spaces.

In this sense, the regional Government is managing aid, which will serve to encourage the renovation of homes and the regeneration and refurbishment of urban spaces, thanks to the agreement signed with the Ministry of Development under the framework of the State Housing Plan.

Thus, this year, €14.4 million will be allocated to subsidies for building renovations and €29.8 million will be spent on aid for urban regeneration and renovation.

In the same way, the regional Government is working to create a Single Integrated Assessment Report Register for buildings in the Community of Madrid, which will contain all of the assessment reports relating to more than 40,000 buildings per year.

This register will enable the data obtained to be used to identify weaknesses and deficiencies in the building stock and will help to improve their quality and sustainability, as well as to obtain extensive information to allow policies to be directed appropriately in terms of architecture and housing. All types of buildings may be registered, regardless of their purpose (use) along with the mandatory registration of all buildings that are more than 30 years old.

Moreover, assessments of the degree of conservation of buildings (ITE) are going to be unified into a single document to ensure the safety of all of the buildings in the region; their basic conditions in terms of universal access, to encourage reasonable modifications in this regard; and energy efficiency certifications (CEE) to help achieve the commitment made in terms of energy savings and building sustainability.

Original story: Inmodiario

Translation: Carmel Drake

The Puerto Banús Sale Runs Into Difficulties

4 May 2016 – El Confidencial

Puerto Banús (Marbella) has always been a clear object of desire. Its name is associated with glamour, parties and luxury. And it has been up for sale for several months now. The company behind this leisure and port complex in Marbella wants to generate cash. But the death of Alberto Vidiella, the Chairman of Puerto Banús, in February is making the sales process more complicated. The death of Vidiella and the harsh conditions imposed by the Andalucían Government are making the sale of the company to a Swiss/Chinese consortium, led by Credit Suisse, more difficult and theirs is the only firm offer that the company has received to date.

Several auditors analysed the balance sheet of Puerto Banús at the end of 2015. No price has been set yet, but experts in the sector calculate that the cost of the company will not exceed €100 million. (…). Is the Wanda Group behind the Swiss/Chinese consortium? The owners deny any conversations with the Asian corporate giant. (…). But according to real estate sources in Madrid, Wanda would be willing to pay up to €250 million for the company. (…).

Meanwhile, Wanda could be behind the purchase of the iconic Marbella Club Hotel, according to the ABC newspaper in Sevilla. However, an official spokesman for the luxury tourist complex denied that claim to this newspaper. “There is nothing in it. We have invested a lot of money in the hotel in recent years and there are always rumours. But we are not for sale”, said Rudolf Graf von Schönburg, advisor to the complex. (…).

The Andalucían Government is aware of the offer from the Swiss group. The Public Agency for Ports in Andalucía, led by Alfonso Rodrígeuz Gómez de Celis, confirmed to this newspaper that it received a letter on 29 January, from an international consortium interested in finding out more about the conditions for a possible expansion (of the marina) into the open sea and extensions of the concession term. The regional government is not responsible for either matter; the State is. (…).

For the time being, no other offers have been received for Puerto Banús, although conversations and interest from other overseas investors, above all high profile British and German funds, are continuing in a steady trickle (…).

One of the main problems facing all of the parties interested in buying Puerto Banús are the intentions of the Regional Government to not allow the construction of any hotels or shopping centres on the site in the future. The plans only include an increase in the number of berths, by 450, worth at least €75 million. (…).

Original story: El Confidencial (by Agustín Rivera)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Madrid’s Gov’t Seeks To Acquire Housing Stock From Banks

15 March 2016 – El Mundo

The regional Government of Madrid has set its sights on the unsubsidised homes that banks have been unable to sell during the years of the crisis. A spokesperson for the Ministry of Transport, Housing and Infrastructure has confirmed that it has made initial contact with several banking institutions, specifically, with Bankia and La Caixa, to make its idea of incorporating the real estate stock into the regional Administration’s portfolio a reality. (…).

The idea is that the Community would take over the portfolios of homes from the banks and convert them into social housing.

“We would only do this if the properties cost the same or less than the social housing homes that we are constructing. The idea is, not only to save costs, but also to speed up delivery times for beneficiaries. If the proposal gets approved, the people being awarded the homes will not have to wait until all of the administrative procedures have been completed to benefit from a public price. We would save time in terms of publishing the offer, assigning the project and constructing the properties”.

Problems to resolve

Of course, the operation is not without its problems, given that, in many cases, the properties are currently occupied illegally. Therefore, the operation would run into problems if the portfolios of homes to be acquired include properties of that kind. (…).

The idea, which is in its very early stages of development, would be to award public housing: for rent, for rent with the option to buy and social housing. Moreover, regardless of whether the figures add up or not, the technicians from the Ministry would have to evaluate the legal pros and cons of the operation.

Currently, the Community of Madrid is one of the regions in which the sale of homes, in particular second-hand properties, has grown by the most. On 9 February, Sociedad de Tasación – a company that specialises in property valuations, appraisals, certifications, real estate advice and housing data – calculated that the supply of new homes in the region and in the capital has decreased gradually since 2014. In total, it calculates that supply has decreased by 38.5% over the last two years, according to the New Home Census 2016 report that it compiled.

It claims that there are currently 5,474 unsubsidised homes available and according to its calculations, at the current rate of sales, it would take ten months for those properties to be absorbed by the market. (…).

The Government of the Community of Madrid has tried to mediate between the banks and the real estate sector in the past, in order to focus the market and acquire properties for those most in need, but it has not had much success to date. (…).

Original story: El Mundo (by Jaime G. Treceño)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Anti-Eviction Law: Public Bodies Denounce Bank Breaches

22 July 2015 – El Economista

The monitoring of the measures adopted by the Government to alleviate the hardship of families doomed to eviction is not proving to be as orderly as had been expected. Yesterday, the Bank of Spain revealed, in its Monitoring Report for 2014, that complaints had been received from “several public bodies” about “various credit entities” regarding the implementation of the so-called Code of Good Practice.

The aforementioned code was introduced in 2012 to force the restructuring of debt owed by underprivileged households, to grant them more favourable conditions, including significant discounts, “daciones in pago” and even, letting families stay in their homes in return for the payment of minimal rents to avoid forcing them out onto the street. The adoption of the code is voluntary, but once adhered to, its application becomes obligatory. The financial institutions signed up on mass, more than anything to avoid public embarrassment, given that the list of members is made public.

Yesterday, sources in the sector acknowledged that certain local and regional authorities have filed complaints about the monitoring process.

Local and regional governments

This represents a leap, albeit not in terms of scale, but maybe in terms of the focus of the conflict. The adoption of good practices and consumer protection measures are still major unfinished projects for the sector, whose reputation was seriously damaged during the crisis, due to the poor marketing of products such as preference shares, the scandalous retirements of managers from rescued entities and even, the sale of mortgages with floor clauses.

Conscious of the extent of the damage, numerous bankers publicly admitted their mistakes and sought to make amends. Last year, the supervisory body itself bolstered its schemes to ensure the proper marketing of products and the rapid resolution of disputes, through the creation of the Department for Market Conduct and Complaints, which took on a strengthened version of the role previously performed by the former Director General of Supervision and complaints service. The Department was launched on 1 October and in just three months (to 31 December), it opened 18 investigations and one inspection in situ.

The Department directs its efforts on the basis of alerts logged by other units of the Bank of Spain, by public and private institutions and above all, by customer complaints. One of its operations last year involved the aforementioned analysis of complaints regarding the use of the Code of Good Practices; and another also verified that the granting of consumer credit to certain firms complied with the necessary conditions regarding transparency and customer protection. According to the supervisory body, that most recent investigation was activated as a result of a complaint “from a public body, which filed a complaint against a number of lenders”. (…).

In 2014, the Bank of Spain forced the withdrawal or rewording of 132 adverts published in the press and online. The most positive piece of data to result from the year is that customer complaints decreased for the first time since 2011, by 15%, to 29,500. Nevertheless, that still represents a near-record volume compared with the 10,000 or 15,000 claims that were typically processed in the years leading up to the outbreak of the floor clause conflict.

Original story: El Economista (by Eva Contreras)

Translation: Carmel Drake

High Court Repeals Andalucían Anti-Eviction Law

27 May 2015 – Expansión

The temporary expropriation by banks of homes in the process of eviction is unconstitutional. That was the ruling issued by the High Court (HC) following its in-depth analysis of the controversial decree law governing the Social Function of Housing, approved by the Government of Andalucía in June 2013, which was challenged by the Central Government.

Until the HC suspended this law, as a precautionary measure, 121 expropriation demands were filed, over a three-year period. The law was later reissued, although without any significant changes

According to the ruling, articles 1.3 and 53.1 of the regional law have been annulled. Previously, those articles imposed on the owner of houses “the duty to effectively use property for the residential purposes provided for by the law”, since the essential content of the rights of ownership pervade; an area “prohibited” for the decree law of the autonomous community. This law does not affect individuals.

For the same reason, the ruling issued by the HC declares the imposition of fines on financial entities that own uninhabited homes to be unconstitutional. To date, the Andalucían Government has imposed fines on various banks – including Popular for €5.8 million and BBVA for €1.6 million – for not putting empty subsidised (VPO) homes at the disposal of the municipal registries for claimants.

Encroachment of competencies

Alongside this ruling, the HC considers that the regional legislation deals with the state duties provided for by the Constitution, such as “coordinating the planning of economic activity”, whereby nullifying the second additional provision of the decree law “aimed at ensuring the right to adequate housing”.

The ruling also explains that “it constitutes a significant obstacle for the effectiveness of the measures taken by the central Government”, which issued legislation that provided for the possibility of suspending the introduction and promoting the creation of a social fund containing the properties owned by the entities to facilitate their lease to evicted persons.

In this sense, it is worth noting the agreement of disparate legal figures regarding the same reality – the suspension of the introduction of state legislation and the expropriation of the use under the regional legislation – “makes the joint application difficult”.

The HC also advises all of the regions that the State should determine “the extent of the public intervention” and indicate “certain guidelines in the mortgage market”, and should do so in such a way that “it is compatible with the proper functioning of that sector”.

As a result, this “prevents” the regions from “adopting provisions that affect this market in a more intense way”.

Original story: Expansión (by Lidia Velasco)

Translation: Carmel Drake