A French Group Competes with Ifema to Resurrect Madrid’s Palacio de Congresos

2 January 2018 – El Confidencial

The French group GL Events (which manages more than 40 centres around the world specialising in business events, fairs and conferences) and Feria de Madrid (Ifema) are bidding hard to resurrect the abandoned ‘Palacio de Exposiciones y Congresos’ in Madrid, located at number 99 Paseo de la Castellana, right opposite the Santiago Bernabeú stadium. In July, the French group notified Turespaña (which forms part of the Ministry of Energy, Tourism and the Digital Agenda) that it was willing to invest €40 million in a first phase to restore the property and make it viable in exchange for a 30-year concession.

GL Events has already met with experts from the Secretary of State for Tourism’s team and its Chairman is expected to travel from France to Madrid over the next few weeks to meet with the Secretary of State herself, Matilde Pastora Asían González. Nevertheless, sources close to El Confidencial have reported that Ifema (a consortium between the Town Hall of Madrid, the Community of Madrid, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Fundación Obra Social y Monte Piedad de Madrid) have taken the lead in this race and have already signed a pre-agreement with the Ministry of Tourism to invest more than the French firm has offered in exchange for managing the property for 50 years.

Madrid Foro Empresarial, which has been asking the public administrations to bring the complex back to life for some time now, given that the capital “needs more spaces to promote new fairs and conferences”, is now asking Turespaña “to convene an international public tender to allow the property to be managed by the best conference operator possible (…)”.

If Ifema does end up taking over the management of the property on Paseo de la Castellana, then it would have a monopoly on the Community of Madrid’s event, fair and conference spaces. Besides the exhibition halls that it already manages in Campo de las Naciones, Ifema has also signed another agreement with the capital’s Town Hall to operate the Palacio Municipal de Congresos, located right next to Ifema’s facilities, for 25 years (…).

In this way, Ifema would control all of the larges spaces in the capital: the exhibition halls, the municipal hall (‘el Palacio Municipal’) and the conference hall (‘el Palacio de Congresos’) on the Castellana. But as Marc Rodríguez, Director General of GL Events in Spain, (…) explained, his firm is still planning to present its proposal to operate the Madrilenian hall if a public tender is organised in the end. “We are a solvent financial operator with experience in the sector. Our construction project would last for 18 months and our initial investment would be €40 million”. The French group recorded revenues of €953 million in 2016 and employs almost 4,000 people. It also manages the Centro de Convencions Internacional de Barcelona (CCIB), whose concession period ends in November 2021 (…).

Original story: El Confidencial (by David Fernández)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Refurb Of ‘Palacio de Congresos’ Will Cost €90M

13 October 2015 – Cinco Días

Turespaña, which forms part of the Ministry of Industry, has now prepared a feasibility study for the renovation of the Palacio de Congresos de la Castellana. It calculates that the project will cost €90 million and it lowers the height of the adjoining luxury hotel.

The Ministry of Industry calculates that the building work to renovate the Palacio de Congresos de la Castellana in Madrid, and to construct a new hotel with more than 200 rooms, will cost around €90 million and will take approximately three years to complete, whereby generating subsequent employment (directly and indirectly) for more than 600 people.

Those are the findings of the feasibility study that Spain’s Institute of Tourism (el ‘Instituto de Turismo de España’ or Turespaña) has made available for public consultation over the next two months (until 7 December). Its intention is to convince potential investors, which will have to cover the construction costs of the project, in exchange for a concession to operate the complex, about the benefits of the project.

The venue first opened its doors in 1971 and closed them for the last time at the end of 2012, after shortcomings were detected in terms of fire safety and general security, which forced it to undertake a comprehensive renovation of the building. Nevertheless, Turespaña acknowledged that it did not have sufficient funds to undertake this investment and that it must turn to the private sector.

The project will be awarded as a 40-year concession agreement, with an annual fee of approximately €1.25 million. According to the document, the work to construct the new five-star hotel will cost almost €22 million. The Ministry of Industry expects that a new 17-storey tower will house the luxury hotel (six floors less than initially envisaged by the public body). The project must retain the building’s main façade, as well as the façade that looks onto the Paseo de la Castellana, which has displayed a Joan Miró mural since 1980 – the mural is expected to be restored at a cost of €450,000.

Five-star hotel

The aim is to have a five-star hotel with 180 double rooms and 36 junior suites, as well as an executive lounge, gymnasium, swimming pool complex and spa.

The document also includes a forecast for investors about the future operating profits of the complex – it predicts an EBITDA of €7.88 million in the fifth year – the first four years relate to the development phase – and an EBITDA of up to €16.78 million in the final year of the concession. (…).

The next step to be taken by whoever wins the public concession will be to request a building permit from the Town Hall.

Madrid has great potential

The Executive encourages potential investors to participate in the project thanks to Madrid’s “significant growth potential” in the area of business tourism. It also presents other arguments in favour of the project, such as the proximity of the site to the Santiago Bernabéu stadium and the lack of other five-star hotels in the capital, where the Four Seasons hotel chain is hoping to open a hotel in the Canalejas Complex that OHL is currently building.

The Government’s hypothesis is that 65% of the revenues will be generated from conventions, meetings and exhibitions, compared with 20% from the business segment, 8.5% from social events and a further 6.5% from overnight weekend visitors or extended stays following congresses or conferences.

Original story: Cinco Días

Translation: Carmel Drake