Ayco Sells a Hotel Complex in Mijas

7 May 2019 – Eje Prime

The company Byblos Costa del Sol, in which Ayco holds a 90% stake, has sold the Hotel Byblos Andaluz complex, located in the municipal district of Mijas (Málaga) to an unknown buyer for an undisclosed sum.

The complex includes the hotel building itself, plus a spa and a building housing sports facilities.

Original story: Eje Prime 

Translation/Summary: Carmel Drake

Santander Grants €128M Loan to La Finca for Madrid’s Largest Ever Luxury Development

12 February 2018 – Expansión

A loan from Santander / The group owned by the Cereceda family has obtained financing for the first phase of its project, which will include the construction of 144 homes, a golf course, sports facilities and a leisure centre.

The group owned by the García Cereceda family – owners of the La Finca business and residential complex – has obtained a cash injection of almost €130 million to develop its LGC3 residential project, which will involve the construction of around 500 luxury homes in the municipality of Pozuelo de Alarcón (Madrid) for a total investment of €340 million.

Specifically, the company has signed a loan with Santander amounting to €127.5 million for the development of the first phase of the project, which will include the construction of 144 homes in three-storey blocks, a golf course, a lake, sports facilities and a shopping and leisure centre, according to financial sources speaking to Expansión.

The first phase of the project, which has been called LGC3 – an acronym that corresponds to the initials of Luis García Cereceda, the patriarch and founder of Procisa (now La Finca) who passed away in 2010 – is already underway and will involve a total investment of between €154 million and €159 million.

Prices

The homes in this first phase will have a surface area of between 200 m2 and 400 m2, approximately, and will have terraces that may extend to 600 m2, as well as private swimming pools for some of the homes. The sales prices of the units will range between €1 million and €2 million.

The LGC project will be carried out on a plot that has a total surface area of 850,000 m2 in Pozuelo de Alarcón, to the north of the capital, next to Parque Empresarial, the exclusive urbanisation were well-known footballers and Spanish businessmen live. Of the total surface area, around 100,000 m2 will be allocated to the plot where the 500 homes will be built. The first phase of the development alone, with 144 units, will occupy around 36,000 m2.

The rest of the surface area – around 750,000 m2 – will be allocated to the Country Club, accessible only to owners of the homes, which will have an 18-hotel golf course, next to a lake with a water surface area of 35,000 m2, an artificial beach, sports facilities and schools, lakes, gardens, a running track and a shopping and leisure centre with a surface area of 10,000 m2.

In addition to the security measures that the urbanisation will have, with a double perimeter fence surrounding the plot and an intrusion detection system and gatehouse, the development will also incorporate the latest requirements in terms of sustainability and energy efficiency (…),.

Property business

La Finca, chaired by Susana García Cereceda, has already started to construct the first phase of homes and has allocated around €25 million from the group’s own cash funds to the urbanisation work. The company carried out a corporate restructuring in 2016 and signed a financing agreement with a syndicated loan led by Société Générale, CaixaBank and Santander amounting to €395 million destined to pay off its existing debt and tackle new projects.

Moreover, last year, the company welcomed the fund Värde into its office property business – La Finca Global Assets – which includes its La Finca, Cardenal Marcelo Spínola and Martínez Villergas business parks.

The company has already initiated the process for La Finca Global Assets (in which Värde owns a 40% stake) to debut as a Socimi on the Alternative Investment Market (MAB) during the course of 2018.

Original story: Expansión (by Rebeca Arroyo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Torre Caleido: Construction Begins of Madrid’s Fifth Tower

1 February 2018 – Expansión

After five months of preparations underground, the construction phase of the 35-storey skyscraper has finally begun. The 180 m tall tower is going to house the IE campus, as well as a horizontal building that will be home to sports facilities, a shopping centre and parking areas.

The starting gun has been fired for the above-ground work on what will become the fifth tower in Madrid. The future skyscraper, measuring 180 m2 tall and comprising 35 storeys, is going to house the new vertical IE campus, which will emerge from a second building, with a base that is going to be 280 m long and 60 m wide, which will form an inverted T-shaped complex, known as Project Caleido.

Inmobiliaria Espacio, the subsidiary of Grupo Villar Mir and Megaworld Corporation, the business conglomerate owned by the Philippine multimillionaire Andrew Tan, are the owners of the company responsible for the construction and operation of the project, with a planned investment of €300 million and which will result in the generation of more than 5,000 jobs during the construction and operation phases (…).

Caleido –designed by the architecture studios Fenwick & Iribarren and Serrano Suñer Arquitectos– will be located in the epicentre of the new financial district in Madrid and will serve to eliminate a blot on the landscape in the north of the capital by connecting Paseo de la Castellana and Avenida de Monforte de Lemos, as well as to revitalise the existing business complex, explains Fernando Serrano-Suñer, one of the architects behind the project (…).

“To date, we have completed the first two phases, involving the demolition work and the construction of the foundations, which are now complete. This week, we will award the construction work, which has been tendered for through a very transparent process, audited by Dypsa”, says José Antonio Fernández Gallar, Director General of Inmobiliaria Espacio.

Third phase

Now, the third phase of construction is going to be launched, involving the building of the tower and the base (…), where the campus sports facilities, a 600-seater auditorium, an indoor swimming pool, libraries, a dining room, a complete shopping floor and a hospital centre specialising in sports medicine run by Quirón will all live alongside 7,000 m2 of green space (…).

Leisure will also play an important role in the complex, with sports areas and events spaces. “We are studying the possibility of including a cinema of some kind, but it would not conform with the traditional style, it would include an e-gaming and e-sport element, something that doesn’t exist in Spain at the moment”.

Moreover, the base will include parking for students and professors, as well as parking for the retail space and another public parking lot, with a total surface area of 42,100 m2 spread over several floors and with capacity for 1,900 parking spaces (…).

In terms of the skyscraper, the 180 m tall building will house 70 classrooms, work and rest areas, as well as double-height spaces to replicate meeting places in traditional campuses (…).

“The project is progressing at a good pace. We have completed the first phase and we are moving forward with the idea that the work will be finished by 2020”, he said.

Original story: Expansión (by R. Arroyo and R. Ruiz)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Plans For The 5th Tower Begin To Take Shape

1 April 2016 – Expansión

The skyscraper, located in the heart of the capital’s financial district, will house the new headquarters of the IE University, as well as a clinic and shopping centre.

The plans for the fifth skyscraper in the Cuatro Torres complex – the new financial district in the capital, which currently comprises the Torre de Cristal, Torre Caja Madrid, Torre Sacyr Vallehermoso and Torre Espacio – are taking shape and a date has been set for the inauguration of the tower: the end of 2019, according to the IE University, one of its future tenants.

The business school will expand its facilities and open its new headquarters in the north of Madrid.

Specifically, the fifth tower will house the IE Campus in a building that will be 165 m tall and have a surface area of 50,000 m2 on the Paseo de la Castellana. In addition, this site will also be home to a clinic and a shopping centre.

The plot of land belongs to the Town Hall of Madrid, which has granted its use to Inmobiliaria Espacio. In parallel, the subsidiary of the Villar Mir Group has reached an agreement with the IE University to offer it this space under a 20-year rental agreement, which may be renewed for additional 55 years.

Details of the project

“From now on, the Town Hall of Madrid, Inmobiliaria Espacio and IE University will work together to ensure that the project meets the needs of the city of Madrid in the best possible way”, explain sources at IE. According to these sources, work will be carried out over the next three months to determine the “details” of the project.

OHL Desarrollos will be responsible for the construction of the new infrastructure, which will include auditoriums, sports facilities, green spaces and a 35-storey tower with classrooms and educational areas. Meanwhile, the studios Fenwick Iribarren and Serrano-Suñer Arquitectura will lead the design of the project.

At the new IE Campus, university degree training will be delivered in areas such as Business Administration, Architecture, Technology, International Relations, Law, Communication and Psychology.

In parallel, the IE University, which has been located on María de Molina in Madrid since it was first founded, will continue to perform activities for the business school and other post-graduate programs at its current facilities.

According to the institution, the IE Campus will have a “new, cutting-edge” design for its educational space, offering open areas dedicated to teaching, teamwork and networking between the university and business communities. The Campus will also have a vertical space, which will reproduce the working environment of companies and organisations from all over the world, as well as a horizontal space with sports facilities, large auditoriums and green areas for exclusive use by the institution’s educational community.

Original story: Expansión (by Rebeca Arroyo)

Translation: Carmel Drake