Tag: super-luxury homes

KKH Gets Green Light to Convert Deutsche Bank Building into Super-Luxury Apartments

11 December 2017 – Expansión

The former Deutsche Bank building in Barcelona, which saw its plans to be turned into a five-star hotel fall by the wayside, has finally obtained the municipal licence it needs to execute its plan B. As such, the former office building is now going to be transformed into a super-luxury residential property.

Its owner, KKH Property Investors, is going to invest around €180 million in total, according to market sources, to carry out the complete renovation of the property and build 34 homes with high-end services. One of the features of the project approved recently is that part of the four-storey commercial building located opposite the tower will be sacrificed and a passage will be built to make the residential building independent, and it will be made lighter.

KKH, led by the former CEO of Renta Corporación, Josep Maria Farré, has set out to build the most exclusive residential property in Barcelona. That distinction is currently held by the former Barcelona headquarters of Winterthur, owned by Squircle Capital, whose homes, measuring 500 m2, are sold (unfinished) for around €6 million, equivalent to more than €12,000/m2.

The 34 homes in the Deutsche Bank building will have a surface area of 200 m2 each and, as well as their privileged location, on the corner of Paseo de Gràcia and Avenida Diagonal, are going to enjoy panoramic views over the city. The common areas will include private parking, a gym, a spa, communal terraces, a swimming pool and meeting rooms. One of the features that will distinguish this residential community from others in the city, and which will make it equivalent to the best buildings in London and New York, will be the team of 20 employees that will be on hand to perform maintenance, cleaning, concierge, security and general support services for residents.

Plans

The project’s design has been entrusted to the architect Carlos Ferrater, and the first phase of construction has been subcontracted to Copcisa. The retail building, where Casa Seat will open, is expected to be finished in 2019 and the residential area, which will house another retail store on the ground floor, measuring around 500m2, should be ready by the beginning of 2020.

KKH Property Investors, a vehicle in which KKH Capital Group and the NYC fund Perella Weinberg Real Estate Fund II LP hold stakes, paid €90 million for the property in 2014. It then spent another €20 million to ensure that the Town Hall of Barcelona, led at the time by the convergent Xavier Trias, gave it permission to demolish the property and construct a hotel in its place.

The €20 million was spent buying equipment to lend to the city, to acquire buildability rights, and to pay €10.5 million to the Town Hall. But, when the project had received the municipal green light, Ada Colau arrived in government and, with her, the moratorium and new urban development plan that prevented the construction of the hotel, in which chains such as Four Seasons had expressed an interest and which would have resulted in the creation of 400 jobs.

Original story: Expansión (by Marisa Anglés)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Spain’s Largest Banks Compete to Grant Property Developer Loans in Benidorm & Dénia

26 November 2017 – El Confidencial

The appearance of new housing developments in areas of high demand, as well as those targeting a premium public, has opened a battle between the large Spanish banks to position themselves as lenders once again. CaixaBank, Santander, Sabadell and BBVA have gone from recoiling at the mere sight of real estate projects unrelated to their own portfolios and stocks, to fighting it out with each other to grant loans to private property developers for certain initiatives linked to luxury and super-luxury projects.

That is what El Confidencial has been able to confirm with financial sources from two of the most powerful property developers that have fired the starting gun on the Alicante Costa Blanca, namely, the Delfin Tower in Benidorm and Amare in Dénia. The former is a 22-storey luxury skyscraper, measuring 100 m tall, on one of a handful of beachfront plots in the well-known mecca of Spanish tourism. It boasts location, high quality, architectural design and environmental sustainability. So much so that the prices of its apartments range from €700,000 to €1.56 million.

The money to carry out this project will not come from international entities or investors. CaixaBank, Sabadell and BBVA have taken a step forward and entered the final round in the process to negotiate the financing. The process is being led by independent consultants and the entity led by Jordi Gual (CaixaBank) is leading the race in an operation that will exceed €30 million.

The same level of competition, or more, and with the same players, has happened in the case of the Amare development in Dénia. The real estate project is backed by a company called AB Living, owned by the founder of SHA Wellness Clinic, Alfredo Bataller (…).

The businessman, originally from Argentina, who has lived in Altea since 1989, is known together with his wife, Graciela Pineda, for his hotel activity, but he has also launched himself into luxury real estate development. He manages properties on the Costa Blanca, is building an events space in the heart of Madrid’s Salamanca neighbourhood (SHA Loft) and has just put on the market the largest luxury beachfront development in Dénia, where very few free undeveloped plots remain. The residential project comprises 68 homes with terraces, infinity pools and more than 5,000 m2 of gardens, plus swimming pools, a children’s club, gym and events room. Prices per apartment range between €350,000 and €500,000.

Bateller purchased the plot several years ago. The project is being marketed by Olivares Consultores and has already been granted the corresponding licences by the Town Hall of Dénia, and so the construction work could start shortly. With almost 30% of the properties reserved, AB Living has started negotiations to obtain the bank financing it needs to carry out the construction work. And it has no shortage of offers. According to market sources, CaixaBank, Santander, Sabadell and Bankinter have all entered the bidding and are fighting to grant Amare’s property developer loan. That operation will amount to around €25 million.

According to sources in the sector, the premium nature of these kinds of developments allows them to demand additional guarantees from their buyers in the pre-sales contracts (…). And with those conditions, the financial entities are drooling over the prospect of becoming the lender to enable the execution of the building work. Moreover, their loans may subsequently be subrogated to the individual homeowners, normally wealthy people and families, who automatically become clients (…). The bank financing will cover around 60%-70% of the cost of the building work. The property developer contributes its own funds and the pre-sales contracts.

Original story: El Confidencial (by Víctor Romero)

Translation: Carmel Drake