Tag: Town Hall of Barcelona

Corp Promotors Acquires Plot Next to La Sagrera Station in Barcelona for €10.4M

17 October 2018 – Europa Press

The real estate company Corp Promotors has acquired a plot of land spanning 1,512 m2 located next to the future La Sagrera AVE train station in Barcelona for €10.44 million.

The Catalan firm has fought off competition from three companies in the bid for the plot, which was opened by the public company responsible for the development of the station, an entity in which the Ministry of Development, La Generalitat de Cataluña and the Town Hall of Barcelona all hold stakes.

The plot, which is located in an area that has “great potential for growth” in Barcelona, can be used for building both homes and commercial premises.

Specifically, it has a buildability of 8,221 m2, of which 7,346 m2 will be used for homes and the remaining 875 m2 will be used for shops.

The land forms part of the plots freed up for railway use generated by the construction of the station. The amount obtained from its auction will contribute to financing the new railway.

In fact, the joint venture company that is developing the station has obtained 63% more than the estimated sales price for this plot, of €6.4 million. That was what allowed Corp Promotors to acquire the land and fight off competition from the other three firms that were also bidding for it.

The company behind the construction of La Sagrera station is owned by the Ministry of Development through its companies Adif, which holds a 37.5% stake, and Renfe, which owns another 12.5% stake. The Town Hall of Barcelona owns 15% and La Generalitat the remaining 25%.

Original story: Europa Press

Translation: Carmel Drake

Barcelona’s Town Hall Declares the Whole City an Area of First Refusal for Land & Property Purchases

2 October 2018 – Inmodiario

The plenary session of the Town Hall of Barcelona has approved two pioneering measures to defend its citizens’ right to housing: firstly, it will apply protected status to 30% of new developments and major renovations; and secondly, it will declare the whole city as an area of first refusal, with the objective of ensuring that the Town Hall will be able to acquire buildings and plots of land on a preferential basis.

Both measures have received support from Barcelona’s municipal groups En Comú, El Grup Municipal Demòcrata, Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya, El Partido de los Socialistas de Cataluña, La CIP – Capgirem Barcelona and the two councillors not assigned to a party, Gerard Ardanuy and Juanjo Puigcorbé, who have voted in favour of the measure. The Partido Popular de Cataluña voted against it. Ciudadanos voted in favour of declaring the entire municipality an area of first refusal but abstained from the vote to apply protected status to 30% of new projects.

The 30% reservation will represent an expansion of the public housing stock, especially in central neighbourhoods that suffer the most from real estate speculation and gentrification, and where the lack of available plots makes the construction of social housing extremely difficult. It is estimated that with the new regulation more than 50% of the new affordable homes will be located in those neighbourhoods.

Right of first refusal

That measure is accompanied by the declaration of the entire city as an area of first refusal, to enable the Town Hall to acquire plots and buildings on a preferential basis – which would include those 30% of protected homes – to expand the stock of public housing distributed across all districts.

The initiative, which involves the private sector, will affect both new buildings and major renovation projects exceeding 600 m2. Therefore, private property developers will be co-responsible when it comes to ensuring the right to citizens of a decent and adequate home.

It is expected that with the 30% reservation, around 330 homes will be incorporated into the stock of affordable housing each year, a figure that will help counter the abusive increases in rental prices (…).

The protected homes will operate under a general framework and it is calculated that 75% of Barcelona’s citizens will be able to access them. The affordable price of homes, which La Generalitat would determine, would currently be €512/month for an 80 m2 rental home and €136,400 in the case of a home purchase.

Social claim

These new regulations have been born out of the claim from entities that defend the right to a decent home and which have given a voice to the demand from citizens to put a stop to the real estate speculation that is forcing residents out of their neighbourhoods (…).

Original story: Inmodiario 

Translation: Carmel Drake

Barcelona Activates 72 Public Plots for the Construction of 4,644 Affordable Rental Homes

11 September 2018 – Inmodiario

The activation of new public developments forms part of the Plan for the Right to Housing 2016-2025, and the current data indicates a level of output never seen before in terms of the construction of new homes for public rental in the city (of Barcelona).

On the basis of all the actions planned, the municipal Government will increase the public stock of affordable rental homes in the city by 50% in six years.

72 projects

The 72 projects underway have been accelerated in recent years, and 80% of the public housing that is going to be constructed will constitute affordable rental properties.

Construction of 11 of the developments has now been completed, comprising 648 homes, some of which have already been handed over. In other cases, the final procedures are being completed so that they can be handed over to the families soon.

On thirteen public plots, construction work has begun or permission has been granted for the construction of 574 homes. The package of projects includes both those developments that are in the process of being awarded to construction companies and those that have already been built.

On 29 of the plots, public tenders to select the companies to carry out the projects have already started; the work on those sites will generate 2,331 homes. Finally, 19 other developments are in the preparation phase, and the procedures to carry out their public tenders have been started with a view to building 1,091 new homes.

More affordable homes in the medium term

In addition to the 72 plots mentioned above, work is being performed on 52 other sites to activate the construction of homes over the medium term; they are in different phases of the urban planning process to ensure that they are dedicated to the right to housing service (…).

With the objective of growing the stock of public housing still further and bringing it in line with those of other European cities, it is hoped that a group of sites pending planning permission will be granted the condition of plots so that they can also be dedicated to the construction of public housing. Most of those sites are located in areas of the city that are already undergoing transformation, such as La Marina, 22@ and La Sagrera.

Municipal resources for rental housing

In just 8 years, the growth in the stock of rental housing is going to add as many new homes for public rental as have been created over the last 80 years. Moreover, the process is mainly being carried out (95%) using municipal resources, and with support from the European public bank, given that the participation of the Generalitat de Catalunya and of the State is at its lowest level since 1981.

Besides the construction of public housing and management of land permits, the Town Hall has boosted the acquisition of homes through various instruments established to that end in the governing legislation, such as the right of first refusal, direct purchase and assignment of usufruct.

In this context, 531 homes have been purchased and another 251 are in the process of being acquired. By the end of the current mandate, more than 750 homes are expected to have been purchased and €70 million will have been invested using municipal resources only (…).

Original story: Inmodiario

Translation: Carmel Drake

Barcelona’s Town Hall Invests €32M to Build 244 Social Housing Units in Bon Pastor

23 August 2018 – Eje Prime

Barcelona is strengthening its commitment to public housing. The Town Hall governed by Ada Colau is going to invest €32 million in the development of 244 homes in the neighbourhood of Bon Pastor to rehouse the residents of the so-called cheap houses. The building work forms part of the remodelling plan for one of the areas in a controversial district of Barcelona.

The phase that is about to begin is the fourth phase of the urban planning project, which will involve the construction of five blocks of flats. The building work, managed by the Municipal Institute of Housing and Rehabilitation (Imhab) is expected to be finished during the first quarter of 2021, according to Idealista News.

The Town Hall’s plan is happening so that any homes that are not occupied by rehoused residents will be allocated to the public stock for rental in the Catalan capital. In terms of the list of applicants for rental homes, priority will be given to those residents registered in the areas close to Bon Pastor.

Two of the blocks will be located between Calles Isona and Tallada (54 homes) and Calles Salomó and Isona (42 homes); both enclaves border the limit with Sant Adrià de Besòs. In addition, the plan projects a third building with 38 homes at the junction of Calles Biosca and Claramunt; a fourth block between Calles Biosa and Salomó, with 60 homes; and a final building containing 50 homes between Calles Salomó and Novelles.

The remodelling of Bon Pastor will end with a fifth phase that will put an end to an urban planning macro-development containing 754 homes. The homes will measure between 60 m2 and 90 m2 with parking spaces inside the blocks.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

Colau Creates Register of Empty Plots to Expropriate them in Two Years time

21 August 2018 – Eje Prime

Ada Colau has laid down the law regarding a topic that is affecting the real estate market in Barcelona. The mayor of the Catalan capital has signed a decree to create a municipal register of the empty plots in the city so that they may be expropriated in the event that no activity is undertaken on them in the next two years. The decision was announced on Tuesday by the Deputy Mayor for Urban Planning, Janet Sanz.

The measure could start to be executed during the second half of 2020 or the beginning of 2021, following the definitive approval of the modifications to the General Metropolitan Plan (Mpgm), scheduled for the end of this year.

The main objective of this decree is “to activate the plots” for the generation of housing, explained Sanz. For this, the Town Hall will prepare a map of the city, which it will use to verify the vacant plots, and that should be ready within a few months.

The councillor for Urban Planning argues that “it is not acceptable that unused empty private plots in Barcelona are being used for speculation”. She maintains that other cities, such as the case of Valencia, have already taken similar measures. “We want to stop private owners from holding onto plots for speculative purposes. We want homes to be built and if the private sector won’t do it then the Town Hall will”, said Sanz.

In addition, Barcelona is also going to penalise the breach of orders for the execution of works for the renovation and conservation of buildings with safety problems or those that are protected due to their architectural or cultural heritage. In these properties, if the building work is not undertaken, then the Town Hall will also be able to expropriate the building in two years time or charge the owners for the expenses.

The new decree from the Town Hall of Barcelona relating to the Catalan capital’s residential market comes two months after Colau said that 30% of all new homes must be allocated to social housing following her decision to renounce the moratorium on new construction.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake

Catalana Occidente Finalises Purchase of Gaudí’s Torre Bellesguard for €30M

20 July 2018 – Idealista

Catalana Occidente is adding a new asset to its portfolio. The real estate investment arm of the insurance company Catalana Occidente is finalising the purchase of Torre Belleguard, constructed by Antoni Gaudí at the beginning of the 20th century, for €30 million. The Town Hall of Barcelona, the Generalitat and the Regional Council of Barcelona have declined to exercise their right of first refusal and preferential acquisition.

The Catalana Occidente Group, which is headquartered in Sant Cugat del Vallès, has expressed its interest and is willing to pay the owners €30.1 million, excluding taxes, such as the property transfer fee, which would increase the consideration to at least €33 million, according to El País.

The acquisition of this property (which has been classified as an Asset of National Cultural Interest since July 1969) is pending “a few finishing touches” and the intention is for the building “to continue to be open to the public because we are aware of its importance and great heritage value”, explain sources at the company.

Torre Bellesguard was threatened in 2008 when deteriorations caused by the passage of time forced its owners to undertake a comprehensive restoration project and invest €600,000 (a cost shared equally between the family, the Generalitat and the Town Hall).

The high cost of the renovation led the family owner of the property to open it to the public in 2013, organising guided tours inside the tower. It also opened its gardens for the celebration of cultural and social events.

Following this purchase, Catalana Occidente would increase its asset portfolio. The insurance group has invested up to €208 million in the purchase of properties in Spain over the last two years. In total, the company has acquired six offices buildings located in Madrid and Barcelona.

The largest purchase made by the company, which is itself controlled by the Serra family, was the acquisition last year of two properties (Luxa Silver and Luxa Gold) in the 22@ district of Barcelona for which it paid €90 million to the fund Stoneweg.

Moreover, at the end of 2016, the insurance company purchased the building at number 55 Paseo de la Castellana, in Madrid, for which it disbursed €60 million. The asset, which was sold by Standard Life with a 100% occupancy rate, has a surface area of 5,625 m2.

The €27 million that it paid for a second property in the Spanish capital, located in the Montecarmelo area (…) completes the number of acquisitions made by the group’s parent company since 2016.

With these investments, Catalana Occidente’s real estate portfolio in Spain amounted to €1.265 billion at the end of the first quarter of 2018. This line of business generates gains of €476.6 million for the group, in which the real estate component of the investment portfolio (€12.2 billion) amounts to 11.3%.

Original story: Idealista

Translation: Carmel Drake

Barcelona’s Town Hall has Shut Down 2,355 Illegal Tourist Apartments in 2 Years

11 July 2018 – Inmodiario

After launching the emergency plan against illegal tourist apartments (HUT) in July 2016, the Town Hall of Barcelona has closed 2,355 properties and is in the process of shutting down another 1,800.

Moreover, this summer the “Fair Tourism BCN” campaign is being promoted once again to inform and raise awareness amongst citizens and visitors alike about the dangers of this illegal activity for everyone.

In total, 10,635 files have been opened and 5,503 fines have been imposed, five times as many as during the period from 2014 to 2016. The number of termination orders rose from 663 in 2014 to 4,148 in 2016.

By area, the files opened have been located primarily in L’Eixample (3,193) and Ciutat Vella (2,920), followed by Sant Martí (1,220), Sants-Montjuïc (1,042) and Gràcia (939).

In addition to this activity, inspections have been conducted of: 81 entire buildings where it was suspected that illegal tourist activity was being undertaken; 21 student halls, also suspected of tourist activity; and 61 illegal B&Bs, under the umbrella of rooms for rent, which were leasing all of their rooms.

Besides the fining activity, the team comprising more than 100 inspectors and visualisers is continuing to work to ensure that closed down apartments do not reopen, to identify new illegal properties and to hunt down the organised networks that are managing more than one property.

In parallel, work is continuing with holiday rental platforms through a joint roundtable that has been working for some time with Homeaway, Booking, TripAdvisor, Rentalia and Apartur, and which has recently been joined by Airbnb.

Work is currently on-going to allow the Town Hall to have access to data about users who have joined the platforms since 1 June 2018.

Original story: Inmodiario 

Translation: Carmel Drake

Colau Sells Mediapro’s Headquarters to a Company Based in Luxembourg

19 June 2018 – El Español

The Town Hall of Barcelona has sold the shares of the joint venture company Mediacomplex SA, created by the Town Hall and the businessman Jaume Roures (pictured below), with the aim of constructing the Imagina building in 22@, to an unknown company headquartered in Luxembourg. This direct award to the overseas company, which will be made official today, has the backing of the municipal legal services and comes after no companies bid in the auction held at the height of the independence process, between 14 September and 14 November 2017.

The history of this project goes way back, given that it began in 2004 when Joan Clos was the mayor of the city. And its dissolution has been extremely arduous. Fourteen years ago, Mediapro constituted, through its company Rilson XXI Inmuebles SL, a joint venture with the municipal company 22@, subsequently absorbed by Barcelona de Infraestructuras Municipales SA (Bimsa). That joint venture is Mediacomplex, in which the Town Hall held a 33.3% stake and Mediapro the remaining 66.7%. The aim of the company was to construct the Imagina building, located at number 177 Avenida Diagonal, in the heart of the 22@ district and where companies belonging to Roures’ group have their headquarters.

The agreement specified that the Town Hall would pay €16.8 million to carry out the project, whilst Roures would pay a fee for the use of the land, owned by the state. But the businessman never made his payments and instead accumulated a debt amounting to €2.9 million.

Given that situation, in the summer of 2017, the government’s team decided to annul the contractual relationship with the businessman. The Board of Directors of Bimsa initiated the process to auction off the shares in the joint venture. In September of that year, 21 companies expressed their interest in acquiring the Imagina building. But two months later, none of them bid in the auction, which was abandoned. The period between 14 September and 7 November – the deadline for the submission of offers – coincided with the most critical period of the independence process.

It was then that the Town Hall commissioned a legal report about the viability of proceeding with the direct award of the shares in Mediacomplex to the company HEVF Master HoldCo S. À. R. L, constituted in October 2017, owned 100% by Hines European Value Fund SCP. The lawyers backed that operation, involving the purchase of 6,638 shares in Mediacomplex at €2,812 each, taking the total consideration to €18.6 million. The company made the offer in April.

But, as it happened, two weeks ago, the Board of Directors of Bimsa met, without the attendees being informed about the sale. That is according to assurances given by the PP councillor for the Town Hall Eduardo Bolaños, who is a member of Bimsa. “It is strange that we were not informed about that operation. We do not understand why that company had not bid in the auction that was abandoned. If it did, we are not aware of it and we are going to ask the Economy and Finance Committee about it all”, he explained.

That Committee, which will meet today Tuesday, will address the sale of Mediacomplex to the Luxembourg-based company.

The Imagina building was used by Mediapro to install the international press centre for the illegal referendum of 1 October. Similarly, the candidacy of Junts per Catalunya, with Carles Puigdemont at the top of the list, launched its electoral campaign at the venue.

Original story: El Español (by María Jesús Cañizares)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Colau to Force 30% of New Build Homes to be Allocated to Social Housing

13 June 2018 – La Vanguardia

The mayor of Barcelona, Ada Colau, is going to force house builders that are constructing new homes or undertaking major renovation projects in the Catalan capital to allocate 30% of their buildings to social housing. This proposal from the Government’s team will be taken to the municipal plenary at the end of this month and threatens to generate a fierce legal battle between property developers and the Town Hall. The legal consequences are expected to be even more profound than those brought about by the Special Urban Plan for Tourist Accommodation (Peuat), which has been the subject of more than one hundred appeals.

The initiative proposes two modifications to the existing General Metropolitan Plan (PGM), which will need agreement from the municipal groups if they are to be approved initially. One of them establishes the bases to oblige private property developers to contribute to the creation of social housing. The other involves extending the Town Hall’s right of first refusal across the whole city, in such a way that the administration will have preferential rights for the acquisition of estates in all sale and purchase transactions.

This proposal can be traced back to a requirement launched a few months ago by the Platform for People Affected by Mortgages (PAH), which demanded that the Town Hall apply this percentage – 30% – to property developers in an obligatory to expand the public stock of housing. Ada Colau, who in February hired Carlos Macías, one of the spokesmen for the PAH, as an advisor, is hereby looking to satisfy that entity, for which she used to work as an activist and which has openly criticised her housing policies on more than one occasion.

Nevertheless, the urban modification project, which the BComú government has forged with the utmost secrecy and without the involvement of any trade associations or other affected agents, has infuriated the sector, which warns of the dangerous effects that this measure may generate. They include the risk of paralysing real estate activity at a time of recovery and the consequent legal battle to annul these plans.

The document, prepared by municipal experts in collaboration with Barcelona Regional, has been sent to municipal groups to start conversations and try to make progress in a meeting today towards its approval by the Urban Planning Committee next week. After overcoming that process, if the first obstacle is indeed overcome, the proposal will be discussed in the plenary. Even so, it still has a long way to go before it could come into force.

The modification would affect all new build or major renovation projects that have an urbanistic housing roof (surface area) of more than 600 m2, in practice, the vast majority of real estate developments in the city. According to the document, they would be obliged to “allocate at least 30% of those roofs to public housing”. The properties could be sold or leased but must be located in the same building (…). If the proposal goes ahead and overcomes all of the legal processes, it will become normal for residents of luxury homes in the city to live alongside residents of social housing properties (…).

If the current rate of construction in Barcelona continues over the next few years, if Ada Colau’s government manages to push through her proposal and if the inevitable legal appeals rule in favour of the Town Hall, then the initiative to allocate 30% of new build homes to social housing could increase the city’s public housing stock by 400 units per year. In 2017, 1,373 new homes were started in the Catalan capital (…).

Original story: La Vanguardia (by Silvia Angulo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Town Hall of Barcelona Buys a Building in the City Centre for Social Housing Use

7 June 2018 – Eje Prime

Ada Colau is continuing with her plan to increase the portfolio of residential property owned by the Town Hall of Barcelona for social housing purposes. In this case, the Town Hall is going to invest €2 million in the purchase and renovation of a building in the centre of the Catalan capital.

The property, located in El Eixample, at number 317 Calle Aragó, has been acquired through a right of first refusal arrangement, a preferential purchase that the Town Hall of Barcelona is allowed to exercise by law. The building contains eleven homes, four of which are empty. Moreover, the asset has a commercial premise on the ground floor, which will be allocated for “residents’ use”, according to comments from municipal sources.

The councillor for El Eixample and spokesman for the Town Hall, Gerardo Pisarello, explained that the goal of the purchase is, in addition to increasing the stock of social housing rental properties as Colau promised during her election campaign, “to avoid residents from ending up in the hands of financial institutions and vulture funds that want to acquire properties for speculative purposes”. Since becoming the mayor of Barcelona, Colau has purchased 500 flats that have been subsequently destined to rent.

At the beginning of 2018, the municipal government announced that it would invest up to €36 million in the purchase of seven private plots for the construction of public housing developments, primarily for social housing purposes, which are in constant demand in light of the rising rental prices in Barcelona, which increased by 18% in 2017.

Original story: Eje Prime 

Translation: Carmel Drake