Tag: Town Hall of Valencia

The PSPV Proposes a Housing Plan to Mobilise 4,500 Rental Homes in Valencia

23 February 2019 – Valencia Plaza

The socialist candidate for the Mayor of Valencia, Sandra Gómez (pictured below, left), has proposed a comprehensive housing plan for the city that would mobilise 4,500 homes, through new social housing units (VPO) and empty homes enabled for rental (…).

In a recent speech, the candidate for mayor explained that the plan to mobilise 4,500 homes includes empty homes. “Thanks to the Generalitat’s courage, we are going to have a map with which to operate to identify the large owners of homes, those who own more than ten empty properties”. With this, the socialists propose “an increase in the IBI charge for those empty homes that are not included in the rental market”.

In addition, to achieve the objective of this plan, they will demand “the maximum possible social housing in the city’s new developments, as we are already doing with developments such as Benimaclet, where 30% of the new builds will be VPO” (…).

And, as a third axis, Gómez has proposed that the administration “acts to promote the park of affordable housing that the city of Valencia currently lacks”. She recalled that there are initiatives such as the 300 public homes, being promoted by Aumsa and “the more than 1,000 that are going to be promoted by mobilising land from SEPE, as agreed with the Government of Spain this week. Nevertheless, the Town Hall has to do more” (…).

Original story: Valencia Plaza 

Translation: Carmel Drake

Valencia Transfers 8 Plots to Cooperatives for the Construction of 118 Social Housing Units

2 February 2019 – Valencia Plaza

On Friday at a meeting of the Local Government, the Property Department of the Town Hall of Valencia, led by María Oliver, approved the transfer of eight plots of land to cooperatives for the purpose of constructing 118 social housing units in several of the city’s neighbourhoods, in particular in the Nou Moles and Massarrojos areas, with 46 and 20 homes, respectively. The formula chosen by the Town Hall transfers the land for a period of between 50 and 75 years.

The councillor for Housing and Property, María Oliver, said that the objective is “to limit the capacity for speculation”. And in that same sense, she insisted that “people will no be allowed to be removed from their neighbourhoods” (…).

All of the publicly protected housing, known by their initials VPP (‘viviendas de protección pública’) will be distributed between the districts of l’Olivereta, Poblats Marítims, Quatre Carreres and los Pobles del Nord, Sud and Oest, and will comprise exactly 118 homes, according to the calculations performed by the Housing Department (…).

Original story: Valencia Plaza 

Translation: Carmel Drake

Aquila Capital Builds a New 1,300-Home Neighbourhood in Valencia for €350M

19 September 2018 – Valencia Plaza

In case anyone was in any doubt about the exponential growth being experienced in the real estate sector in the city of Valencia, Tuesday saw the announcement of the largest residential project launched in the city to date since the crisis. And the most interesting aspect: it is not one of the long-term investment projects. The new neighbourhood is a PAI (an integrated development plan), which has already been approved and the first homes are expected to be delivered in the Autumn of 2021.

The initiative comes from the property developer AQ Acentor, which belongs to the German investment fund manager Aquila Capital. The firm is going to build a development containing 1,300 homes and 75,000 m2 of tertiary space. “This operation, which exceeds €350 million, will see the creation of the largest residential urban planning development by a single developer in the country in the last decade”, said the company.

The chosen land is the PAI Fuente San Luis, an area that property developers have turned their backs on for years given its complex location, between the V-30 and V-31 motorways and the Nueva Fe train station – right next to the railway tracks that back onto the hospital – but which the resurgent recovery of the sector and the scarcity of land in the city have offered a new opportunity (…).

The space has a staggering 232,000 m2 of residential buildability, of which 130,000 m2 will be used by AQ Acentor to build 9 developments in total (4 social housing blocks and 5 private residential blocks), according to a statement issued by the firm. In total, 544 homes will be built for social housing purposes, according to the company.

15-storey towers

When asked about the project by Valencia Plaza, sources at the company explained that their plans imitate “the successful model of the Engineers Residential Park in Madrid”, another major project promoted by the brand after it acquired a significant portfolio of land from the public company Sepes. All of the buildings will have 15 floors and two of them will form part of a combined complex of 360 homes (180 plus 180, with a private garden area). The rest will be towers, of the same height, containing more than 100 homes each, located around a freely accessible green area.

Moreover, “the complex will have an enormous plot, measuring 79,000 m2, of very versatile tertiary land, which will be dedicated to various uses (commercial, hotel, social…)”, according to AQ Acentor, which explains that it has “several proposals on the table in this regard”. “No decisions have been taken yet, but the complex could be of interest for the creation of a hotel designed to serve people visiting the hospital, for the development of new offices…there is a lot of space, the idea is to achieve an attractive mix”, they say.

The area has 308,000 m2 of public space for green areas, as well as for educational, cultural and sports facilities, which will be completed with a large urban park measuring 33,000 m2. The company owns most of the plots, acquired formally from the firms Analyst and Proalival last July, but the Town Hall of Valencia also owns land in the area (in fact, it is the second largest owner). The rest of the plots belong, for the most part, to the former owners of the allotments on the site (…).

Original story: Valencia Plaza (by Dani Valero)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Hayfin & Atitlán Buy Land from Sareb to Lock Down Plan for Valencia’s Former Formula 1 Circuit

21 August 2018 – El Confidencial

The British fund Hayfin Capital and the Valencian investor Atitlán Grupo Empresarial are continuing to take steps to launch the most iconic urban development project and the one still pending execution in the city of Valencia with the greatest chances of generating gains.

At the end of July, a joint venture held by the two investment specialists completed the purchase of plots still owned by Sareb in the so-called PAI del Grao, a developable sector that occupies land on the former Formula 1 urban circuit in the regional capital. Hayfin and Atitlán acquired 14,000 m2 of land in total, with 8,100 m2 corresponding to residential use and 2,700 m2 to commercial use, according to market sources speaking to El Confidencial. The buildability is defined by the current urban plan of the Town Hall of Valencia, although it is finalising a new plan that will modify the distribution of that buildability. The expectation is that the final use of this land will amount to around 16,000 m2.

The investors paid €4 million in an operation that appears to have a low economic value but significant strategic potential. The sale of the assets by the bad bank chaired by Jaime Echegoyen (…) will allow the Spanish-British consortium to increase its percentage stake in the plan as a whole, which occupies a surface area of more than 300,000 m2 and will involve the construction of a new neighbourhood that will connect the Ciudad de las Ciencias and Avenida de Francia with Valencia’s maritime seafront. The area is set to become one of the most sought-after parts of the city if its developers decide to build high-quality residential properties (…).

Nevertheless, it will be a while before the new Valencian neighbourhood takes shape. As a result of the administrative and bureaucratic processes still pending, the real estate sector estimates that it will take between three and five years before developments in the PAI del Grao can start to be marketed. Nevertheless, if Hayfin and Atitlán are patient and manage to overcome the pitfalls, they may obtain juicy profits from an urban planning operation in which they have already invested more than €30 million but which could generate up to €300 million in property sales, according to the most optimistic estimates.

The plan for the former Valencia Street Circuit is the most ambitious project to be launched by the Atitlan Grupo Empresarial’s real estate division, which according to its own official data already has 100 homes under development, 200,000 m2 of surface area for rent and 1.5 million m2 of land under management, including its operations in Portugal.

With its olive-growing subsidiary Elaia the largest generator of current income, an aquaculture division (Sea8) and the service and construction company Mosaiq (formerly Obinesa-Lubasa), Atitlán generated sales amounting to €437 million last year and an EBITDA of €92 million. According to official figures, it employs 2,500 people across the group (…).

Original story: El Confidencial (by Víctor Romero)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Valencia’s Town Hall Unveils Special Plan for El Cabanyal with 850 New Homes & 1,000 Parking Spaces

11 July 2018 – Inmodiario

The draft of the Special Plan for El Cabanyal-Canyamelar (PEC) involves 850 homes in total: 650 for social housing and private use and 200 more for public use. That is according to the Councillor for Sustainable Urban Development at the Town Hall of Valencia, Vicent Sarrià, who has held a meeting with residents of the neighbourhood to inform them about the progress of the PEC working document.

60% of the 650 homes will be allocated to social housing and the remaining 40% will be for private use. Moreover, the plan will include another 200 public homes to be allocated to the elderly (over 65 years) and young people (under 35 years), amongst other cohorts, on a rental basis.

In terms of the parking lots, the PEC is planning to build high-rise car parks for neighbours right across the area. The forecast being considered at the moment, according to the councillor, involve approximately 1,000 parking spaces in total.

Another question dealt with at the meeting was the distribution of the new buildings with respect to Doctor Lluch Park. Vicent Sarrià indicated that the building “will be located on adjacent plots, and so the entire surface area of the current gardens will be respected”.

The councillor highlighted that the document envisages “the remodelling of the entire garden area and that the walls will be replaced by slopes, which will improve accessibility”. In this way, he added, the plans reflect the requests made by people who actually live in the area.

Finally, Sarrià made reference to the forecasts for the end of Avenida de Blasco Ibáñez which, he revealed, involve turning the roundabout that is home to Cabanyal station “into a more accessible green area, connected by public transport”.

The document is still being drafted and the team responsible is expected to submit it in September so that the Town Hall can proceed with its publication.

In terms of the forecast investments, within the framework of Plan Cabanyal, the intention is to spend €13 million on the renovation of homes; another €18 million on the re-urbanisation of the streets, sewers and other installations; and €30 million on the development plan, co-financed by funds from the EU. In total, the project will see more than €60 million of public and private funds spent on the reinvigoration of this maritime neighbourhood of Valencia.

Original story: Inmodiario 

Translation: Carmel Drake

Valencia CF Expects to Receive c. €100M from Sale of Mestalla Plot

4 June 2018 – Expansión

Valencia Football Club (Valencia CF) is making progress with the financing for its new football stadium. Market sources estimate that the club could receive proceeds of more than €100 million from the sale of the land on which its current Mestalla stadium is located, a site between the sought-after avenues of Aragón and Suecia.

The sale of that plot, known as the old Mestalla and with buildability for residential and tertiary use, could materialise before the end of 2018, taking advantage of the good times in the real estate market. The plot measures 12,000 m2 and has a buildable surface area of 70,000 m2.

That amount would allow Valencia CF to partially finance the completion of the construction of its new site, where it has fixed assets in progress worth €115 million, and to reduce the debt that it currently holds with financial institutions and which amounts to around €185 million. It also holds liabilities with the public administrations.

The work on this construction site began in August 2007 but was suspended in February 2009, which means that the project has been paralysed now for almost a decade. Since then, several attempts have been made to restart it, but those efforts have always been postponed due to the need for financing.

The club has decided to accelerate its plans to move to the future Mestalla and push ahead with the reduction in its debt and the clean up of its balance sheet to focus on its sporting efforts. Only the arrival in December 2014 of the Singaporean magnate Peter Lim saved the team from bankruptcy, which has recorded losses of €60.2 million in total over the last three years, in large part due to this real estate expenditure. Losses are also forecast for this year.

In this context, the President of Valencia CF, Anil Murthy, now considers that “the real estate market has evolved enough to meet our objectives”. Thus, the club is going to continue working with the Town Hall to process the amended licences to start the building work.

Inauguration: in 2021

Murthy said that for this process, Valencia CF has engaged Deloitte, which will be its comprehensive advisor in all aspects financial, real estate, technical and economic relating to the entire process necessary to move to the future stadium within the timeframes set out in the Valencia Strategic Territorial Action Plan.

In addition, Deloitte will be responsible for the business plan and sale of the tertiary space in the new stadium, which will have more than 40,000 m2 of buildable space available for commercial use (…).

Original story: Expansión (by E. S. Mazo & R. Arroyo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Civisa’s Owner Buys 3 Buildings in Central Valencia to Convert into a Hotel

16 April 2018 – Eje Prime

Civisa doesn’t want to miss out on a business opportunity in the real estate sector in Valencia. The Mediterranean capital is one of the markets that is booming the most in the country, and so the new and, above all, the old players, in the local real estate sector, are bidding hard to undertake new projects. Such is the case of the driving force behind Civisa, Andrés Ballester, who has purchased three adjoining buildings in the centre of Valencia to convert into a new hotel.

The residential blocks are located at numbers 28, 30 and 32 Calle del Mar, very close to Plaza de los Patos and Plaza de la Reina. In this enclave, Ballester has acquired three properties with a combined surface area of almost 370 m2, which will allow it to construct a significant number of rooms, according to reports from Valencia Plaza.

The founder of Civisa has already requested a construction licence from the Town Hall for his hotel project. The measures that the businessman will have to take into account include respecting the façade of the central building, which has a commercial space on the ground floor, and the respecting the height of the property following the renovation, given that it may not exceed the limit for the area.

This new hotel in the centre of Valencia is not the only real estate project in which Ballester has been immersed in recent times. Recently, the businessman participated in another operation through which Inditex is going to open its first Zara megastore in Valencia. It is going to be located on Boulevard Austria and is being renovated in its entirety by the multinational textile company.

Original story: Eje Prime 

Translation: Carmel Drake

Valencia is Awarded 200,000 m2 of Land by the Port for Conversion into Green Space

26 February 2018 – Inmodiario

The mayor of Valencia, Joan Ribó, and the President of the Port Authority, Aurelio Martínez, have jointly presented an agreement for the use by citizens of 195,000 m2 of Port Authority land in the neighbourhood of Natzaret. The site will contain a park (el Parque de Desembocadura) measuring 63,800 m2, a large sports area spanning 88,000 m2, a tertiary use area and the concession of land to allow the Jardín de Túria to be extended to reach the sea.

“Construction work on the future ‘Parque de Desembocadura’ will start soon. Until now, it has been all about the paperwork and negotiations, but people are going to be able to start strolling through here very soon. It is a very important step for the neighbourhood of Natzaret and for the city as a whole, and very important for the redirection of the seafront, which is the main large project that remains outstanding in terms of town planning in Valencia (…)”, said Joan Ribó, after the approval of the agreement by the Board of the Port Authority (…).

The immediate work that the mayor refers to will begin on a plot measuring 22,000 m2, which citizens will be able to enjoy as soon as possible. The granting of the total space spanning 195,000 m2 in the Natzaret area is going to be the city’s third green space, of which the Parque de Desembocadura will occupy 63,802 m2.

At the same time, the plan is to create a sports area, spanning 88,000 m2. “It is going to be an area between the Natzaret and Puerto neighbourhoods, which I think is really important; it is going to have a lot of positive consequences for boosting the neighbourhood and also for mobility and connections between the neighbourhoods and the city (…)”, said Ribó (…).

The agreement also provides for the creation of a tertiary area (located on part of the site of the former Moyresa factory) which will have a surface area of 19,500 m2 and a buildable surface area of 25,000 m2 (…).

Meanwhile, Aurelio Martínz, President of the Port Authority, expressed his satisfaction “about this agreement, which has required lots of months of work and effort to achieve and to which the mutual understanding that exists with the mayor of Valencia has contributed” (…).

He added that it is a former port space, “which is being made available to the Town Hall and to its citizens” and also that “the fence is going to be maintained for reasons of security just like in other parks that are open for use by citizens during the day”.

Original story: Inmodiario

Translation: Carmel Drake

Altamira Sells One of the Best Available Plots in Valencia for a Record Price

13 March 2018 – Levante EMV

Altamira has sold one of the best free plots in Valencia for a record price. An investor group formed by entrepreneurs from Valencia and Madrid is going to build 26 luxury homes and 6 studios alongside the Mestalla football stadium. Altamira and the buyers declined to specify the purchase price, but market sources place it close to €1,200/m2. That price exceeds the €800/m2 that the US fund Harbert Management Corporation (HMC) and its local partner Momentum Real Estate Investment Management (REIM) paid a few weeks ago for some plots in Campanar and Alfahuir.

The investor group in this deal is led by the businessmen José Luis Basterra Leseduarte, Ignacio Polo Portilla and Mauro Sanchis Cabanes. Those investors have constituted the company Edificios Mestalla with a share capital of €3.3 million. The name refers to its first project on the plot purchased from Altamira, which is to be called Edificio Mestalla.

Sources at the company indicated that the construction permit has already been requested from the Town Hall of Valencia and that they expect to start the building work in eight months. The plot, which used to belong to Banco Santander, is located at the junction of Calle Antonio Suárez and Calle Chile. The plot is located close to Avenida de Aragón and the Valencia Club de Fútbol’s stadium. In recent months, several property developers have bid for the plots, but in the end, the investor group has acquired them. Market sources insisted that it is “a very good plot” thanks to its strategic location.

Altamira, which is a manager of real estate assets and which is owned by Apollo and other funds (85%) and Banco Santander (15%) says that the plot spans 397 m2 and is equipped for 32 homes spread over seven storeys. The intermediary declined to provide more details about the price of the transaction on the grounds of confidentiality.

The investor group indicated that the building will comprise luxury homes containing between one and three bedrooms. The one-bedroom flats will measure 40 m2 and the three-bedroom properties will span 150 m2. In addition to the 26 homes and 6 studios, the property will also have retail premises. Edificios Mestalla expects to start marketing the homes soon, although it does not have a deadline yet for starting reservations. Olivares Consultores is going to exclusively market the development, according to a statement issued by the firm this morning.

Guaranteed market

Sources in the sector highlight that these types of luxury housing developments have “a market” in Valencia. These types of projects, located close to the centre, are being drip fed onto the market because there are no available plots left (…).

Original story: Levante EMV (by Ramón Ferrando)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Zriser Made a Profit of €14M from Sale of 2 Properties in 2016

5 January 2018 – Valencia Plaza

Inversiones Grupo Zriser, the company that groups together the rental assets of Ana and Pablo Serratosa (pictured below), closed 2016 with the sale of two properties that generated a profit of €14.3 million. That is according to the Directors’ Report in the company’s consolidated accounts, which shows that 2016 was a good year for the investment vehicle owned by the Serratosa siblings.

One of Zriser’s most important sales – at the beginning of 2016 – was the Generali building, located at number 29 Plaza del Ayuntamiento in Valencia, to the businessman Juan Luis Gómez-Trenor, who was the founder of the now extinct Colebega and shareholder of Coca-Cola Iberian Partner.

Zriser purchased the building from Generali Seguros for €29 million and sold it for more than €30 million, almost 50% more. The building, next door to the Town Hall, is located in the financial and retail centre of the city and houses the regional headquarters of Generali Seguros in the Community of Valencia and a branch of the company; the main tenant of the property is the law firm Garrigues.

The other property sold by Zriser in 2016 – in the month of November – is located on Paseo de Ruzafa 18 and is known for housing one of the first Berskha (an Inditex brand) stores in the centre of Valencia. That property has a surface area of more than 2,200 m2 spread over a basement level, commercial space and commercial mezzanine, plus four additional floors, measuring 400 m2 each in a strategic location and where Décimas opened. The two operations were advised by Olivares Consultores.

Turnover rose by 48% in 2016

Inversiones Grupo Zriser, where the siblings also consolidate their other investee companies, generated a turnover of €48 million in 2016, up by 48% compared to 2015, when the figure amounted to €32.4 million. An even greater improvement was seen in terms of profits, which rose from €598,770.15 in 2015 to €7.88 million in 2016.

The accounts also reflect some losses due to impairment as a result of the results obtained by certain companies and a failure to fulfil some of the business plans initially set out. That happened in the case of the machinery company Inrema for a value of €408,957; Punt Mobles XXI, for €974,561.34; and Auditorías de Medios SL, for €1.6 million.

In subsequent events, the accounts also highlight the sale in 2017 of the company Moldcom Composites (McBath), specialising in resin bath products, to Nazca Capital. In this regard, the financial statements indicate that the transaction generated “significant” profits for Zriser.

Original story: Valencia Plaza (by Estefanía Pastor)

Translation: Carmel Drake