Aparto, the student residence brand of the real estate group Hines, is strengthening its presence in Barcelona, the first city in Spain where it has started operating. After inaugurating its first space, located on Pallars street, last September, the company already has two more openings planned in the city and its metropolitan area, with which it will reach a total of 1,500 beds by 2025, according to Marc Sampietro, Head of Living Operations for Europe at Hines.
The second residence will also be, like the first, in the northern area of 22@, on Cristóbal de Moura street, also acquired by Hines in a joint venture with Henderson Park, as was the one on Pallars. With an offer of 350 rooms and an area of almost 11,000 square meters, it is expected to start operating in the first half of next year. Likewise, the third residence will go a little further, to Esplugues de Llobregat, in the Finestrelles neighborhood, with a hybrid model that will combine hotel rooms with a student residence. The opening is planned for 2025.
The company foresees more openings in Barcelona in the coming years and also contemplates its landing in Madrid. According to Sampietro, other smaller Spanish cities such as Valencia, Malaga, Seville, Granada, and Bilbao are also on its radar.
Beyond Spain, another country where Aparto is growing is Italy, with three new openings planned in Milan and its debut in Florence. Paris, Prague, Amsterdam, and Germany are markets that are also on the company's horizon, all of them with Hines offices.
Created in 2016 in Ireland, where it has six student residences, it began its expansion in the United Kingdom, where it has nine, and continued through Southern Europe, starting with Milan and then Barcelona. Currently, it has almost 6,300 beds in a total of 17 centers.
First year of the Pallars residence
The first residence that Aparto operates in Barcelona involved an investment of 100 million euros. The building is owned by Commerz Real, a subsidiary of the German bank Commerzbank, which acquired the property from Hines and Henderson Park. The architecture studio Batlle i Roig was in charge of designing a 26,000 square meter space, distributed in four blocks and with almost 750 beds. Hines also took care of the construction of the business school that is just behind the residence, the Toulouse Business School (TBS).
The first residence that Aparto operates in Barcelona involved an investment of 100 million eurosThe Pallars residence opened its doors in September of last year to a few students. In January, all rooms were already available and it achieved an 85% occupancy rate, a figure that will be more complicated next academic year, after more residences have opened in the area where it is located. The goal, Sampietro emphasizes, is to achieve an occupancy rate between 80% and 85% next academic year. Although the current one has already ended, there are still students in the Pallars residence, according to Sampietro, on short summer courses linked to universities and business schools.
With 60% international residents, room prices at the Pallars residence start at 800 euros per month for a shared room, with two beds and a shared bathroom. For a single room, with its own bathroom, the rate goes up to 900 euros per month. In both cases, common areas are shared with a total of ten rooms, which include the living room and kitchen. In addition, there are also studios, where spaces are not shared with others, with an average price of 1,000 euros per month, with the most expensive at 1,400 euros per month.