Iberdrola Inmobiliaria was a pioneer in betting on building an ambitious 91,000 square meter office complex between Paseo de la Zona Franca and the expansion of Fira de Barcelona's Gran Via venue. When it planned to invest in the so-called BcnFira District, all attention was focused on the development of Plaza Europa in L'Hospitalet, and there was skepticism regarding the chosen location. Today the situation is quite different, as the area has managed to consolidate itself as a new reference area for corporate offices located south of the city and which is an alternative to 22@, with an almost private metro stop (Foc, of the L10) and only ten minutes from the airport.
Key to this consolidation has been the decision of the Generalitat to locate its new administrative campus next to the Iberdrola towers, a gigantic office complex that houses departments such as Economy and Justice and that was built on a plot where Fira de Barcelona had initially planned to build a large auditorium.
AXA ---which promoted the Generalitat building--- and Iberdrola Inmobiliaria have been the two major investors who have believed in the potential of this new economic-administrative area, but new international players are joining them, as also happened in Plaza Europa and in 22@. Thus, in June 2019, Iberdrola sold the first tower of the BcnFira District complex, Torre Auditori, to the British manager Aberdeen Standard Investment, which paid 98 million for a 21-story building, nearly 23,000 square meters, and which houses headquarters of companies such as Titán.
Now, it has been the German investment fund KGAL Investment Management who has also decided to bet on the enclave by buying Torre Esteve, the second, from Iberdrola. It is a building with 19,423 square meters of leasable area and 13 floors of offices to which the Esteve family pharmaceutical group moved its corporate headquarters. In addition, the fully occupied tower houses other tenants, such as the College of Property and Commercial Registrars of Spain.
KGAL would have paid around one hundred million euros for the property, in an operation that has been advised by Garrigues, Colliers, Hill International, DLA Piper and Nomos. According to the managing director of this German fund, André Zücker, "Barcelona has become in recent years a pole of attraction for technology companies and this has also made it more attractive for us as a foreign investor". KGAL has assets under management of around 11.2 billion, which it invests in the real estate, energy and aviation sectors.
Now, Iberdrola has the two new towers of the park, Torre Llevant and Torre Ponent, in the commercialization phase, which will add 48,000 square meters more of leasable area and have been designed by the Barcelona architecture studio Tusquets, Díaz y Asociados. The main tenant of Torre Llevant will be Cellnex Telecom, which has leased 8,500 square meters, 40% of the building.