It was marked on the public agenda of acts of the Port of Barcelona: on November 5, 2014, the laying of the first stone of Marina Vela, the city's newest and most modern marina, was scheduled. That day, the then mayor Xavier Trias, the former president of the Port of Barcelona, Sixte Cambra, and the manager of the marina, Nicolas Mayol, dropped a large stone ball down an improvised wooden ramp. As a symbolic act, that ball started the works weeks later.
The port enclosure was not a totally new facility, but rather the use of a five-hectare sheet of water, surrounded by two and a half hectares of land, which had been reserved after the adaptation of the breakwater when the northern mouth of the port was opened. Thus, this new infrastructure was used to reallocate nautical leisure activities (initially it had been planned to move the fishing port there), in the area at the foot of the W Barcelona Hotel, on the southwest side.
The initial forecast for the facility contemplated being able to have 134 berths for boats between 10 and 40 meters in length. As a main novelty, an automated dry marina was offered to accommodate 200 boats up to nine meters in length. These were moved by means of an elevator that took out or left these boats in the water in a matter of minutes, in the style of the robotic parking lot of Palau Nou, in front of La Boqueria. In that case, instead of cars, it is the boats that are sheltered in a warehouse.
In addition to the purely maritime facilities, the new port project included a series of commercial and restaurant premises both on the side opposite the dike, which ended up becoming an extension of the promenade, and next to the plot where for a long time it was planned to build the Barcelona delegation of the Hermitage Museum.
Concession until 2045
The Mallorcan Nicolás Mayol, with maritime interests in Ibiza ---such as Marina Botafoch and the sports pontoons of the Formentera port of La Savina---, won the concession from the Port Authority of Barcelona to develop and exploit the area for 30 years, that is, until 2045.
In 2015 there was a change of direction in the Barcelona city council. With a new mayor at the helm of a team with a different sensibility than her predecessor regarding port development and sports navigation, accompanied by an international investment slowdown, the project slowed down. To this was added storm Gloria in January 2020, which seriously affected the facilities, especially the dry marina, which was badly damaged and had to face a costly repair to return to activity. And then the confinement due to the health crisis. A perfect storm that brought the development and works of this facility to a halt due to lack of financing and treasury tensions.
Incus redirects the course
To straighten the course of the marina, Incus Capital Advisors, a Madrid-based firm specializing in alternative investments in real assets with offices in the capitals of Spain, Portugal, France, and also in Milan, has decided to acquire 70% of Marina Vela's shares. This operation comes after Incus has completed other recent transactions such as the purchase of 50% of Torre Caleido, a huge 181-meter skyscraper in Madrid, which until now was owned by Inmobiliaria Espacio, of the Villar Mir family. It has also entered the renewable energy business by acquiring 23.5% of Dominion Energy and has taken 10% of Aguas de Valencia.
Incus Capital was not new to the nautical business until now and, in fact, the acquisition of the majority of Marina Vela's shareholding comes from the beginning of the concession: the Mayol group approached Incus to obtain capital and obtained 27 million from the Canadian fund Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan. Thanks to that action, an investment of almost 30 million in the facilities could be carried out, which could not be recovered due to the perfect storm described above, to which numerous current expenses were added.
To face the situation, Incus has acquired the majority (exactly 70%) of Marina Vela's shares, thanks to a capitalization of the debt, which will allow it to undertake pending investments in the facilities. A new scenario in which Mayol finally retains 30% of the shares.
Resuming course
With the entry of the investment society, this Barcelona marina, which is perhaps the most unknown due to its location, will straighten its economic course. This new stage will also be evident at first glance, since finally one of the most obvious pending works will be unblocked: the terrace above the unfinished commercial premises that runs parallel to the new breakwater promenade.
At its final part, this new public area offers privileged views. These are practically unprecedented, due to their proximity, to the entrances and exits of all ships arriving at the northern part of the port, such as smaller capacity cruise ships or part of the ferries from shipping companies Trasmed, GNV, and Baleària. Fishing boats and all recreational boats arriving at or departing from the MB92 shipyard, the Náutico, Marítimo, and Marina Port Vell clubs, and, of course, Marina Vela, also pass through this area. From this new promenade there will also be a magnificent view of all air movements at the helipad on the attached pier, another of the Port Authority's concessions.