Barcelona's Paseo de Gràcia is preparing to welcome new neighbors at number 111. In a matter of days, the real estate group KKH Property Investors is expected to obtain the final permits to begin notarizing and handing over the keys to the apartments it has already sold in the luxury residential complex it has built in the tower that once housed the offices of Deutsche Bank and the law firm Cuatrecasas, at the confluence of the promenade with Avenida Diagonal. The project initially planned to transform the building into a luxury hotel of the Four Seasons chain, but the change of color in the city council prevented this initiative from materializing and the decision was made to build the most exclusive homes in the city, with unique views and offering owners the same services as if they lived in a hotel. The average price per square meter exceeds 30,000 euros.
The works on the 20-story tower culminated a couple of months ago and have involved an investment of 160 million euros. A project designed by architect Carlos Ferrater was followed, while the interior design was handled by the London studio Muza Lab. In total, where there were once offices, 34 homes have been built: the cheapest ---with one bedroom and 120 m²--- costs 2.3 million euros and the most expensive ---the almost 600 square meter duplex that crowns the building--- has just come onto the market for a minimum of 40 million euros, which makes it the most expensive apartment in Barcelona and possibly also in Spain.
More than half of the development, named Mandarin Oriental Residences Barcelona, has already been sold off-plan. Now that the tower can be visited after the completion of the works, it is expected that the remaining apartments will sell quickly thanks to the wow effect they provoke: it is very difficult not to be impressed by the luminosity and the spectacular views of the city that the building offers, with unique postcards of Paseo de Gràcia with the sea in the background, the Diagonal skyline and especially the Sagrada Familia, which seems to be only a few meters from the immense windows of each of the homes. The forecast is to hang the "all sold" sign by the end of the year and for the first residents to move into the complex starting in September.
And who will live in the tower? Among the first owners, explains KKH, are businessmen and some elite athletes. Half are foreign buyers, mainly Europeans, Americans, and from the Middle East. Some Asians have also bought, but fewer. For now, there are no residents of Russian nationality. The other half are national buyers, people with roots in Barcelona, but who in some cases live abroad. It may be that some have bought the home purely as an investment, that is, to rent it out later, but that is not the most common profile. Some buyers have bought more than one apartment. "Most of the homes will be used as a first, second, or third residence by the owners; all are very excited about the purchase," assures Josep Maria Farré, president and founder of KKH.
The real estate businessman, who before creating KKH had been the chief executive of Renta Corporación, bought the old Deutsche Bank Tower from the Andorran banking families Reig, Ribas, and Cerqueda in 2014 for around 90 million. His original idea was to build a hotel, a project he had worked on in tune with the team of the previous mayor Xavier Trias, who looked favorably on a hotel brand of maximum international prestige like Four Seasons landing in the city. The arrival of Ada Colau to the mayor's office forced the hotel project to be buried, and Four Seasons ended up investing in the Canalejas complex in Madrid.
With the hotel discarded, KKH opted to divide into two a building that had been built in 1961 and had an L-shape, since in addition to the 20-story tower, the old Deutsche Bank had a podium at the confluence with Diagonal, which is where the bank's branch was located. This lower building was separated from the tower and became a commercial property that, for two years now, has housed the brand new Casa Seat, through which more than 200,000 visitors have already passed. KKH sold this macro-store to Nortia, the investment holding company of Manuel Lao, former owner of Cirsa, who collects the rent paid by Seat. The development group, however, reserved the right to use the terrace with a swimming pool on top of Casa Seat, which will be for the exclusive enjoyment of the residents of the tower of homes, who will be able to access a privileged space in the heart of the city via a walkway suspended over the passage created by separating the two buildings.
This new passage that the city has gained connects the Jardinets de Gràcia area with Riera de Sant Miquel street and is where the main entrance to the Mandarin Oriental Residences complex is located. To beautify this corridor ---which will be closed at night--- the walls have been covered with a vertical sculpture by artist Miquel Planas.
Each of the 20 floors of the luxury residential tower has 500 m², meaning the complex totals 10,000 m². Apartments have been built with one to four bedrooms, with areas ranging from 120 m² to 580 m². Thus, there are floors where there is only one dwelling ---on floors 17, 18, 19, and 20--- and others where there are two or three. On average, the selling price exceeds 30,000 euros per m², although in the highest apartments, prices reach 40,000 and 45,000 euros per m². For the duplex on the 20th floor, the developer "only listens to offers starting from 40 million," explains the owner of KKH, who assures that he has already received several offers, so a fierce bidding war is expected.
"Paseo de Gràcia 111 is a detached tower located in an unbeatable location, without any similar building around that could overshadow it, which places these homes at the highest level in Europe in the residential segment. It is truly another level, also in the quality of design, materials and execution, which is why the commercialization price is much higher than the market price, because there are no alternatives," argues Farré.
The commercial premises located on the ground floor of the building, with an area of 450 m², will also soon be on the market. The founder of KKH expresses great satisfaction at having successfully completed this project, which, although it has been delayed more than expected, will generate sales revenues that will far exceed the investment of 160 million executed, a figure that includes the purchase of the building, the construction of Casa Seat, the transformation of the tower into homes, and financial costs.
Josep Maria Farré: "there is a lot of appetite for Barcelona, the city remains very powerful"According to the businessman, the development "will mark the highest amount in Spain" in terms of price per square meter and expects it to be fully sold by the end of 2022. He assures that the complexity of the international context and the growing economic uncertainty have not harmed them:"there is a lot of appetite for Barcelona, the city remains very powerful; we have received requests from hundreds of interested buyers. The market is not stopped, there is a lot of appetite." In this sense, Farré reiterates that Paseo de Gràcia 111 "is a unique, unrepeatable and small project" that represents"a highly defensive medium and long-term investment"for any buyer. "It's a special product... nobody has backed out because of the war in Ukraine or other circumstances," he emphasizes.
The international hotel chain Mandarin Oriental was awarded the management of the residential complex and, once KKH has sold all the apartments, it will work for the community of owners so that "everyone feels they live in a five-star hotel," explains the developer. Thus, Mandarin Oriental will assign a team of 25 people who will permanently work in the building, literally taking care of everything: security, concierge, cleaning, maintenance, gardening, parcel delivery... and the entire range of extra services that tenants may request, from childcare to pet care, personal shopper, event organization, private chef, masseuse, florist, and grocery shopping and fridge stocking prior to the owners' arrival.
The Mandarin team will also manage the terrace and pool area and the entire 6th floor, where there are no apartments, but rather the communal spaces for the owners. Highlights include a large library lounge, a couple of meeting rooms, a gym, changing rooms with a sauna, and an area with cabins for massages and beauty treatments. Buyers also have privileged access to all Mandarin Oriental hotels worldwide and, in particular, can enjoy the Mandarin Barcelona, also located on Paseo de Gràcia.
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