El Corte Inglés of Portal de l'Àngel begins to face its transformation as a new office complex in the heart of the city. After closing its doors at the end of August, works for its integral renovation have already begun inside the building. After an investment of 200 million euros, the joint venture Redevco Iberian Ventures, formed by the Dutch real estate manager Redevco and the American real estate fund Ares Management, will be in charge of leading this new stage of a building that began as a textile warehouse at the end of the 19th century.
The new owners of the building have opted from the beginning to provide it with a mixed use, with floors dedicated to commerce and others to offices, rejecting projects that had been previously considered for this location, such as its transformation into a hotel or luxury homes. In this way, it will follow the same path as El Corte Inglés of Francesc Macià, also closed years ago and now reconverted into an office complex, with a ground floor where shops have been maintained, including a new format of Corte Inglés supermarket.
With an area of 18,000 square meters, the future Jorba Barcelona building, thus recovering the surname of the family that created the first department stores installed here, will house offices on the five upper floors, with an area of 1,400 square meters and 2,200 square meters each, but will also have space for shops, which will be concentrated on the first three floors. In this way, 10,500 square meters will be dedicated to offices and 7,500 square meters to commerce. The rooftop will be filled with rest areas, greenery, and solar panels.
The first chapter of the works will be the interior demolition of the typical structures of a shopping center, such as escalators, as well as the adaptation of the spaces to be able to start the renovation and rehabilitation later. The new owners of the property have not specified how long the works are expected to last, but efforts to fill it have already begun. The consultants JLL and Cushman & Wakefield are leading the commercialization of the retail spaces, while JLL is looking for companies that want to install their offices.