The founder of fashion retail group Inditex, Amanicio Ortega, has bought Apple’s biggest Spanish store in central Barcelona.
Ortega’s property company Pontegadea has reached an agreement to acquire the 2,500 m² asset located on the city’s commercial avenue Paseo de Gracia, at the corner with Plaza Catalunya, from Valencian family business De Andrés Puyol for €80m. Apple, which inaugurated its Barcelona store in July this year, has a 10-year lease on the property.
According to market sources, Apple is paying €3.8m per year, or €126/m² per month, to occupy the asset at 1 Paseo de Gracia. The transaction was conducted off the market.
The De Andrés Puyol family, who bought the asset for €53m from Spanish bank Banesto and property company Andybal last year, had announced in the past months that it was in talks with an international investor for the sale of the asset, but no deal was concluded.
The building, which was previously Banesto’s Barcelona headquarters, was refurbished by De Andrés Puyol before Apple moved in. Apple is its first occupier after remaining vacant for seven years.
Earlier this year, Pontegadea purchased another building at Paseo de Gracia 56, hosting, among other tenants, fashion brand Burberry’s Barcelona flagship store and real estate advisor Cushman & Wakefield’s offices.
