AEW completes first Spanish residential investment

AEW has entered the Spanish residential sector with the forward purchase of a mixed-use redevelopment in Barcelona on nº 59 of Barcelona’s Via Augusta on the corner with Calle Mariano Cubi and next to Plaza Gala Placidia.

On behalf of a private German pension fund mandate, the investment manager has agreed to purchase from EuroStone who has converted the 11,500m² property, known as Edificio Mercuri, to residential use and is conducting a two-year refurbishment which will result in a nine storey building with 91-units with three retail units.

According to Carsten Czarnetzki, AEW’s country head, “this will be a high-quality residential building in the heart of Barcelona and marks AEW’s first residential transaction in Spain, reflecting our growing platform and increasing ambitions in this country. Since opening our office in Madrid in 2017, we have successfully invested clients’ funds across most real estate asset classes in Spain and are seeing continued strong investor demand for the market.”

Lars-Henning Pylla, separate account manager at AEW, said: “Barcelona’s residential market, and this redevelopment opportunity in particular, meets our objective of investing in centrally located and sought after apartments, underpinned by positive, long term fundamentals. Once the project is complete, we expect it to deliver both long-term capital appreciation and stable cash-flow.”