AEW has purchased an office building in central Barcelona which allows it to undertake the development of a prime new office building in the city’s 22@ district, following the acquisition of the adjacent property in December last year. The prime office development is located at Carrer d'Avila 48-50 and Badajoz 49-51 and has been designed by Barcelona’s GCA Architects. AEW’s local asset management team will oversee the development working alongside local development manager Albion Real Estate Management.
The new building will offer c. 8,400m² GLA across a single building distributed in two sections, one of four and the other of three storeys, with basement parking for 89 cars. AEW is targeting a LEED Platinum Certificate for the development, which it expects to complete in Q4 2022. The project will provide state of the art access and hygiene features. The site benefits from excellent access and public transport, with the Carrer de Badajoz being one of the city’s main traffic arteries and Carrer de Avila providing easy east-west access. The Llacuna metro station (line 4) is within a three minutes walk, which connects directly to the main transport hub at Plaza Catalunya.
Carsten Czarnetzki, AEW Fund Manager, commented: "We remain firm in our conviction that regardless of the impact of COVID-19, the fundamental need to bring people together to interact and learn face-to-face remains. Ultimately this means that, while the way offices are used will change, they will remain integral to our working lives. We also believe that the pandemic will accelerate demand for prime modern office space at the expense of older secondary projects which are unable to meet the stringent requirements of the modern occupier. This project allows us to create a brand new, low rise office development that is designed for the future in one of Barcelona’s most dynamic submarkets. Barcelona remains an important target market for AEW given its stability and affordability in the European context as well as its strong long-term growth prospects."
