Barcelona Shopping Centre sells for €122 millionFollowing a successful 2-year repositioning and re-branding project undertaken by Milligan and Denton Developments, agreement has been reached with Corio for the acquisition of Maremagnum.
Originally conceived as a leisure destination, Maremagnum is located in the Port Vell area of Barcelona and opened in 1995. It was bought as a strategic investment in 1998 by DLJ Real Estate Capital Partners, a fund managed by Credit Suisse, and Pacific Investments plc. who obtained the required planning consents and identified Milligan and Denton Developments as the team with the skills to undertake the respositioning
In 2004 Milligan and Denton Developments co-invested into Maremagnum and undertook the refurbishment that would transform Maremagnum into a high profile fashion and leisure destination.
Maremagnum now has a 22, 000 sq/m retail area, offering an energetic mix of fashion and lifestyle stores and leisure and restaurant destinations, including: Mango, Pull and Bear, Lefties, Desigual, U Casas, Woman’s Secret, Adolfo Dominguez, Springfield, H&M, and many more. It receives over 12 million visitors a year and is a popular destination with tourists and Barcelonans.
The sale follows the most recent consumer research, conducted in June 2006 at Maremagnum and in Barcelona city centre, which showed that 87% of locals interviewed thought that the repositioning had made Maremagnum a much better place to shop and spend time. The research also found that average dwell time in the centre was 80 minutes, an increase of 30% in six months, and that 60% of those interviewed very much liked Maremagnum, compared to 45% of those interviewed in 2005.
John Milligan of Milligan says:
‘Maremagnum is our first project in continental Europe and I am delighted at the success of the work we have done and the acquisition of Maremagnum by Corio. Our work on the centre was informed by a clear vision of the potential of Maremagnum and for the future of the centre. Much of the success of the project was due to the support and buy-in of the city and the Port Authority and the fact that we assembled a great local team to develop a close understanding of what Barcelona wanted. I still believe that there is work to be done on the areas surrounding Maremagnum and, going forward, I very much hope that we can work with Corio to achieve this.’
Fraser Denton of Denton Developments says:
‘I am delighted at the success of our work on Maremagnum and of what we have managed to achieve for the centre in terms of reaching it’s true potential as a high-profile, high-quality and popular destination’
NOTES TO EDITORS
Former Jones Lang LaSalle international director, John Milligan, set up Milligan, a retail development and asset management specialist, in March 2002. Every place it creates is a one-off. Each is designed and created by focusing on the wants and desires of the people who will visit, use and enjoy the space. By concentrating exclusively on the consumer, Milligan achieves the sales that retailers crave and the returns that investors want.
Denton Developments is a Spanish company based in Barcelona and established by Fraser Denton, a former Development Director from Lend Lease, recently responsible for the award winning Tres Aguas project in Madrid.
Maremagnum Investors: DLJ Real Estate Capital Partners, a fund managed by Credit Suisse, Pacific Investments plc, Milligan and Denton Developments.