Gidwani ponders selling Telefónica’s former headquarters for €300M

Gidwani ponders selling Telefónica’s former headquarters for €300M

Photo Collected From Google Maps

The family office managed by businessmen Dinesh Gidwani and Jairam Mangharam Gidwani have the possibility of selling the Estel building, which should be transformed into a luxury housing complex, on the table, a process which is in the hands of Savills-Aguirre Newman. According to El Confidencial, there are already several known bids which could reach 300 million euro, but selling is not the only option for the owners. The establishment of «local alliances for future developments» is another possibility to consider, they revealed.

The fact is that, since 2018, the family office has encountered obstacles to its refurbishment project for the building. The Barcelona municipality alleged that the ongoing refurbishment works were not properly licensed and, as such, the Gidwani were forced to make some concessions. One of them was the reduction in the number of dwellings from 421 to 277 and the number of parking spots from 575 to 500. Also included in the project for this 73.000 sqm building is the construction of a shopping gallery on the ground floor and the development of some common areas for the tenants such as gyms and meeting rooms.

Once the project was adjusted, the municipality granted a new license for the refurbishment works to proceed in April, but, according to newspaper La Vanguardia, the pandemic stopped its resumption. Sources from the Catalan Community revealed to the same newspaper that works may resume in October.

This building is known for having been Spanish telecoms company Telefónica’s headquarters until mid-2011 when the building was sold to Group Carlyle for 220 million euro. Since then, the asset was owned by Sareb and Platinum Estates until arriving into the hands of the Gidwani in 2018. At the time, the Gidwani acquired the building for around 150 million euro, through their company Fiscalter Inversiones 2013.

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