El Corte Inglés Center at 471 Avenida Diagonal, Barcelona
Mersan Assets Management, which bought the property in 2019 for 152.5 million euros, will invest about 22 million euros in the reform of the asset, according to Expansión. Last July, the Barcelona City Council gave the green light to change the use of the building.
The plan approved by Barcelona City Council specifies that the offices will be able to cover 20,045 sqm distributed from floors -1 to the fifth, while commercial uses are reduced to floors -1 to 2 and add up to an area of 2,500 sqm.
After the closure of the establishment, El Corte Inglés still has five department stores in the Catalan capital, and another four points of sale in other towns of the autonomous community. The group already announced in summer 2019 the closure of the establishment and, within the framework of the operation, has relocated the establishment's staff to other centers with more consumer traffic, like Plaza Cataluña.
El Corte Inglés accelerated the restructuring of its assets in early 2020. The board of directors of the department store group approved, before the outbreak of the pandemic, the launch of the new restructuring plan that will involve the sale, closure or transformation of up to 25 assets.
The company's goal is to modify the use of less profitable establishments. Of the twenty-five centers on the list, fifteen are expected to suffer changes. Among them are the Arroyomolinos and Arapiles establishments, in Madrid; Guadalajara, Albacete, Ademuz (Valencia), Constitución (Valladolid), El Capricho (Marbella), Marineda (A Coruña) or El Tiro (Murcia).
El Corte Inglés will carry out this new strategy through its new real estate division, which launched at the end of 2019. Other centers will operate under an outlet format or will host new company offices, such as the establishment of the group in Can Dragó (Barcelona), which will become the new headquarters of the company in Catalonia.
