Amundi has just completed the purchase of one of the most emblematic buildings in the area known as Madbit in the Spanish capital. The French asset manager has acquired the new headquarters of L'Oréal at 546 Calle de Alcalá from the developers of the building, the Therus fund and BNP Property Development, for almost 50 million euros.
L'Oréal will leave its headquarters at 48 Josefa Valcárcel in the coming weeks to move into the building acquired by Amundi, designed by Fenwick Iribarren Architects. This 20,000 square metre building will have various quality and environmental certifications.
Amundi announced the purchase agreement with Therus and BNP Property Development two years ago, but it was only last week, with the completion of the construction work, that the parties wrote a letter of intent, and executed the transaction, advised by BNP Paribas Real Estate. Despite the current uncertainty in the real estate market due to rising interest rates and the fact that many transactions are being suspended or delayed, Amundi didn't step back on its commitment to the project.
The French group is also committed to acquiring the second building in the same project, in this case at 544 Calle de Alcalá, measuring 10,000 square metres. This building has not yet been completed and it is not yet known who will be its tenant.
The building is located next to the Torre Arias metro station, opposite to the park "Quinta de Torre Arias". This area, traditionally known as the Julián Camarillo industrial estate, is attracting investment. Some of the office owners have renamed the area Madbit, after the technology-related companies that are setting up there. In the traditionally industrial area, there are still plants such as Rovi (producer of the Covid-19 vaccine for Moderna) and ALK Abelló, or the German manufacturer Bosch. The area is also home to the offices of companies such as Telefónica and IBM, and Interxion is also using the neighbourhood to build its data centres.
The arrival of L'Oréal will boost Madbit as one of the city's business hubs. The French cosmetics group employs 2,500 people in Spain and, in addition to its headquarters, has production centres in Alcalá de Henares (Madrid) and Burgos.
