The French company, with experience in housing investment in Spain, decided to invest on this activity at the height of remote working and it is also seeking opportunities in Madrid and Barcelona.
Its first coworking centre will be located in Palma, in barrio de Santa Catalina and it will open in September. It will initially have 150 sqm, but will later increase its area to 250 sqm.
«We know the Palma de Mallorca market very well and we are very fond of it, but we are also analysing possible operations in Madrid and Barcelona», pointed out Gauthier de Buor, in charge of investments in Spain and Portugal. Besides the coworking project, Left Bank is finalising the purchase of a 1.500 sqm residential building in Mallorca in order to refurbish it and place it back on the market.
The French operator added an international player to the coworking segment
International giants IWG and WeWork dominate a large share of Madrid and Barcelona’s flexible work offer. The British company has a 23% share of coworking spaces in Madrid and 18% of coworking units in Barcelona, whereas WeWork has a 14% share in each city, according to data from JLL.
British IWG did not slowdown its expansion plans with the pandemic. The latest opening was a 4.330 sqm coworking centre at Barcelona’s 22@ with the capacity to host 450 people, which represented a six million euro investment. In total, the company expects to add ten new coworking centres in Spain and invest around 20 million euro, adding 30.000 sqm more to its portfolio and reaching 65 coworking units by the end of 2021.
WeWork, busy with its intent to enter the Stock Exchange, did not open any new coworking centre in Spain in 2021, although it did so in 2020. The New York company was responsible for the biggest opening of the year within the coworking segment with the launching of a 4.700 sqm centre in Barcelona’s Paseo de Gracia. In Spain, the company has seven coworking centres in Madrid and five in Barcelona.