The Barcelona Chamber of Commerce is trying again for the third time. The institution has revived the project to move to a new headquarters, in a 21-storey building at 22 @ in the Catalan capital. To finance it, the Chamber is preparing a tender to award a company the concession of this space for 35 years for an amount of around 55 million euros, as confirmed by the institution to ARA. The current headquarters, on Diagonal, will continue to be used, but basically to provide services to companies.
The origins of this project go back to 2006, when Joan Clos was the mayor of Barcelona. His council reached an agreement for the House to have a surface right for 75 years in exchange for the erection of an iconic building. The aim of the city council was to promote 22 @ by attracting business activity. The plot is on the corner between Diagonal and Selva de Mar.
Shortly afterwards came the real estate and financial crisis and, in addition, the Chamber lost its chamber appeal (a kind of tax paid by all companies and which allowed the entity to earn 25 million euros a year). The project stalled.
The City Council will occupy 13 of the 21 floors of the new building in exchange for a rent “in good condition”
In 2019, the still president Miquel Valls reached an agreement with the city council to restart the idea and for the council to occupy most of the new building. But after a few weeks there was a resounding change in the presidency of the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce, with the emergence of Eines de País. This and the arrival of the pandemic put the project on hold again. Bye now.
“Some members of the House considered this operation worthy of the past,” said Jordi Pomarol, treasurer of the House. “But we decided to value it if we saw that it was an opportunity and that there was no economic risk,” he added. This explains why changes have been made to the project announced in 2019.
The Chamber can use the land until 2085 for half a million euros a year, but before 2030 it can exercise the right to buy it for 16 million
The main problem was how to finance the building, which will cost about 52 million. Alternatives were studied, such as doing it elsewhere, sharing the property with the City Council or simply doing nothing. But in the end it was decided to do it with a concession scheme that will be awarded to a third company.
In the coming months, the Chamber will begin the process of convening the competition, with the intention of awarding it between the first and second quarters of next year.
Contract for 35 years
The Chamber estimates that it will have to pay the concessionaire about 5.7 million euros a year, while the latter would bear the cost of surface rights (which cost half a million a year and that the Chamber has already been paying since 2019. In total , according to the calculations of the institution, whoever is awarded the tender would get a return that will be a little above 6% per year.
The changes introduced in the initial agreement are various, and these are the most important:
- The 2009 agreement with the City Council provided for the Chamber to have surface rights until 2085. This is still in force and, in addition, the chamberlain also has the right to purchase the land at a closed price of 16 million. ‘euros. Initially, the right to make this purchase expired in June 2020, but this has been extended until June 2030. Before that date, therefore, the House must decide whether to buy the land. Otherwise, you will always be able to continue using the space until 2085 thanks to its surface rights.
- The price of the project presented in 2019 was 51 million. This has been cut to 40.6 million, but the rise in construction costs has once again raised it to a maximum of 46 million. To this price are also added three million to renovate the current headquarters on the Diagonal. If we add to this the costs that have already been paid, the total bill rises to 55 million.
- The City Council will occupy 13 of the 21 floors and pay 13.61 euros per month per square meter. “It’s been a tough and complicated negotiation,” says Pomarol, “but now we’re all winning.” There will be a thousand public workers who are now in other spaces.
- The headquarters of the Chamber will be at 22 @, and most of the Diagonal building, next to Passeig de Gràcia, will be occupied by what they call Hub CambraDigital, which combines the services of coworking, training courses and business advice. Today, seven of the ten floors of this building are dedicated to the services of the House; with the new stage, the House will only occupy three.
The Chamber believes that it will be able to pay these amounts comfortably, thanks in large part to what it will charge rent to the City Council, which will amount to 3.8 million per year. However, “if all goes wrong” it could be considered to rent the Diagonal headquarters to companies (today there is already a CaixaBank branch, for example), although a priori the intention is to keep as many plants as possible in the project. Digital Camera Hub.
Protagonists
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