Amazon sets up 11,000 m² service center for southern-European SMEs in 22@ Barcelona

• This was the largest real estate operation in Catalonia in the past ten years
• e-commerce accounts for one fifth of all business in the digital arena in Barcelona

In Amazon’s sixth investment in Catalonia (in April the company announced it will open a third logistics center in Martorelles, in addition to its facilities in El Prat de Llobregat and Castellbisbal), the e-commerce giant has leased 11,000 m² of office space in the 22@ district in Barcelona for its Seller Support Hub, a support center for SMEs in southern Europe who sell through the company’s platform.

The Castellví group and Stoneweg and 1810 Capital Investments funds have signed a fifteen-year lease with Amazon for the Luxa Silver office building, which includes 200 parking spots.  This deal is the largest real estate operation in Catalonia in the past ten years, with investment of roughly €60 million, carried out with the mediation of consultancy CBRE.

The new Amazon center, which will be handed over in February 2018, will serve small and medium-sized companies in Spain, France and Italy that sell their products through the Amazon marketplace, creating 500 new jobs over the next three years. In this regard, sources close to the operation say Barcelona was chosen over other cities that were also interested in housing the hub, like Milan, Madrid and Paris.

Sources at Amazon already highlighted that Barcelona would be perfect for a new hub, as it is a compact city with a network of international professionals with renowned talent, technology skills, training and language abilities, as well as a fabric of SMEs, entrepreneurs and start-ups that is particularly dynamic and innovative. In this regard, the latest report compiled by Mobile World Capital (MWCB) highlights that e-commerce accounts for one fifth of all business in the digital arena in Barcelona.

Record demand and investment in the 22@ district
22@ Barcelona has become the district with the most high-tech, innovative office buildings. Companies like Privalia, Yahoo!, Mediapro, Microsoft, Sanofi-Aventis, Groupalia, Capgemini, Schneider Electric, Vistaprint and Indra are located in this district. According to a report compiled by Cushman&Wakefield, one fourth of all floor space absorbed in the city in 2016 was in 22@ with €930 million in investment.

[06/20/2017]