Over 270,000 m2 of office space in District 22@ will be on the market in 2019

• 60% of the offices being built in Barcelona are in District 22@
• Of all the real estate investment in offices, 48% is taking place in the technological district

The 22@ technology district is currently experiencing a particularly intense moment of real estate investment. The strong demand experienced by the district, which is a unique location for overseas multinational companies, with very high levels of occupation, added to the scarcity of large-scale office space available in Barcelona, ​​has led investors to back different office promotion projects in the area.

According to a report recently published by the real estate consultant BNP Paribas, among those promotions currently underway and those planned to begin in 2018, the forecast is that almost 270,000 m² of new offices – of the 405,000 m² in the entire area of ​​Barcelona – will be available and on the market in District 22@ in 2019. According to the report, 60% of the offices built in the Catalan capital are in the 22@, and that 48% of all investment in this sector is in the technological district.

Among all of this investment, mention should be made of the investment projects of Meridia Capital, Värde Partners and Emesa Corporación. During the summer, Meridia Capital purchased almost an entire block of 22@ district – within the streets of Ávila, Doctor Trueta, Badajoz and Av. Icària –, an area of 43,400 m² which will house over 32,000 m² of office space. Meanwhile, Värde Partners, one of the largest real estate investment funds of the Minneapolis-based American group, recently purchased a 13,000 m² plot in the district to build 52,000 m² of office space; for its Helix Project. Finally, Emesa Corporación Empresarial bought a plot in the street of Carrer Pallars in order to build a new office complex with a total space of 9,200 m².

It should also be noted that investment in the Barcelona office sector, according to BNP Paribas, totalled 665 million euros in the first nine months of 2017, and that demand for office space was 40% above the average for the last 10 years during the first six months of 2017 – when 208,000 m² of office space was leased in Barcelona, ​​which is 39% more than that recorded in the same period in 2016. This data was compiled by Cushman & Wakefield, the real estate consultants.

[01/23/2018]