After more than 30 years of waiting, the railway administrator Adif has transferred the land of the historically known railway. In exchange, at the time of signing, the public company has received a first payment of 210 million euros of a total of 1,245 million that the buyer, the company Crea Madrid Nuevo Norte (Crea MNN), will pay over 20 years. Both parties signed the land transfer documents this Thursday, so the real estate company controlled by BBVA, Merlin and San José already owns most of this macro urban development operation north of Madrid.
In a statement sent by Crea MNN, the company together with the public railway entities (Adif, Adif Alta Velocity, Renfe Operadora and Renfe Ingeniería y Mantenimiento) formalized this Thursday before a notary the transfer of the land of the Chamartín and Fuencarral railway facilities.
The company has acquired the land, which exceeds one million square meters, representing approximately 50% of the Madrid Nuevo Norte urban regeneration project. To pay those initial 210 million, Crea MNN has approved a capital increase subscribed by its shareholders BBVA, Merlin and San José.
In addition to the 1,245 million, the fee is completed with a payment in kind consisting of the delivery by Crea MNN to the railway entities of one or several urbanized plots with a buildable area of 100,000 square meters and residential use, which will be used for housing. subject to some public protection regime. Crea MMN’s legal advisor in this transaction has been the Pérez Llorca Abogados firm.
This plan was born in 1993 to close the railway gap at the Chamartín station in the north of the city of Madrid. Then, the public bank Argentaria, which would later become one of the entities that would make up BBVA, took over the rights to the land. After numerous delays, modifications in its configuration, delays due to the real estate crisis, changes and political fights and judicial delays, BBVA and its partners Merlin and San José can finally obtain that land through the real estate agency Crea Madrid Nuevo Norte.
The latest delays, of more than two years, have been caused by the difficulty in the Cadastre and the Property Registry to register the lands that belonged to various railway companies. In fact, it was initially planned that they would sign before a notary until today, after the sale was ratified by the respective boards of directors of Adif and Crea MNN.
Crea Madrid Nuevo Norte now faces a capital increase to pay the first 217 million to Adif. This real estate agency belongs 75.54% to BBVA; The Socimi (listed investment company in the real estate market) Merlin Properties has 14.46%, and Grupo San José another 10%. In the last three years, shareholders have invested 40 million in capital increases to allow the company to function normally.
What Madrid Nuevo Norte is like
The project covers an extension of 5.6 kilometers long, from Plaza de Castilla to the M-40 highway, and where part of the land currently occupied by railway tracks will be covered with a large concrete slab on which the large central park.
The new neighborhood has an area of more than 2.3 million square meters of land and a buildable area of 2.6 million square meters. It will become, above all, the great financial center of the city, since 62% of the buildable space corresponds to tertiary activity and the rest to residential activity (for 10,500 homes). This development is expected to shape the new skyline of the city, thanks to its 10 towers of more than 200 meters and the one that will be the tallest in Spain, which will reach 300 meters.
Now begins the process in which Crea MNN, as the main owner of the land, will promote the creation of the compensation boards (urban planning managers) of the four neighborhoods into which the operation is divided: Chamartín Station; Chamartín Business Center; Malmea-San Roque-Tres Olivos, and Las Tablas Oeste.
Previously, in April, . The High Court inadmissible the three pending appeals, from two individuals and a company.
