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Poblenou under construction
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The 22@ new technological district in the Poblenou area of
Barcelona is currently more a project that a reality, according to the opinion
of the large international investors. Xavier Cama, director of Barcelona
consultants Cushman & Wakefield Healey & Baker, believes that the
majority attitude is to wait for the 22@ developments be consolidated. Investors
currently prefer a more central location along the Diagonal and Paseig de
Grŕcia. However, because of the shortage of available land, Cama believes that
half of the new office space in Barcelona will have to be concentrated in the
22@ district in the future. “If the buildings in progress are rented, the
international investors will come”.
The 22@ district occupies 115 city blocks, with a surface of
200 hectares and with a potential to build 4 million m˛ of floor space. Of
this, 3.2 million m˛ would be allocated to offices and commerce.
According to Council estimates, the transformation of the district will require
an investment 12,020 million euros over a period of 15 or 20 years.
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22@ district: Torre Agbar
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The crisis in the technological businesses after the crash of
the Internet bubble in March 2000 has affected the growth of district. For Cama,
22@ will be converted “into a tertiary zone, of offices and commerce,
important to the city”. It will not, however, be able to be focused on the new
technologies, since many of the companies are in crisis and will delay their new
investments for a number of years. Besides, “Barcelona has probably arrived
too late in this sector and cannot aspire to attract multinational headquarters,
but should develop specialist clusters such as Design Centres”.
Despite the investment caution, all new buildings in the 22@
district have been rented or sold before construction has been completed.
Among the users there are important Spanish companies such as Agbar, Gas
Natural, Amper or Retevisión, and multinationals including T-Systems (Deutsche
Telekom), General Electric, Liberty or la citada Axa. The price of the rents, in
addition, have stayed around 15 euros m˛/month, with higher values in the
buildings near Glňries, where the office market has consolidated. |
