The Chairman of Aena, Maurici Lucena, accompanied by Aena’s Commercial and Real Estate Managing Director, María José Cuenda, and the head of its Real Estate Management Division, Fernando Gutiérrez, this morning presented to potential investors the first logistics development area at Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport City which the company plans to put out to tender in the fourth quarter of 2021.
This first stage concerns the areas set aside for logistics development and associated airport operations. It comprises 28 hectares of land for development with 153,000 m2 for building and four hectares for green space.
Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport hosts almost 25% of passengers flying between Europe and Latin America, pointed out the Chairman of Aena, Maurici Lucena, during his talk. Its airport city project is a unique opportunity for the market and a milestone for Aena. It is an exciting initiative which will make Madrid into a gateway to sustainable and global connectivity.
The project has a strategic location and connections and covers a total area coming to 323 hectares, including 2.1 million m2 in buildable land associated with a variety of development operations:
- Logistics hub: featuring assets including storage and logistics warehouses, cross-docking, BPO (Business Process Outsourcing) and aviation service providers.
- An Air City hosting offices, hotels and related services for passengers and users.
- Aeronautical and cargo operations.
This plan also stands out for its strategic location and connections, its synergies and attracting diverse activities with the airport as the common link. It additionally unlocks potential for developing new products anchored in the principles of environmental, social and economic sustainability.
The scale of the plan means it has to be deployed in stages in order to ensure that each of them is put to good use. That means it is kicking off with this first area being put out to tender with priority for operations in greater demand such as logistics, which is harnessing new consumer habits and the boom in e-commerce. Afterwards, Aena will continue to progressively roll out the rest of the areas making up Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport City until all the land earmarked for additional airport operations has been completed over a long-term time horizon.
We are very excited about the market presentation of the launch of one of the key projects in Spain which will help to support Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport as a leading hub and will be a driving force for the local economy, commented Commercial and Real Estate Managing Director María José Cuenda on the presentation of the project. We have been working on this project for quite a while and it will attract operations which will add to the ones already ongoing at AS Madrid Barajas Airport.
Area 1 Logistics: adjoining the primary air cargo line
The first area to come onto the market includes 32 hectares of logistics land with an airport tie-in, of which four hectares are earmarked for green space coupled with some 153,000 m2 in buildable area.
This site has a prime location adjoining the primary air cargo line at Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport and in the heart of the Henares Corridor, one of the largest logistics hubs in Europe with outstanding communications by both air and land.
Plus, this area additionally has its enabling infrastructure largely in place with only a few services still to be commissioned.
White Paper: sustainability at the core
To deliver on design, sustainability and innovation principles rooted in excellence, Aena has put together a White Paper featuring mandatory measures which set out the basic guidelines for the new development approach.
This White Paper has been drawn up with the support of leading consultants in the field and provides Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport City with an overarching vision. It sets standards in terms of development, landscaping and building, connectivity, project management, sustainability and innovation which are in line with cutting-edge global initiatives and have to be met in the performance of all additional operations.
The White Paper’s goals are mainly to attract high-value investment through placemaking and quality design; deliver consensus with government agencies and regional stakeholders; set out the conditions for globally sustainable and zero-carbon development; and invest in innovation as a vector for designing and developing a digitally native project.
As a result, this White Paper on architecture, development and landscaping reflects Aena’s commitments to the local region, innovation and generating identity and social and environmental sustainability while ensuring the project’s compatibility with its surroundings.
Business model: joint venture
The business model will be based on setting up a joint venture in which Aena will have a non-controlling interest. So to optimise the value of the land, Aena will associate with a specialised partner. To this end, it is planned that Aena as the owner of the land in Area 1 will provide a land use right for a new undertaking set up by Aena and the partner or investor as a public limited company. Aena’s contribution to this joint venture will be in kind with a 75-year land use right. Meanwhile, the investor’s input will be in cash to finance all the costs during the development period envisaged in its bid together with any additional cash contributions needed to balance the distribution of the company.
Tendering and award process
The investment partner selection process is scheduled to kick off in the fourth quarter of 2021 and the award is to be made in the first quarter of 2022.
The process has been arranged in two stages. In the first qualification stage, Aena will select the interested bidders who can demonstrate they meet the requirements set out in the tender documents (capacity and suitability, technical competence and economic and financial competence) and invite them to take part in the next stage. In the second award stage, tender documents will be published featuring detailed information about the project to enable investors to draw up their business plans and submit their technical and financial bids together with documentation accrediting their technical competence.
The bids will then be examined following the steps specified in this process, including a first sub-stage for assessing technical bids and a second one involving opening the financial bids from the candidates that have achieved more than the minimum score required. It will then be decided which one has submitted the most advantageous bid, and the winner will be invited to set up the joint venture with Aena.
The process of shaping the joint venture will feature three key stages: making the award and incorporating the company, a transitional period for the standard urban planning and infrastructure procedures, and a 75-year land use right period with the option of an exit after the seventh year.