The Sale of Carrefour’s local assets has entered a definition phase, so it is expected that in the coming days the French group will officially announce the closure of operations and announce the name of the new owner of its operations in Argentina.
Although businessman Francisco De Narváez is the one expected to win the battle and add Carrefour Argentina’s 700 stores to his Changomas chain, there are two other competitors in the running, such as North American fund Klaff Realty and Alfredo Coto.
But while he waits for that definition, the businessman who owns the chain that bears his last name must begin the process of parting with one of his oldest and most traditional businesses in the federal capital.
This is the land located in front of the bus station in the Retiro district of Buenos Aires, covering an area of 1.5 hectares, which must be cleared within a period not exceeding 10 months, i.e. before November next year.
The reason for this statement lies in the fact that the land on which the company operates Coto branch It is the property of the nation-state, which has decided to auction it through the State Asset Administration Agency (AABE).
The so-called “Milei Real Estate Agency” will carry out this process virtually via the SUBAST.AR platform today, Tuesday, December 9th, at 2:00 p.m.
Expired contract
Not just another piece of land, it has generated great expectations in the construction and real estate sector due to its strategic location and the huge development potential it offers.
For this country, from July 31, 2003, Coto signed a 10-year usage agreement with the Social Work Authority of the Argentine Navy, which established a monthly fee based on the net sales of the commercial establishment and also obliged Coto to deliver goods on a monthly basis to the “Stella Maris” orphanage, dependent on the Navy Social Work.
In this sense, on October 22, the company GEPAL, which manages the land under the Coto brand, was notified of a new rental value established by the National Valuation Court, in addition to the settlement of a debt of this company corresponding to the period between April 2023 and October 31 last year, amounting to just over 1,150 million US dollars.
GEPAl recognized the amount and requested a payment plan with 12 installments for the termination, which the company paid correctly, considering that this obligation came into force in November last year.
In the same spirit and in view of the need of the nation-state to promote the preservation of the condition of the property in order to ensure its custody, protection and preservation, it extended the period established for the return of the property, thus regulating the conditions of use and employment until the possession of the property can be granted to the winner of the auction.
In the meantime, the employment agreement signed by the Company and the AABE allows and authorizes Coto to continue its operations for a period of 12 months, which may be extended for another similar period, counting from the date of execution of the agreement.
However, if the AABE manages to sell the property during the validity of this period, Coto must vacate the property in advance within 10 months from the publication of the administrative act of the decision.
Strategic location
According to the auction documents, it is a large plot of land located at the intersection of Avenida Antártida Argentina (No. 1160), Gendarmería Nacional and Carlos H. Perette, a few meters from the Paseo del Bajo, the Retiro bus station, and in an area that has undergone a profound urban development in recent years.
It is located 550 meters from the Retiro stations of the San Martín lines; Belgrano Norte and Miter as well as the Retiro stations of the subway lines C and E.
The property has 15,720.54 m²; a covered area of approximately 17,844.97 m² (corresponding to the current structure of the hypermarket and premises) and the base price established for the sale exceeds the US$ 11.9 million established by the National Appraisal Court (TTN).
Although this is not the first auction to affect this country since it has already been put on the market twice but without success, the national government is aware that the current macro situation of the country can attract potential investors from home and abroad capable of developing large urban projects.
In fact, the specifications state that the plot allows the development of a real estate project with a buildable area of more than 100,000 m² and mixed use, primarily for commercial use, high-end offices or logistics projects.
Coto, Santander and McDonalds
Currently, 90% of the property is occupied by the Coto branch of the GEPAL Sociedad Anónima company, while the remaining 10% consists of a branch of Banco Santander and a location of the fast food chain McDonald’s.
In addition, it has a cell phone antenna room operated by Telefónica Móviles and Sitios Argentina, as well as a transformation chamber operated by Edesur.
In any case, the AABE makes it clear in the purchase agreement that the property will be handed over unoccupied, on the basis of a process that the agency will clarify to the buyers after the transaction has been completed, but which cannot exceed the period of 10 months from the allocation of the property.
As for the spaces designated for cell phone antennas, AABE will assign the obligations and other conditions arising from the instruments which is expected to be signed with both companies.
As regards the transformation chamber operated by Edesur, it is the responsibility of the successful tenderer of the procedure to agree with the dealer the conditions for its possible removal or relocation.
The auction is part of an active national government policy, managed by the AABE, to rationalize the state’s real estate assets through the sale of assets that the state deems “expendable” or “underutilized.”
Collect for the Treasury
Through this procedure, the government of President Javier Milei seeks to raise funds intended for the state treasury, in accordance with Decree 950/24, which encourages the sale of state property.
So far, the public organization, popularly known as “Mileis Real Estate Agency”, has collected around $600 million between the operations it carried out in 2024 and those it managed to complete so far in 2025.
All of these properties belong to the group of 300 state properties that President Javier Milei considers “unnecessary,” which is why he included them in the state property sales process at the beginning of his term.
It was established by Decree 950/2024 as part of “measures to make the role of the State more efficient”, since the land in question is “superfluous”, as stated in the regulation.
In this sense, the Libertarian government believed that “these assets should remain idle.”causes costs and expenses that must be avoided“. Likewise, they pointed out that their elimination “will help overcome the crisis facing the economy of our country”.
Specifically, the decree allows the State Property Administration Agency (AABE) to promote “disposal procedures” for a total of 309 properties. This long list includes undeveloped land, garages, railway, port or industrial areas, silos, fields and also municipal buildings.
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