“The list of people interested in buying an apartment in Sitio de los Monos reaches 600”

For the businessman, it is one of the most emblematic promotions for the occupation of such an important space and for the relationship he has with the port of Seville, where his father owned the company in which his entrepreneurial vocation began to awaken. The choice of prime locations and the quality of the housing it promotes will continue to be the key words of its model which aspires to be exported to other countries.

– The Monkey Stand promotion is one of those that has raised the most expectations. What stage of the process are we at?

– Since we agreed on a project and environmental improvements with the Seville City Council in September, we have not stopped working. In October we presented the planning study and just a few days ago we were informed that it had been accepted for transformation and that the environmental qualification certificate had been requested from Environment. It already seems that everything is very advanced and once finished, it will be necessary to move on to the municipal plenary session. It’s true that we’ve been waiting for a long time and I think it’s a necessary project because we have to take into account the fact that we have terribly unsanitary land there because of the time it was abandoned. It is located next to a hospital and a residential building, you cannot stay in this situation anymore.

-What are the deadlines for obtaining a building permit?

-Our idea and what the city council is telling us is that we can possibly start demolition in the second quarter of next year. If so, we can finish it for the celebration of the centenary of the Ibero-American Exposition. This project not only aims to promote a residential building, but also to improve the environment and create access for parking.

– Perhaps you will be able to benefit from the new mechanism of the municipal council to speed up licenses, there are already developers who have processed them in a few weeks.

– We hope so. I think these types of measures are very necessary and the Seville City Council is doing a good job of streamlining the processes. I understand that there are more complex places, such as in the historic center or in heritage areas, but the work is generally well done and they are the example, we are the second city in Spain where the most protected houses are built.

– How many requests have you already received from people interested in buying an apartment in this promotion?

-Well, we estimate that there will be around 50 apartments, although it could be a little less in the end and we have already received 600 applications. I consulted my sales department in case the subject came up during the interview and today there are 620.

– But it is almost thirty times more than the number of housing units that will be put on the market on this land

– Fortunately, the reception of our projects is generally like this. We have a waiting list for everyone we put on the market.

– At what prices will they sell them?

– This is not closed yet.

– Did one of the investors you partnered with to carry out this promotion ask you for an apartment as payment?

– Not exactly. We don’t do it that way, but some of our investors decide to buy when we get to the marketing stage and in this case it was given to us, but they buy it at the same price as any other interested party. If we received favorable treatment, it would be unfair to the rest of the investors.

– What is the geographical distribution of Grupo GS promotions?

– I could tell you without fear of being wrong that we are the most present promoter in the Iberian Peninsula. In Andalusia we are in Seville with projects in Calle Juan Antonio Cavestany, in Calle Santa Clara and awaiting processing, in Puente and Pellón, as well as in Avenida de la Palmera. We also build houses on the Costa del Sol, in the capital Malaga, Marbella, Fuengirola, Estepona and Nerja. We are in Granada and in the capital of Cádiz, Zahara de los Atunes and another project on the coast of Cádiz that I cannot reveal yet. In Huelva we are in the Antilles, where we are going to develop our first hotel project, then outside Andalusia we are in Madrid, with four developments; in Valencia, Salamanca, Santander, San Sebastian, Ibiza, Mallorca, Vigo and Sanxenxo. In Portugal, we will promote houses in the Algarve and Lisbon. In total, 26 developments are under construction and development.

– How many houses does this translate to?

– I estimate around 3,000, including the La Antilla project, which, in addition to the five-star hotel, includes a development of 330 housing units.

-And when do you plan to deliver them?

– If all goes well, in about three and a half years they will all be delivered. All these projects, although they are numerous, are distinguished by the same model which is part of the luxury segment. We have worked hard to position Grupo GS as a reference in this market and I believe it is already consolidated. We are a real estate boutique, we seek exclusivity and we want our brand to be recognized as a premium company, that is why we want to be present throughout the national territory and we are starting an international expansion. We are not looking for large volumes, in fact when we are present in a territory, we strongly limit the number of developments that we undertake. To give you an idea, this year we analyzed 1,200 floors, but we launched eight promotions.

– Do you have a fixed portfolio of investors?

– Yes, we have a large investor portfolio and it is very consistent. With us are the main family offices in the country, all large and very prestigious companies. In fact, we usually choose them because we are looking for them to have a very similar profile to us so that we can all work together on each project. This significantly reduces risks and allows you to work with complete peace of mind.

-Is launching into other sectors like tourism precisely to give more access to investors?

– In fact, it is about diversifying the activity. We noticed that many synergies are being created with the hotel product and we wanted to enter this segment, just as we introduced “build to rent” into our brand, even if we have always worked with “build to sell”. We have also done this diversification by area, because our partners do not invest in a single territory. We give them the opportunity to do it at the same time in several promotions and in different locations.

– What’s next for GS?

– Well, I would say international expansion. We would like to extend our model to other countries and I think it can adapt very well. We are already in Portugal and we were very pleasantly surprised because the procedures were easier. They don’t have one model for each region, but the same one for the whole country and that makes things much easier. We are also currently analyzing the markets of France, Italy and the United Arab Emirates, where the demand for luxury homes is very high.