C&W, CBRE picked to market EUR 500m Valdebebas mall

European private equity group Doughty Hanson has appointed CBRE and Cushman & Wakefield to market its flagship retail development project in Northeastern Madrid.

The project, known as Valdebebas, was designed by star architects Chapman Taylor and will offer some 140,000 m² of gross retail space on completion in 2015. The total investment cost for the scheme is estimated at some EUR 500 mln.

Construction is planned to begin this quarter, C&W and CBRE said in a joint press release.

Doughty Hanson committed to the development of the large-scale Valdebebas site in May 2010.

The bidding process was organised by the city of Madrid after cash-strapped developers Metrovacesa and Riofisa decided to pull out of the project in September 2008, having won the construction in 2006 with an offer of EUR 238 mln. The companies blamed tight credit conditions and the property downturn in the country.

Doughty Hanson presented a EUR 110-120 mln offer for the plot of land, almost half the amount of the withdrawn bid in 2006 by Metrovacesa and Riofisa.