History
La construcción del proyecto estuvo acompañada de numerosos contratiempos, que ocasionaron que la fecha de inauguración, prevista inicialmente para mediados de 2010 y con un plazo de duración de las obras de 40 meses, tuviera que ser pospuesta varias veces.[58] El proyecto fue presentado el 19 de enero de 2006,[58][59] y las obras de construcción arrancaron el 2 de mayo de 2007.[60].
Origin of design
The building was designed by the Alicante architecture studio Pérez-Guerras, with the collaboration of the Benidorm studio Olcina & Radúan Arquitectos,[61] and the concrete structure by Florentino Regalado & Asociados.
Some sources, when the initial designs were presented, saw in the design a tribute to the victims of the attacks of March 11, 2004, known by the numeronym 11-M, as the towers could be interpreted as two ones facing each other forming the letter 'M'. To which he added that when he designed Intempo "a short time had passed since the attack and it was very clear to me because I entered a competition to build a monument in the same area as the attack, but they only gave me the second prize."[64] In fact, at the end of 2004, a few months after the attacks took place, the Pérez-Guerras architecture studio received a second prize of 6,000 euros in the competition for designing the monument in tribute to the victims of the 11-M located in front of the Atocha station.[65].
Financing
The developer of the property is Olga Urbana SL, a company founded by three individuals in 2004[b] with an initial share capital of only 3,100 euros. In 2005, Caixa Galicia granted him a loan of 93 million euros for construction, guaranteed by a real estate mortgage.[66] It was later learned that the promoter partners contributed a total of seven million euros.[67] That year Caixa Galicia closed the year with a profit of 212.3 million euros—almost double that of 2004—and allocated almost 20 billion euros to credit investment, a 35% more than the previous year.[68].
Due to the bankruptcy of Caixa Galicia, the mortgage loan, which amounted to 92 million euros, was first assumed by Nova Caixa Galicia, and finally in December 2012, Sareb, a bad bank, took charge of it through a participation of about 52 million euros,[52] supporting a haircut of 50%,[69] without taking into account the subsequent supplement that it applied to the debt of 11 million euros. euros.[70] It is worth mentioning that 55% of Sareb's capital is private, while the remaining 45% is in the hands of the Fund for Orderly Bank Restructuring (FROB).[71].
Construction
Olga Urbana acquired the land on which the skyscraper would be built from Aurelio González Villarejo in 2005 for 54.3 million euros, as recorded in a public deed.[72] Some sources stated that the costs associated with the project had initially been estimated between 45 and 50 million euros,[73][74] however in reality when the project was presented in 2005 they were estimated at 96 million. euros.[75].
In February 2007, work began to prepare the land for the foundation, consisting of excavations and the erection of retaining walls to prevent landslides.[76] Between July 2007 and March 2008, the three basements for parking spaces were built, leaving a central hole where the towers would go. In the garage area, separated from the body of the towers, reticular slabs of 35 cm deep retrievable basins or coffers were used (they serve to lighten weight and allow greater light "Light (engineering)") between pillars) and solid slabs of the same thickness in those places that would support the filling of earth.[11].
The building sits on a stratum of altered marl nine meters thick, measured from the third basement. These loams were sufficient to support the loads of the garage area, which were resolved with isolated "Pilot (foundation)" footings, however they were not capable of meeting the demands required by the towers.[11] That is why a foundation was chosen based on the installation of a total of 144 "Pilot (foundation)") piles of 1500 mm in diameter and 12 meters deep until achieving one meter of embedment in the healthy limestone rock, joined together by a 2.5 meter deep slab-cap.[20] The assembly of the slab-cap took place in September 2008, leaving a gap for the elevator pit.[76] The piling was carried out simultaneously with the construction of the garage basements between November 2007 and April 2008.[76].
On September 30, more than 4,000 cubic meters of concrete were poured into the foundation slab of one of the two blocks, to cover almost 744,000 kilos of steel.[19] Two pumps were used, plus a third in reserve, and a concrete mixer truck was poured every 5 minutes in a process that lasted eighteen hours.[77] From June to November 2009, the first eleven plants were built. (up to floor 17), using a climbing formwork system.[76] From March 2010 to April 2011, the remaining ones were completed (up to floor 47).
In July 2011, the union of the two buildings took place, which was carried out in two phases.[78][79] Firstly, a 5.5 meter cantilever was installed on the 46 slab at a height of 143.5 meters on both sides of the tower, which required the construction of auxiliary metal platforms in the slab immediately below.[20] This cantilever allowed for a base on which to support the lower slab of the cone. Secondly, two parallel metal "Lattice (engineering)") trusses with a span of 20 meters "Light (engineering)") by 8 meters (two floors) and weighing 110 tons were installed, supported on each tower.[20] Due to their tonnage, the trusses were welded on the surface and were subsequently hoisted.[79] They constitute the base of the cone on which the upper floors are raised. A metal truss and reticular slab was chosen with the aim of lightening weight.[20] The structure of the cone has two types of upright pillars, some straight and others that follow the generatrix of the cone, responsible for supporting the weight of the slabs.[20].
The inverted cone located in the central part of the building was completed in June 2012 and finally on July 15, 2012 the flag-raising ceremony took place once the structure was completed, with a delay of ten months compared to the planned date of September 2011.[25] The two cranes of about 200 meters were removed in June 2014.[80].
Bankruptcy of the construction company
In July 2009, due to the financial crisis "Spanish economic crisis (2008-2015)"), the company responsible for the construction, Structures Aliben, presented a temporary Employment Regulation File (ERE) that affected ninety-nine of its one hundred employees, to later declare bankruptcy "Insolvency proceedings (Spain)") and was finally liquidated, so the works were suspended for months.[81] Structures Aliben, subcontracted by the Madrid company Construcciones Rayet,[82] it was hired due to the demands of the Galician savings bank. They later decided to terminate the contract, which involved paying compensation of 600,000 euros.[83].
In March 2010, a new company was established, Kono Structures[84] with headquarters in Benidorm,[85] and construction work resumed from the 11th floor (floor 17). This company promised to carry out the works in eighteen months.[86] In April 2011, when the building already had 46 floors, the plans for the 47th were not yet available.[6].
On June 24, 2011, thirteen workers were injured due to the fall of a forklift from the tenth floor,[87][88][89] without regretting major consequences because the emergency braking system was activated in time.[90] The forklift had been checked in the morning by several technicians and had been operating without problems throughout the day.[91].
Resignation of the architects
In June 2013, the architectural firms in charge of managing the construction, Pérez-Guerras Ingenieros y Arquitectos Asociados S. L. and Olcina y Raduan Arquitectos S. L., withdrew from the project, when approximately 20% of it was still pending.[92] According to municipal and developer sources (the architects refused to offer statements), their resignation was caused by the loss of the necessary relationship of trust between the client and the architect after Sareb imposed economic control of the project on the promoter by an external project management company called Suasor.[93] They criticized that Suasor's decisions were guided by economic considerations and considered that the structural safety, quality and future maintenance of the building were no longer going to be guaranteed, as well as that the high standards of the original design could no longer be implemented.[94] The Suasor company obtained a fixed monthly fee for its services of a percentage of the savings. made.[66] Said company refused to pay Kono Structures, in charge of erecting the Intempo structure, payments owed for more than one million euros, in terms of materials, labor and certifications,[86] and Kono was forced to cease its activities.[95] As a sign of protest, the construction company Kono presented in 2015 a preview of a documentary in which all the deficiencies are reported as a complaint. that the project experienced during its construction.[96] The Kono company reported that delays in payments to workers or collection stoppages were frequent if the workers did not domiciliate their payroll with the lending entity,[24] they also had to advance money to acquire the materials necessary to complete the works.[97].
The studio that was in charge of the remaining 17% was Pablo Moreno Arquitectos Asociados, as stated in the communication from the Alicante Territorial College of Architects to the Benidorm City Council.[92] In August 2013, in an official statement from the project's architects, they recognized that the project was economically unviable from the beginning. Likewise, according to the optional director of the work, Roberto Pérez-Guerras, on July 3 the settlement was signed with Kono and the relationship between both companies ceased, reiterating that there was no debt with said company. [25] Finally, the architect would clarify that the variation in the floors of the booths was due to the change of supplier of the elevators. He stated that "it is obvious that when changing suppliers, replacing Orona elevators with the international and prestigious KONE, there would be a minimum change in the elevation of the floors",[25] and they regretted that the Intempo "could not be completed under the initially approved conditions".[94][98] In August 2013, according to the promoters, 94% of the work had been completed.[69][99].
In mid-2013, investment groups from Russia, the United Arab Emirates and Sri Lanka showed their interest in acquiring shares in Olga Urbana's "Limited Liability Company (Spain)". In 2014, it was stated that Trinitario Casanova"), owner of Grupo Hispania"), had begun negotiations to acquire the building.[100] In September 2015, a Saudi investor showed interest in acquiring the building.[101][102] In parallel, Roberto Pérez-Guerras, designer of Intempo, claimed to have started conversations with more than fifteen potential buyers, both Spanish and abroad.[103] However, the reality is is that the negotiations were at the expense of Sareb, and were carried out in the strictest secrecy.[104].
Olga Urbana Contest
In 2012, the majority partner of Olga Urbana, José Ignacio de la Serna de la Garma, was sued for alleged fraud and misappropriation by a buyer who delivered contributions on account worth 80,000 euros with the guarantee from the promoter that these deliveries were guaranteed by a financial entity.[105] For similar reasons the promoter was also sued by three buyers who delivered money on account as sign.[63] When the apartments were not delivered, they demanded the return of the guarantees, which were not returned. In April 2014 there was a hearing to which De la Serna did not attend, but another of the three promoters did, Ignacio Boronat, who acknowledged before the judge that the bank guarantees did not exist and that the money contributed by the buyers was used for the construction of the building.[105] Because De la Serna did not attend the summons, a court in Benidorm ordered his arrest, so that he could testify as a accused.[106] In February 2015, after a long battle against cancer, De la Serna died without seeing his largest project completed.[107][108] In addition to the Intempo, he promoted several works in the area, such as the Neguri Gane, a 145-meter skyscraper also in Benidorm and completed in 2002.[109] In October 2015, a ruling declared the contracts null and void. clauses established by Caixa Galicia limiting the amount of the guarantee, making Abanca responsible as its successor.[110].
On November 6, 2014, Sareb requested before the Provincial Court of Alicante that Olga Urbana be put into bankruptcy proceedings. company, which has been revealed by its widespread non-payments and by its inability to face the construction of the Intempo building with its own resources.[111] Finally, on November 26, 2014, the developer Olga Urbana SL officially requested bankruptcy proceedings "Concurso de acredores (Spain)", as stated in the Official State Gazette[113] and the Official Gazette of the Registry Commercial| (BORME) From the accounting, the bankruptcy administration indicated that the developer owed 136 million, 42 million more than its assets are worth, which in addition to Intempo includes the Edimar IX promotion, valued at 3.3 million.[118].
As of March 28, 2015, the bankruptcy administration indicated that a total of 77 buyers who advanced money for the purchase of Intempo homes had not yet claimed their debts,[119] that the company had eleven current accounts "Current account (banking)") in four banking entities, all of them with a zero balance, and that the collaboration on the part of the bankrupt had been null.[119] In addition, it was stated He suspected "whether the 130 million euros of financing that Olga Urbana received was entirely allocated to the construction of the building or whether part of it could have been diverted to other purposes."[120] In Magdaleno's words, "the company has not even appeared in the competition, the social offices do not exist and the only documentation to which I have had access is what I was able to obtain at a sales booth and little else. If you add the closure of the Commercial Registry due to non-submission of accounts for years, it already gives you indications of how it has been managed."[120].
Auction
The property has its structure and enclosures finished&action=edit&redlink=1 "Enclosure (architecture) (not yet written)"), as well as the electrical and sanitation installations, but some details remain to be finished, such as the exterior development (gardens and pool), the interior partitions or the tiling on some floors.[17][80][122][123] As of May In 2016, the project was stopped due to lack of funds, and its floors were uninhabited.[17].
In April 2014, Sareb decided not to execute the mortgage that weighs on Intempo, even though it could contractually do so.[124] On January 31 of that year, the deadline that Olga Urbana had to repay the loan expired.[124] At that time, Sareb's initial intention was to complete the building,[124] and it invested 11 million euros for this purpose.[95] The developer presented a cost study. in mid-2014 to finish the last phase of urbanization, estimated at three million euros.[17] Already in April 2014, the sale of the entire building to an investment group was contemplated as the only solution to cancel the mortgage loan, without the purchase of individual homes by individuals being possible.[125] With respect to the buyer who disburses capital at the beginning of the project, it is not expected that they will be able to keep the apartment.[125].
Finally, on December 4, 2015, Sareb decided that the building was going to be put up for public auction without a starting price.[104][126] The decision to sell it in its entirety was justified, and not by individual units or homes, as the works were not completely finished.[126] In the order approving the plan proposed by the bankruptcy administration, the possibility of giving payment for the building to creditors was contemplated. called "privileged" in the case of lack of offers or when these are lower than the amount owed to said creditor.[127][128] The interested parties had to advance 1% of the value of the property through a deposit or bank guarantee. One month after the approval of the plan, on January 4, the deadline for submitting proposals of three months, extendable to another three, began.[103] In the event of receiving offers for an amount less than the privilege, a period of ten business days will be granted to creditors with special privilege - Sareb, mainly - to improve the offer; and if no offers are received, a period of ten business days will also be granted to the privileged creditors to allocate the property in payment of the debt.[126].
Its market value amounts to approximately 92 million euros,[129] and the apartments in the building have a price that, according to an appraisal carried out by UVE Valuations, would range between 190,990.8 euros and 1.6 million.[121] An independent expert study by APUC Activos concluded that the Intempo could hardly be sold for more than 60 million euros, also taking into consideration that the completion costs of the skyscraper They are around five million euros.[130][131].
Bankruptcy incident, temporary suspension of the award, withdrawal and payment in payment
In August 2016, a partner of Olga Urbana, Isidro Boronat, the company that built the skyscraper structure, Kono Structures SL, and the architect's company that designed it, Pérez Guerras Ingenieros y Arquitectos, filed a bankruptcy case so that Sareb's debt would be considered subordinate.[134] The plaintiffs wanted the bad bank to be the last to collect and not be able to exercise its right of first refusal in the bid for the building, understanding that it had de facto exercised the administration of Olga Urbana SL.[134] On February 17, 2017, the order of the Commercial Judge of Alicante was made public, which dismissed the lawsuit filed by small creditors of the building's promoter (Kono Structures, Pérez Guerras among others), agreeing with Sareb, considering that it never acted as administrator of the company Olga. Urbana.[135] Therefore, its bankruptcy credit will continue to have the category of privileged, unless the plaintiffs decide to appeal the ruling.[136] Until the bankruptcy procedure was completed, which kept the property adjudication process on hold, Sareb was not going to acquire the property.[137][138].
On November 6, 2017, the acquisition by Strategic Value Partners (SVP Global) of the mortgage loan on the property for 60 million euros was announced.[139] Sareb thus obtained capital gains of around 10 million euros.[140] On November 7, the Alicante Provincial Court (which was due to rule on November 30) announced that the creditors had presented a document withdrawing the appeal and the Sareb another written agreement terminating the proceedings and the filing of the case.[141].
In April 2018, SVP Global officially obtained ownership of the property through a dation in payment, paying more than 60 million euros.[8] The exact amount has not been made public.[8] An investment of around five million was reported to complete the work within an expected period of 12 months. It was expected that its commercialization would begin in Spain and abroad around June 2018.[7][8].
In June 2018, the Olga Urbana promoter was dissolved after the completion of the liquidation phase.[142] The bankruptcy was declared guilty and the heirs of José Ignacio de la Serna were sentenced to pay 17.6 million euros to Olga Urbana's creditors. However, De la Serna's heir renounced the inheritance.[143].
Second attempt: design changes
In December 2018, SVP hired the services of the Catalan developer Uniq Residential, which will be in charge of its completion and marketing, as well as the architect Rafael Robleado, who will redesign the unfinished areas to make them more attractive and facilitate their sale.[144].
In June 2019, the media reported on the “resurrection” of the Intempo and more details of the design changes were known. Regarding the interior of the apartments, partitions have been removed and the doors replaced with sliding doors to gain space and light. The vast majority of one-bedroom homes disappeared to make way for two-bedroom apartments. The last two floors are intended for common leisure areas accessible by all owners such as a gym, swimming pool, hydromassage bath, taking advantage of the roof as a chill out area. variable slope) and a children's area. The 600 m² entrance hall has a design based on contemporary art deco.[47] The inverted cone is now called a diamond.[30][147].
The building obtained the construction license in July 2019.[148] The works began in the fourth quarter of 2019[148] and ended in July 2021 with an estimated initial deadline of the end of 2020, a delay mainly attributable to the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain.[10] Dragados was the company in charge of resuming construction.[149] On June 22, In 2021, the Spanish flag was placed for the second time, this time to commemorate the completion of the works.[150] The homes have been marketed for amounts ranging from 250,000 euros for the apartments on the ground floors of the towers to 1.5 million euros for the largest apartments located in the cone or diamond.[30].