It has been 42 years since Madrid inaugurated its first shopping center and now it is preparing to host what will be the largest to date: Valdebebas Shopping, located near strategic locations such as the IFEMA fairgrounds, the Isabel Zendal Hospital and Terminal 4 of the Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport.
Behind this future macro-complex are the developer General de Galerías Comerciales, owned by the tycoon Tomás Olivo, and the architectural firm Chapman Taylor, which has been in charge of its design.
Madrid Secreto has tried to contact both of them to know the details of the project first hand, without success: the studio has referred us to the developer, whose response has been that “they are not authorized” to provide such information.
Information that, on the other hand, belongs to a project that is not definitive: it has not yet been validated by the Madrid City Council through a Special Plan -although there have been several meetings, as Diego Casado reports in this article in Somos Madrid-. Among the attendees was María Dolores de Cospedal, former leader of the PP, as the developer’s lawyer.
So, what is known about Valdebebas Shopping?
The details about the Valdebebas Shopping project were made known last June by the X account @HilosValdebebas, which reports on the current affairs of the neighborhood.
It specifies data such as the built-up area it will have (362,000 square meters), the area dedicated to commercial activity (145,000 m²), the number of stores (260) or the number of parking spaces (5,700, all of them in the basement).
According to this information, an investment of between 450 and 500 million euros would be allocated to this new large shopping center, which is expected to generate up to 9,500 direct and indirect jobs.
The future shopping center will be divided into two buildings (north and south), separated by the Plaza de la Centralidad IV. The distribution by floors would be as follows:
- First floor. Stores and some small cafeterias. There could be a supermarket in the north building.
- Second floor. The north building would be used entirely for hospitality and leisure. It is confirmed that there will be cinemas, and they will be Kinépolis (it is the only confirmed brand). “The rest remains to be seen,” notes the author of the thread.
In the comments of the publication there have been several users who, upon seeing the renderings of the project, have pointed out that it reminded them of Oasiz, the large shopping center in Torrejón de Ardoz -which, by the way, filed for bankruptcy last June-.
It will share some characteristics with the pioneering shopping center of La Vaguada, which in its latest refurbishment has had as one of its main elements large skylights, something that Valdebebas Shopping will also have.
When will Valdebebas Shopping be inaugurated?
As of today there is no clear opening date. When entering its website, only a brief message appears on the screen: “The website is under construction. Thank you for your patience”.
On the ground @HilosValdebebas pointed out in a post a couple of days ago that although Tomás Olivo has made moves recently -after learning that it has acquired the largest development of a shopping center in Spain, as reported by El Confidencial-, in the Madrid neighborhood “the works have not yet started…“.
The new architecture of shopping centers
The creator of the concept of pormishuevismo, Erik Harley, points out what he considers to be a widespread trend in the construction of new shopping centers today: he defines it as “neutral-white” and characterizes it because “the excess is no longer volumetric, but developer: lots of noise, lots of renderings, lots of promises… and little real sustainability, economic or environmental”.