Riu Hotels & Resorts has agreed to purchase and renovate the Edificio España in Madrid from Baraka Group. The hotel chain will rebrand the hotel as the Riu Plaza, the first of the brand in Spain.
The Baraka Group originally purchased the building from Wanda. Riu has shown immense interest in this new project. "It had always been part of our strategic plan to open a Riu Plaza hotel in Spain, and this opportunity in Madrid, in such an unbeatable location and emblematic building, surpasses all expectations. After several months, the operation progressed to the point where Riu could buy the building outright, an opportunity that, after examining it in depth, we haven’t wanted to pass up," Carmen and Luis Riu, CEOs of Riu Hotels, said in a statement.
As was announced at the beginning of the year, the future 4-star Riu Plaza hotel will occupy 24 of Edificio España’s 27 floors, with 650 rooms. The rest will be given over to retail. The Baraka Group's chairman Trinitario Casanova will manage the approximately 161,000 square foot commercial area, which will include department stores. The hotel will also contain about 19,400 square feet of space for events, two restaurants, a rooftop swimming pool next to the Sky Bar and an additional 9,600+ square feet of space for events.
Riu currently has six Riu Plaza hotels around the world. The first opened in Panama City in 2010. Since then, the company has opened the Riu Plaza Guadalajara in Mexico; the Riu Plaza Miami Beach and Riu Plaza New York Times Square; the Riu Plaza Berlin; and more recently, the Riu Plaza The Gresham Dublin.