The Madrid City Council has no request for a change of use for the luxury penthouse of 485 square meters that the Community of Madrid bought three months ago in Chamberí to allocate it, according to the initial version, to “offices,” and for “temporary meetings” as said by the regional president, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, after EL PAÍS uncovered the investment. “To date, there is no type of request that has been submitted to this City Council for any modification of the current use of that property […] We are absolutely convinced that the Community of Madrid knows the permitted uses in each of the spaces of the facilities,” responded the deputy mayor, Inma Sanz (PP), to journalists’ questions at the press conference following the Government Board meeting.
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Sanz pointed out that “they do not know exactly what the urban planning conditions of that possible place [for the penthouse] are” and considers that “it is absolutely premature to issue any kind of information.” “There is no request, no modification that has been requested, no change of use beyond the information that may have come out in the media. No license requested at this time,” she insisted in response to several questions. In any case, the deputy mayor clarified, the city council “complies with the regulations and enforces them.” And she concluded: “We are talking about hypotheses or future possibilities that, at this moment, have not been presented to the Madrid City Council.”
The municipal urban planning regulations prevent allocating the penthouse to be used entirely as an office, according to the capital’s urban plan. Specifically, the prohibition appears in the 1997 General Urban Development Plan of the city of Madrid, which defines where one can live or work. Article 8.1.30 contains the rules for buildings like the one housing the penthouse purchased by the regional government: it is prohibited to establish an office or a public service use on the penthouse floor. Such uses would only be possible on the ground floor, lower than ground floor (semi-basement), and first floor.
Sanz referred to the explanations given by the Community of Madrid so far, which leave many questions: “They will continue explaining exactly what the objective or content of that building is. Absolutely convinced that they know the municipal regulations.”
The Community would only have one way to overcome the obstacle. It would be to preserve the residential use and allocate only part of the property to a home professional office, a category contemplated in the regulations.
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From “office” to “temporary meetings”
The first official version from Community sources to EL PAÍS’s questions was that the penthouse would be used as offices. Ayuso specified this Wednesday that they planned to use the property as an “office” for “a minimal team” while works are carried out at the Community’s central headquarters, in Puerta del Sol. Later, sources very close to the president acknowledged that the decision to dedicate it to office use “is not one hundred percent made.” And Ayuso said at her press conference that the luxurious penthouse would be for “temporarily holding meetings.” “Looking for a place where institutional meetings can be temporarily held seems appropriate to me,” she responded to the media. Therefore, the final use is not clear. The president firmly denied that it was for her: “It is not my house, it is not my residence. They have not bought anything for Ayuso. I will not have an official residence like so many ministers or presidents of other autonomous communities.”
At that same press conference, before the media and with the councilors listening in the front row, Ayuso left open the possibility of moving her office to another ministry: “Get ready, councilor, because I don’t know if I will stay in the Presidency Ministry or the Transport Ministry, which is very large, and it is the councilor who will go there (to the penthouse), I don’t know.”
The acquisition was formalized on April 14, and three and a half months later, the Community of Madrid had not reported on it until this newspaper uncovered it. The operation was also not planned in the 2026 Budgets of Planifica Madrid, the public company that carried it out and is chaired by the Presidency councilor, Miguel Ángel García Martín. In the documents accompanying the Community’s public accounts, Planifica Madrid detailed its objectives, including the sale of two of the dozen buildings it owns. There is no mention of the intention to acquire any new ones. Nor was any credit increase subsequently agreed to face this unplanned purchase.
At Ayuso’s appearance, EL PAÍS explicitly asked her about the cost of the operation. The president did not answer. According to the Notary portal, the average price per square meter in that area is 9,414 euros, which would amount to a total of 4.5 million euros. But, according to real estate market operators, a premium should be added to that amount for the terrace, which has very unusual dimensions: 199 square meters.
