Planifica Madrid, the Madrid public company that in April made the surprising and opaque purchase of a luxury penthouse in Chamberí to use it as a temporary office for Isabel Díaz Ayuso, had at that time a vacant office of similar size. It is a ground floor premises of 478 square meters, only seven meters smaller than the 485 of the penthouse, and is located in a very busy area, next to Plaza de Castilla, at the gateway to the future financial city of Madrid Nuevo Norte.
Since the penthouse crisis broke out, a little over a month ago, little attention has been paid to the existence of this vacant property, whose availability in Planifica Madrid’s portfolio reinforces doubts about the suitability of the purchase of a luxury home for 6.3 million euros for the declared purpose by Ayuso and her team. When EL PAÍS discovered that purchase in July, which had been kept hidden, the Community responded that the penthouse was going to be Ayuso’s office “and a minimal team” during some works at the presidency headquarters, in Sol, which had not even been announced. This newspaper asked a spokesperson from the Presidency area, which controls this company, on Monday afternoon why this own premises was not chosen, instead of the penthouse, for the president to use temporarily, but by the time of publication of this article there had been no response.
The office is one of the 12 buildings or premises available to Planifica Madrid (13 if the penthouse is now included, the only residence in its ownership). Among them are historic buildings used by six ministries; the former house of the poet Vicente Aleixandre, recently purchased to dedicate it to the House of Poetry; or a business center located in Fuenlabrada.
This available office is located on a pedestrian street right in front of the courts of Plaza de Castilla, at Pedro Moreno 3, and is tightly closed. A gray fence covers the entire exterior. Looking through that fence, next to the door of the premises, a Obras de Madrid sign can be seen, the name Planifica Madrid had until 2022. The office has seven offices, three bathrooms, and common areas, according to the plans and the description given by the company on its official website.
A video of just over a minute informs that it is “for sale or rent” and that it will be “available soon.” The images show the surroundings of the Castellana and its skyscrapers and some photos of the interior, which seems ready to be used as a workspace. A reception is seen presided over by a counter behind which a relief map of the Madrid region shines on the wall or some red armchairs next to wooden desks.
Planifica Madrid reports on its website that the address of the premises is Pedro Moreno 3, but it also places it at another address, Poeta Joan Maragall 61, which corresponds to an alternative entrance to the same office, but on that other street.
For sale
The premises on Pedro Moreno street was formerly the headquarters of an autonomous office intended to receive citizens who requested aid for building rehabilitation, but it has been closed for years.
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The building was constructed in 1989 and above the premises there are some residences that housed tenants of the Housing Institute, Ivima, the former name of the Social Housing Agency, the autonomous body intended for residences for people with limited resources. A neighbor says she has seen over the years how the office below her houses has been used as a warehouse. Suddenly, last November and December they saw unusual movement. “We asked and they told us that it had been rented by an events company,” says this woman. “One day we saw some Three Wise Men in costume.”
Planifica Madrid reported in its 2024 annual accounts that it was going to put this office, which was vacant, up for sale. The property still appears on the company’s website and the Property Registry shows that the owner is still the Community of Madrid, although it is in the name of another department, the Housing Institute, Ivima, the former name of the Social Housing Agency.
The Community assures that sufficient explanations have been given about the purchase of the penthouse, but the truth is that Planifica Madrid hid the acquisition until EL PAÍS revealed it on July 29 and still has not published the file that must accompany every public contract, where the most basic details should appear. The official version is that the penthouse was acquired for temporary use by Ayuso or some other senior official during some works in Sol, but this explanation has aroused suspicions because urban planning regulations prevent such types of residences from being used as offices. The obscurity surrounding the operation has fueled distrust towards the Executive’s account under Ayuso.
The way the Community got rid of the penthouse as soon as this newspaper uncovered the operation has not helped either. Only 33 hours later, the spokesperson of the regional government announced that they would put it up for sale to raise funds for the reconstruction of areas affected by fires in the west of the region.
The opposition suspects that the penthouse was going to be announced at some point as the new official residence of the Madrid presidents, a hypothesis based on the fact that Ayuso had suggested two years ago the need for such a residence. To counter these criticisms, Ayuso shared with the media outlet OkDiario an email, made public this Tuesday, in which a real estate agency attached the rental contract of the apartment she recently moved into, in Puerta del Hierro. The photo of the document shows the sending date as July 22.
The matter will return to the forefront this Thursday and Friday when activity resumes in the regional parliament with the traditional State of the Region Debate. It will be the first time the opposition faces the president since this controversy broke out and it is expected that the penthouse will take up much of the spotlight, although it remains to be seen if the Community will clear up doubts about the operation. Perhaps for that, one will have to wait until the following Thursday, September 17, when the expected appearance of the government spokesperson and councilor responsible for Planifica Madrid, Miguel Ángel García Martín, will take place in that same forum.
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