Spanish real estate firm Renta Corporación is to build a data center in Barcelona, Spain.

The company has acquired a 16,500 sqm (177,600 sq ft) parcel of land in Hospitalet de Llobregat on which it plans to build a data center and three industrial warehouses.

Renta will invest €14 million ($16.6m) developing the site, previously BASF and STAHL chemical plants, following the demolition of the existing buildings on the site.

The company will develop a 10,000 sq m (108,000 sq ft) data center on the land, while the three industrial warehouses will have a total combined area of 8,500 sq m (86,000 sq ft) above ground and 2,500 sq m (27,000 sq ft) below.

“The pandemic has put the focus of real estate investment in logistics and has also accelerated the digitization of our economy. This operation allows us to diversify our real estate portfolio and consolidate our commitment to a very attractive market such as logistics, which shows great growth potential in the future,” said Toni Guarner, director of Real Estate Promotion at Renta Corporación.

Prior to the Covid-19, Renta focused its investments on the logistics and hotel sectors, but has expanded into data centers for the first time.

“The asset is located in an excellent location at a logistical level, which allows an agile road and rail connection of the enclave with the rest of Spain and Europe, to which is added the proximity of the Port and the Barcelona Airport. In recent years,” adds Renta’s director of Tertiary Assets of Renta Corporación, Luis Guardia. “The Catalan capital has become an attractive market for logistics land due to the great demand, limited supply, and high occupancy figures.”

"The operation reaffirms the increasingly solid interest in the industrial and logistics segment," says David Oliva, director of logistics and industrial at CBRE in Barcelona, which helped advise on the deal.

A version of this story appeared on our Spanish edition.