Mellado Madrid Coliving, featured in “Toc toc, se puede” TeleMadrid

A new TeleMadrid TV show that focuses on different housing alternatives came to visit our Mellado Madrid Coliving, to discover how coliving works.

Óscar, one of our residents, guided them through the coliving building, showing them his studio and all common areas.

 

‘Coliving’, a new way of living in Madrid

A private room, a ready-built community & dozens of shared spaces? At first it might seem like what you get with a hotel, but it is far from that. Here the people who rent their little corner of privacy are part of a community or ‘family’ who share common areas and even fridges. It’s called ‘coliving’, and it’s not just a new way of living, but a whole philosophy of life.

Óscar and his girlfriend Lidia met at the Mellado Madrid Coliving, after both deciding to try out this new lifestyle, and they now share a larger studio together.

The ‘coliving’ is a new housing rental offer that strongly appeals to young professionals aged 26 and older, who do not mind sharing a kitchen and television with other tenants. They have their own private place in the form of a studio with an en-suite bathroom, and the rest of the building holds different common areas that encourages everyone to coexist harmoniously. Organization, respect and tolerance are necessary. 

Speaking to TeleMadrid, Ósacar explains that “We’ve not really had problems when it comes to watching TV. There are many common spaces available and it is just a matter of organizing amongst ourselves and reaching an agreement”. To avoid conflicts in the kitchen, which is shared between four studios, each drawer and shelf is assigned to a tenant. “If someone likes coffee and brings a coffee machine, it is shared with whoever needs it, if the owner agrees of course.” Continues Óscar. Although cleaning is included in the rent, next to the dining room table we find a large blackboard displaying different tasks and those assigned to each one (water the plants, cleaning the common spaces etc.). 

A ‘new age’ community

Óscar is from Barcelona, but had been living outside of Spain. When he arrived in Madrid he wanted to try this new lifestyle and described his first sentiments as those of surprise.

The ‘coliving‘ provides accommodation with a private bathroom. The rest of the house is shared. It costs between 750 and 1,200 euros per month, including utilities, wifi, maintenance, cleaning and a fully equipped kitchen. Residents all have access to a gym, fitness studio, a movies room and three terraces, one of which has an urban garden, with the main common space offering a large table where the whole community can come together. The building is located in Chamberí and has 74 studios in total, some of them doubles. “This is a way of life. If you want to interact with others, you can, but if you don’t, just don’t go to the common areas as often.” So far though, it seems that everyone has hit it off very well. “Every two weeks we hold a community meeting to talk about any issues we’re having, and follow it up with a delicious community dinner “.

Advantages and disadvantages of ‘coliving’

Advantages of ‘coliving’

• Everything is included in the rent (utilities, cleaning, maintenance, Wifi & even Netflix)
• You just need to bring your clothes, the rest is provided by Urban Campus.
• Complete cleaning in common areas every week and in private areas every month.
• Opportunity to meet new people.
• The gym is included in the price.

Disadvantages of ‘coliving’

• Loss of some privacy by sharing so many common areas.
• Possibility of disputes derived from living with so many people.

The building has about 300 square meters of common areas. The tenants are between 26 and 40 years old and are professionals. The ‘coliving’  does not admit students. Residents can bring guests but they cannot stay more than seven nights in a row.

Urban Campus set to expand in Madrid with 300 new beds in 2021

The French Coliving operator plans to open up three spaces in the Spanish capital within the next year and establish themselves in cities such as Valencia and Málaga.

EjePrime spoke to the CEO of the company, John Van Oost, about Urban Campus’s plans to expand in Madrid. The company will open up three new spaces next year, adding 300 beds to its Madrid portfolio.

Urban Campus seeks to settle in secondary cities such as Valencia or Malaga

In addition to expanding its presence in Madrid, where it already has two coliving spaces, the company plans to expand throughout Spain, and open up two new coliving spaces in Valencia and Malaga next year. 

The French company has an expansion plan to develop coliving spaces in Spain that will add around 2,000 beds to its portfolio. The CEO has ensured that they have institutional investors who are showing significant interest in the Spanish market. 

Before the outbreak of the pandemic in March, the two centers in Madrid registered an occupancy of 98.5%, but in June only 50% of the units were occupied. “Many of our tenants were from Latin America, the United States, Canada, or other European Union states. A lot of them returned home during the first wave,” explains the CEO.

Currently, the occupancy of its spaces is 98.5%

During the summer the occupancy reached 60%. By September, occupancy was again at nearly full capacity, with 98% of units rented. “During confinement, we organized many activities through social media networks“ Van Oost continued, who himself passed the first wave in one of the centers in Madrid. 

The company also incorporates co-working spaces within its coliving centers, “we already believed it was necessary before, but Covid-19 has shown the need to have a functional workspace at home” adds the CEO. 

Currently, the company has two flexible coworking spaces in Madrid. Urban Campus is committed to including these types of spaces in future coliving projects that are large enough to accommodate a dedicated coworking space. However, for the moment, it does not foresee opening new, and exclusively, coworking spaces in Spain.

You can find the original article “Urban Campus set to expand in Madrid with 300 new beds in 2021” in Spanish, here.

Urban Campus leading Coliving in Spain

Madrid is the European city with the fewest operative beds in coliving spaces behind London, Amsterdam, Berlin, Milan, and Vienna, according to the study “Europe Co-Living: Key Trends and Key” by CBRE.

Urban Campus is the company with more operative beds and we intend to manage more than 2,500 residential units in the region by 2023 on behalf of leading institutional investors.

Companies, such as The Student Hotel, DoveVivo S.p.A., and Homiii, are other players, in this sector in Spain, regardless of the obstacles found in the Spanish country, according to Ejeprime.

Read the Full article “Urban Campus is leading the Coliving sector in Spain, according to CBRE and Ejeprime” here

OK Diario has named Urban Campus as one of the Coliving Key Players in Spain. Read the whole article in Spanish here, or keep reading the translation in English below.

Urban Campus, Inédit and Projects share the ‘coliving’ market in Madrid and Barcelona

2020 will be a year of growth for ‘coliving’, a type of accommodation that consists of renting a private area (studio) in a property that also enables access to shared spaces and additional services.

Although the current offer is still very small in Spain, experts predict that ‘coliving’ will soon become the future of the real estate sector. Coliving will grow thanks to the high profitability offered to the owner – between 15% and 20% – and demographic trends.

The three companies that dominate this market in Madrid and Barcelona are Urban Campus, Inédit and Projets.

The French company Urban Campus was one of the first to land in the Spanish market. It has 120 single beds spread over two buildings in Madrid. They also design and operate two coworking spaces and a Foodlab (coworking space for gastronomic entrepreneurship with professional kitchen) in Spain’s capital.

The other big market operator is Inèdit, with 21 flats in Barcelona, ​​a total of 113 rooms. (113 individual places). The Spanish company expects that in 2021 80% of companies dedicated to the sector will have an average of 250 beds. It also predicts that these types of properties will grow up to 40% by the middle of next year. Why is coliving becoming so popular? According to Inèdit, it’s due to the high profitability that it offers to investors and due to the increase of young professionals that move to Spain’s biggest cities every year.

Coliving spaces are mainly aimed at young professionals who want to live in a community, share experiences and who, generally, look to stay for periods that do not exceed 12 months. The average price of this type of accommodation is 900 euros per month.

Projets is one of the best-known operators in Europe. They operate in cities where the concept of ‘coliving’ is already well established, like Amsterdam or London. The German company has been operating in Madrid since April 2019 and has 25 rooms located in the district of Tetuan. The company expects to add 1,000 new homes throughout the world in 2020.

Lack of solid legal framework

However one of the problems faced by this new business model, that’s affecting its development rate, is legislation. There is no specific coliving planning regulation: «Hotel or tourist apartment regulations do not adapt to this product. The absence of a solid legal framework causes a delay in its development, despite the enormous interest that has aroused both among users and investors” according to real estate consultant Savills Newman. The consultant believes that the new business model will also be another attraction factor to capture and retain talent in the labor market.

Elix VRS signs an agreement with Urban Campus

Eje Prime has written about ELIX VRS’s acquisition of 2 coliving residences managed by Urban Campus.

This acquisition demonstrates the attractiveness of Urban Campus to institutional investors, which is a pillar of our development in Spain and elsewhere in Europe.

You can read the whole article in Spanish here or keep reading in English.

Elix VRS joins forces with Urban Campus to enter the ‘coliving’ market.

The latest acquisitions made by the SIIC in Madrid, who is managed by the investment funds KKR and Altamar, will be operated by Urban Campus, a company specialising in the management of shared residential spaces.

Both companies will collaborate on the management of two properties purchased by the SIIC. The first, announced on January 9, includes two buildings located around Plaza de España in the capital, which Elix VRS acquired for 5.6 million euros and 5.2 million euros respectively. Both properties have undergone an extensive refurbishment, and have a common area of ​​3,184 square meters, in addition to commercial and parking spaces. The operation was financed with the company’s own resources, according to a statement sent to the Alternative Stock Market (MAB).

“Urban Campus was already operating the properties purchased by the SIIC.”

On January 16, the SIIC announced the purchase of another property for 12.4 million euros. The asset is located on Mellado Street, and was the first coliving residential center opened and operated by Urban Campus, in Spain. The building has a built area of ​​3,360 square meters and its acquisition was financed through the company’s own funds and a loan, with a real estate guarantee of 7.4 million euros. It also has four commercial premises. So far Urban Campus has 110 beds available in two coliving spaces which in total comprehend more than 5,000 square meters. In addition, it also operates two coworking spaces and a foodlab in the Spanish capital.

“Urban Campus expects to invest up to 200 million euros in the Spanish market by 2025.”

As previously shared by Eje Prime, the French company plans to operate investments between 150 million and 200 million euros in the next five years. The company plans to open ten new centers in the main cities of Spain that would add some 2,000 beds.

Urban Campus interview at “Mundo Emprende” show from esRadio

Our Operations Manager and Marketing Manager, Ana Martínez de Lizarrondo and Marta Torres Vilas, were interviewed on the “Mundo Emprende” show, on esRadio.

Mundo Emprende is a Spanish Radioshow that aims to promote and spread culture and entrepreneurship in Spain, by sharing tips, ideas, and guidelines, that every entrepreneur should know. They also interview key players of the entrepreneurial scene in Spain, and so Ana and Marta were invited to share the Urban Campus story, explaining what we do and our mission to revolutionize how people live and interact in cities through our coliving spaces.

Curios on how it went? Watch the full Urban Campus interview at “Mundo Emprende” esRadio!

 

Televisión Española, the Spanish national TV, came to visit our Mellado Madrid coliving space.

They interviewed two of our residents, and they got to discovered what coliving means, what our community is like and how it is to live at Urban Campus!

Watch Urban Campus residents on Televisión Española below!

Want to learn more about our residents? Check out our Community Stories!

Maxime Depreux is joining Urban Campus, a leading operator of co-living residences in Europe, founded in 2016 by John van Oost and Maxime Armand, to support the company’s ambitious growth plans.

Maxime will be joining Urban Campus after 10 years at Hammerson, where he is Chief Operating Officer – Premium Outlets, in charge of the European portfolio of outlets of the Hammerson group.

Maxime will be bringing his experience in Business Development to Urban Campus in order to extend their operations across Europe, and launch institutional investment vehicles dedicated to opportunities in the contemporary managed-residential space in which the company operates.

“I am elated about the opportunity to join the talented and passionate Urban Campus team. Urban Campus has a strong vision & strategy organised around the 3 pillars of real estate, community, content and technology; and I’m looking forward to helping the company transform the residential real estate industry.” says Maxime Depreux, HEC Paris alumni.

Urban Campus successfully developed and currently operates 5 spaces in Madrid with 110 rooms and 200 workstations, will open 30 residences in Europe within five years, and considers France as one of the key markets for its development, with the scheduled opening of three residences in Paris, Pantin and Ivry in the next months.

  

 

Urban Campus was founded by John van Oost and Maxime Armand following the observation of the evolution of urban lifestyles and the lack of reactivity of the real estate market in regards of these changes.

In Paris, for example, 70% of households are composed by a single person or a couple without children, which creates new needs in terms of housing and lifestyle, including the search for places suitable for living in a community, to avoid loneliness.

Urban Campus residences, whose surface varies between 4,000 and 8,000 m², are designed based on the findings gathered through economic and sociological studies and observations, and offer living spaces on which the model is based on four fundamental elements:

 

• All-inclusive service for residents
• A rich community life animated by community developers, which act as facilitators within each residence
• A warm and intimate decor
• Internally developed technological solutions

Urban Campus is based on a solid model and relies on partners who have an existing housing stock and who consider co-living as a promising asset class. Urban Campus is not afraid to set up in development urban areas or in buildings that were originally non-residential; the essential criteria is the proximity of commercial area and public transportation.

The Urban Campus model is based on new residential needs clearly identified in urban areas:

 

• A flexible and easy to access system
• A true community identity within the residence
• A balanced lifestyle
• Personal and professional development

The great success of Urban Campus residences in Madrid, with 95% of residents recommending the concept to their friends and 35% extending their stay, is proof about Urban Campus having all the assets in hand to consolidate its presence in the residential real estate segment.

“With our vibrant campuses in Madrid and a robust pipeline of projects with leading real estate investors, we have demonstrated the success of our business model. Maxime will help Urban Campus to develop faster and enter new markets,” says John van Oost, Co-founder and CEO at Urban Campus.

Urban Campus in a nutshell

Founded in 2016 by John van Oost and Maxime Armand, Urban Campus redefines the rules of residential housing in major European cities by offering co-living, co-working and community spaces adapted to new lifestyles.

About John van Oost – Co-founder & CEO
John van Oost posses 30 years experience in real estate & venture capital.

He has been the founder and managing partner of:

 

 

• Fluxus Ventures, a VC firm headquartered in Palo Alto, that backs proptech startups.
• Captiva Capital Management that raised more than €3.8B of equity capital from global institutional investors to incubate and fund 9 real estate platforms in 4 European countries and Singapore. These platforms acquired and managed more than 1,800 properties worth in excess of €13.2B.
• Alstria Office AG, the largest German REIT with 116 office buildings and a market cap of €2.6B.

BS in Economics and MBA from KU Leuven. MS in Material Sciences & Engineering from Stanford University

About Maxime Armand Co-founder & COO
Maxime Armand holds a Master in IT engineering from Mines-Télécom Institute and a Master in urban services engineering from Sciences-Po.

He has spent most of his career developing digital products in companies such as:

 

 

• Fabernovel as Lead Project Managerl, leading digital innovation company with 400 employees in 5 countries. Designing new digital product and services for CAC 40 companies. Among other projects, Maxime developed a fully automated “on-demand” coworking offer for Alstria Office REIT, prototyped connected objects for L’Oreal,…
• System engineer for Ecomouv, geotracking solution for the French good vehicles transit toll, the HGV eco-tax.

 

Press Release in French

Press Release”Maxime Depreux is joining Urban Campus” in Spanish

 

Onda Madrid wanted to know more about coliving, and explain this new concept to their audience, so they came to visit our Mellado Madrid coliving to discover how our members live, work and enjoy!

They interviewed one of our members Alejandro and discovered how it is to live at our Coliving.

Listen to the podcast here (After 1.23)

 

 

We were really excited about Telemadrid visiting our Urban Campus coliving spaces, to get a glance into our members experience and explain this new way of living to their audience in the weekend news.

Watch the entire TV report here