BWRE looks south of Madrid after completing the Madlyn project in Puerta del Ángel.

• The real estate fund manager, which has invested 45 million euros in the purchase and rehabilitation of 35 properties and commercial premises in Puerta del Ángel, plans to launch the final units of the project by the end of this year.

From Madlyn to the sky. Real estate investment fund manager BWRE is finalizing the last works in Madlyn, its rental residential project in Puerta del Ángel, where it expects to deliver the final units by the end of the year. At the same time, the company is eyeing the south of Madrid to replicate a similar model to Madlyn,according to Wynn Williamson, CEO of BWRE, in an interview with EjePrime.

Madlyn was born in 2015 with the aim of creating an offer of affordable rental housing in the centre of Madrid. After carrying out different projects in Lavapiés and Chueca, BWRE set its sights on Puerta del Ángel, where it saw growth potential due to its good connectivity and a supply of unused properties that could constitute an attractive portfolio to attract stable tenants.

Through various vehicles involving institutional investors, the company has invested 45 million euros in the purchase of 35 residential buildings, 25 of which were to be refurbished and the other ten newly built. In total, the Madlyn project adds up to 200 rental units, several commercial premises, coworking spaces, a boutique hotel, and a coliving building (which will open its doors in September), in addition to a multipurpose space dedicated to art, which will be operational by the end of the year.

“Within a period of nine months, we acquired all the properties, most of which came from inheritances or were abandoned buildings,” details Williamson, explaining that they were inspired by the Williamsburg neighbourhood in Brooklyn, New York, which in recent years has attracted a young audience due to its more affordable rents compared to the skyrocketing rents in Manhattan and has a great cultural and leisure offer.

Now that Madlyn is reaching the final stretch, BWRE is already scouting the Madrid market to replicate, albeit with differences, the Puerta del Ángel project. The fund manager is focusing on the southern side of the Manzanares River, with areas like Villaverde in sight.

“We are interested in those areas where a gradual transformation process can be applied, with good metro connections, a calm and safe neighbourhood, and a supply of larger and more scattered buildings, with greater capacity for rehabilitation,” says BWRE’s CEO.

In addition to Madrid, the fund manager is also looking at other locations in Spain where a similar project to Madlyn could be developed, and it identifies Valencia, Malaga, and Bilbao as the three enclaves that arouse the most interest. In the Valencian capital, Williamson points to the area adjacent to Malvarrosa Beach as an area where BWRE can implement the same strategy it has already developed in Madrid.