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News ReleasesPreply’s European headquarters move to B97 in Barcelona
Time to read3 min.
updated at12/18/2024
CategoryPressemitteilungen
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The US company Preply is moving its European headquarters to “B97” in Barcelona, where it will acquire three floors with a total office space of around 4,150 square metres. This was announced by Commerz Real, whose real estate fund hausInvest owns the office complex at Calle Badajoz 97. Preply is an online learning platform with over 50,000 language tutors from 180 countries, according to Preply. The rental partner was Conren Tramway. Commerz Real had acquired the property from the Spanish subsidiary of international office real estate investor Conren Land and project developer of “B97” at the beginning of 2020.
The twelve-storey building with a total of around 13,800 square metres of rental space is located in the so-called “22@ District”, a former industrial area that has been redesigned and upgraded into a leading innovation and technology centre since 2000. With public infrastructure measures worth around 180 million euros, the “22@” is one of the most ambitious projects of its kind in Europe. In addition to many start-ups, companies such as Amazon, Facebook, T-Systems and Oracle have also established themselves here. According to the City of Barcelona, the number of highly qualified employees in the technology sector grew by 25 percent in the Catalonia region alone in 2023. In addition, the number of so-called tech hubs, i.e. the technology-heavy branch offices of large companies, has quadrupled in the past seven years to 140 - the majority of which are in the “22@”. Ten universities opened new locations in the district, and a total of nine centres for research and development were created. According to the Startup-Blink analysis institute, Barcelona is one of the five most attractive cities for start-ups in the European Union.
This dynamic of the entire site was already tangible when the property was acquired. The current rental success now confirms us.
In addition to Preply, other companies from the technology industry are tenants, according to Seat Code, the Centre of Digital Excellence of the Volkswagen Group, and Webfleet, provider of a cloud solution for the location of company vehicles and fleet management.
In addition to “B97”, Commerz Real’s Spanish portfolio also includes the adjacent A160 office building, also acquired by Conren Tramway in 2020 and completed in 2022, as well as the “Pallars” student housing complex, also located in the “22@ District”. The latter was acquired by the asset manager in 2021 for the Commerz Real Institutional Smart Living Europe Fund.
Commerz Real AG is the asset manager of the Commerzbank Group and has 50 years of international market experience. The company combines extensive know-how in asset management with broad structuring expertise and uses this expertise to develop tangible asset-oriented fund products and individual investment solutions in the real estate and infrastructure sectors. As a leasing service provider of Commerzbank, Commerz Real Mobilienleasing also offers needs-based leasing concepts.
Since 2025, the Commerzbank Group’s asset management holdings have been bundled with Commerz Real AG. In addition to Commerz Real’s brands and products, these include the Aquila Capital investment company with a focus on sustainable tangible asset investments in the area of energy infrastructure and Yellowfin as a boutique for liquid investment strategies. Under the umbrella of Commerz Real AG, a total of around 1,000 employees manage assets of around EUR 55 billion at around 20 locations.
A Commerzbank Group company