Brandon Donnelly
Daily insights for city builders. Published since 2013 by Toronto-based real estate developer Brandon Donnelly.
Brandon Donnelly
Daily insights for city builders. Published since 2013 by Toronto-based real estate developer Brandon Donnelly.
I'm not actually sure what the official name is for this kind of bag. Is it a shopping cart, shopping trolley or something else? The answer likely depends on where you are. Whatever it is, the September issue of Monocle has a feature on Spanish shopping trolley maker Rolser.
And for it, they photographed a bunch of cool urbanites with their trolleys, and then asked them: What's in your Rolser? See above photo. Supposedly, or at least according to the company, about 63% of Spanish households have a Rolser in their house.
This is interesting. Because in my part of the world, the percentage would be low. In fact, there are stigmas around them. Many people associate grocery carts with elderly people and sometimes with people who can't afford a car. But that's the wrong way to think about this bag.
It's actually a built environment association. The correct framing is: Are you urban enough to be able to use one? Because they're very common throughout Europe. Here, for example, is Paris, where they're called a chariot de courses or a sac à roulettes.
All of this has me thinking two things. One, our household is overdue for one. And two, this is an opportunity. These are utilitarian and often stigmatized objects that could very easily be reframed into a lifestyle design object for urban cities around the world. (Though, to be fair, the Rolser pictured above looks pretty good.)
The only prerequisite is a walkable urban environment. Maybe it's time that Globizen gets into the city roller business. Or maybe one of you can just run with this idea and then I can buy one.
Photo: Monocle
So this seems like a pretty cool strategy.
Amancio Ortega — who is the founder of the fashion brand Zara — is a ~59% owner of Inditex, which is the largest fashion group in the world and the parent company of Zara. This ownership stake sits in his investment vehicle Pontegadea and each year the dividends of Inditex result in many billions of euros being deposited into its accounts.
In 2022, it was ~€1.7 billion. In 2023, it was ~€2.2 billion. And this year, it is forecasted to exceed €3 billion for the first time. What Ortega has decided to do with these billions is diversify risk away from the fashion sector and preserve generational wealth through stable, income-generating real assets. In other words, the strategy is to go around the world, buy the coolest trophy assets, and build a wealth fortress.
For example, in 2022, Pontegadea acquired Royal Bank Plaza in Toronto for ~C$1.2 billion. This was one of the largest office building transactions in Canadian history and, as far as I can tell, it's the largest single-asset purchase made by the company to date.
This year alone, they've acquired an apartment building in Fort Lauderdale for €165 million, an office building in Barcelona for €250 million, and Hotel Banke in Paris for €97 million. This was their second acquisition in Paris this year, and hospitality seems to be a new push for the firm.
Having billions of euros show up every year to recycle into global real estate acquisitions is pretty neat in its own right. But I also think it's interesting to monitor where and what he's buying. Pontegadea is not trying to time the market or bet against short-term dislocations. They're methodically building a fortress of core assets in the world's top global cities.
Intuitively, we know what these core assets
Okay, so I haven't been (yet). But if you're an urbanist in search of a new city to check out, consider Pontevedra in northwestern Spain. Pontevedra is famous for its car-free city center. Starting in 1999, then-mayor Miguel Anxo Fernández Lores began making some radical changes to prioritize pedestrians and turnaround a city in decline. They'd still be considered radical today, so I can only imagine what they felt like back in the 90s.
The historic center of the city, which covers an area of about 300,000 m2 (or about 74 acres), was fully pedestrianized. The area surrounding it was also converted to a low-traffic zone, bringing the total size of the pedestrian-oriented area to more than 1.3 million m2 (or about 321 acres). To put this into perspective, High Park in Toronto is just under 400 acres.
The result is that vehicular traffic dropped by ~92% in the historic center and ~53% in the city as a whole. Today, walking accounts for over 65% of all trips and the average resident walks about 5 km per day (roughly equivalent to 6,000 to 7,500 steps). On top of this, over two-thirds of children now walk to school. And the city hasn't reported a single pedestrian death from cars in over a decade!
But how has the city performed economically since the change? Some 15,000 people have moved to the city since it became car-free and the total inventory of shops and restaurants has increased. It has also been reported that foot traffic went up (possibly by as much as 30%) and that retail vacancies dropped significantly. This is supported by research showing that well-designed pedestrianized areas do often drive higher retail sales.
Did you hear that Kensington Market?
I'm not actually sure what the official name is for this kind of bag. Is it a shopping cart, shopping trolley or something else? The answer likely depends on where you are. Whatever it is, the September issue of Monocle has a feature on Spanish shopping trolley maker Rolser.
And for it, they photographed a bunch of cool urbanites with their trolleys, and then asked them: What's in your Rolser? See above photo. Supposedly, or at least according to the company, about 63% of Spanish households have a Rolser in their house.
This is interesting. Because in my part of the world, the percentage would be low. In fact, there are stigmas around them. Many people associate grocery carts with elderly people and sometimes with people who can't afford a car. But that's the wrong way to think about this bag.
It's actually a built environment association. The correct framing is: Are you urban enough to be able to use one? Because they're very common throughout Europe. Here, for example, is Paris, where they're called a chariot de courses or a sac à roulettes.
All of this has me thinking two things. One, our household is overdue for one. And two, this is an opportunity. These are utilitarian and often stigmatized objects that could very easily be reframed into a lifestyle design object for urban cities around the world. (Though, to be fair, the Rolser pictured above looks pretty good.)
The only prerequisite is a walkable urban environment. Maybe it's time that Globizen gets into the city roller business. Or maybe one of you can just run with this idea and then I can buy one.
Photo: Monocle
So this seems like a pretty cool strategy.
Amancio Ortega — who is the founder of the fashion brand Zara — is a ~59% owner of Inditex, which is the largest fashion group in the world and the parent company of Zara. This ownership stake sits in his investment vehicle Pontegadea and each year the dividends of Inditex result in many billions of euros being deposited into its accounts.
In 2022, it was ~€1.7 billion. In 2023, it was ~€2.2 billion. And this year, it is forecasted to exceed €3 billion for the first time. What Ortega has decided to do with these billions is diversify risk away from the fashion sector and preserve generational wealth through stable, income-generating real assets. In other words, the strategy is to go around the world, buy the coolest trophy assets, and build a wealth fortress.
For example, in 2022, Pontegadea acquired Royal Bank Plaza in Toronto for ~C$1.2 billion. This was one of the largest office building transactions in Canadian history and, as far as I can tell, it's the largest single-asset purchase made by the company to date.
This year alone, they've acquired an apartment building in Fort Lauderdale for €165 million, an office building in Barcelona for €250 million, and Hotel Banke in Paris for €97 million. This was their second acquisition in Paris this year, and hospitality seems to be a new push for the firm.
Having billions of euros show up every year to recycle into global real estate acquisitions is pretty neat in its own right. But I also think it's interesting to monitor where and what he's buying. Pontegadea is not trying to time the market or bet against short-term dislocations. They're methodically building a fortress of core assets in the world's top global cities.
Intuitively, we know what these core assets
Okay, so I haven't been (yet). But if you're an urbanist in search of a new city to check out, consider Pontevedra in northwestern Spain. Pontevedra is famous for its car-free city center. Starting in 1999, then-mayor Miguel Anxo Fernández Lores began making some radical changes to prioritize pedestrians and turnaround a city in decline. They'd still be considered radical today, so I can only imagine what they felt like back in the 90s.
The historic center of the city, which covers an area of about 300,000 m2 (or about 74 acres), was fully pedestrianized. The area surrounding it was also converted to a low-traffic zone, bringing the total size of the pedestrian-oriented area to more than 1.3 million m2 (or about 321 acres). To put this into perspective, High Park in Toronto is just under 400 acres.
The result is that vehicular traffic dropped by ~92% in the historic center and ~53% in the city as a whole. Today, walking accounts for over 65% of all trips and the average resident walks about 5 km per day (roughly equivalent to 6,000 to 7,500 steps). On top of this, over two-thirds of children now walk to school. And the city hasn't reported a single pedestrian death from cars in over a decade!
But how has the city performed economically since the change? Some 15,000 people have moved to the city since it became car-free and the total inventory of shops and restaurants has increased. It has also been reported that foot traffic went up (possibly by as much as 30%) and that retail vacancies dropped significantly. This is supported by research showing that well-designed pedestrianized areas do often drive higher retail sales.
Did you hear that Kensington Market?
Watching Pontegadea feels like a direct commentary on what he/they see as having enduring long-term value. And boy is it fun to watch.
Watching Pontegadea feels like a direct commentary on what he/they see as having enduring long-term value. And boy is it fun to watch.
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