Carrefour Property has unveiled plans to invest over EUR 350 mln in the development of 20 new retail projects in Spain. Pascal Duhamel, president of Carrefour Property España, said that the company intends to add a further 350,000 m2 of retail space to its portfolio over the next three years.

The real estate arm of the French hypermarket chain plans to carry out 14 extensions to existing shopping centres as well as build six new centres located in the Spanish cities of Huelva, Tarrasa (Tarragona), Coll de'n Rabassa (Mallorca), San Fernando de Henares (Madrid), Cabrera de Mar (Barcelona) and Los Barrios (Algeciras).

The initiative is part of a change in strategy of Carrefour Property under which the company aims to increase the value of its real estate assets while further developing its land portfolio. According to Duhamel, the moment is now right to make a move in Spain, given that prices have fallen sharply over the past two years, and the market has an enormous growth potential.

Carrefour Property, which was created in 2009 to manage the group's real estate, has a land portfolio of over 1.5 million m2 in Spain with a value of over EUR 3 bn. Most recent developments include Las Glorias (Barcelona), Meridiano (Tenerife), La Gavia (Madrid), Rosaleda (Málaga) and Gran Turia (Valencia).

The company is also active in France, Italy, Romania and Poland with a total portfolio of over 4 million m2 of retail space.