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The unexpected area that is a real estate boom where apartments can still be found from US$50,000
November 28, 2023
A real estate axis is born framed by luxury megaprojects with affordable prices for the middle and upper middle class
By Mercedes Soriano
The area where the neighborhoods of Villa Devoto, San Martín, Villa Lynch and Tres de Febrero meet is experiencing a real estate phenomenon with premium buildings and apartments that start at US$50,000
Like an expansive wave, the construction fever that is currently passing through the Buenos Aires neighborhood of Villa Devoto crossed its border. This time it does not infect another neighborhood of the city but rather the spillover effect crosses the General Paz ring and knocks on the door of the suburbs. Depending on who mentions it, it has a different nickname. But what everyone agrees on is that the area bordering the General Paz highway - where the neighborhoods of Villa Devoto, San Martín, Villa Lynch and Tres de Febrero meet - is experiencing a real estate change.
The fertile triangle for bricks is delimited by Salvador María del Carril and General Paz until 25 de Mayo and the highway itself. Beyond the streets, it is the most emblematic projects in the area that plant the seeds of reconversion and frame the trend. The MilAires residential complex, new luxury towers and the former Nobleza Piccardo plant border General Paz and make up the list of the most notable developments in the area.
Mil Aires, in Villa Devoto, is one of the projects that delimits the booming area
How was the transformation of the area, from industrial to residential?
Soledad Pato has a Master's degree in Urban Economics and is dedicated to area analysis. She was one of those responsible for the transformation that gave these blocks a 180° turn 10 years ago. Back then, the environment was not compatible with luxury projects as it is now. “The area was not attractive and there were a large number of industries. The proposal at the municipal level was to enable the front of General Paz to be part of the city, that is to say that Devoto does not stop where its limit ends but rather pretends that it crosses the highway and extends the backyard of Devoto, Villa Urquiza and Villa Pueyrredón so that it can be expanded towards the town of San Martín,” he explains.There were several changes that were made at that time. According to the specialist, the industries that used to be on the edge of the highway and in the middle of the neighborhood moved to the bottom of Buen Ayre, where a modern logistics zone was created. The displacement provided sources of work, accessibility that the municipality did not have, and order in the area they left behind. Streets, avenues, bridges and accesses were improved. For example, Rodríguez Peña went from being a small road to a two-way street with a boulevard, “so now the entrance to the San Martín Avenue area is much more open and you enter from Albarellos from CABA to Villa Lynch,” she details.
The changes in the area encouraged a series of new developments of a higher category than what we were used to seeing.
The good connection that the area enjoys is reinforced by public transport routes. “Villa Lynch, Sáenz Peña and the node that the Ecipsa Group currently has have three train stations on three different lines, meaning that you are connected to the center of the Capital by three different routes in a radius of 20 blocks,” he maintains. Duck, a fact that enhances the area.
With the new provision, a new real estate axis was created. “As at some point something occurred between Avenida del Libertador and General Paz - when the Al Río complex was built in Vicente López -, now something similar is happening here for the middle and upper middle class. A space is created that must be given attention, leveraged by connectivity, gastronomic establishments, bilingual schools, health centers, supermarkets and universities,” analyzes Sebastián Orlandi, head of Flamma Real Estate and development partner of one of the projects in the area.
The National University of San Martín (UNSAM) has around 20,000 students and is one of the points of interest in the area
The revaluation of the real estate market
“At the municipal level there was work so that 10 years later the developers would have another power,” says Soledad Pato. Said and done, today there is a strong real estate movement in the area.With 10 blocks apart, there are two projects underway that share the objective of raising the construction level. Both developed by Root UDN, one is located in San Martín and the other in Tres de Febrero.
Where there used to be a medium-distance bus terminal, today Aera Distrito Nueva Lynch is beginning to rise, a project with two towers of 16 and 26 floors under construction where there will be 170 apartments from one to four rooms. With an estimated construction period of 36 months, the project on 25 de Mayo Avenue, 300 meters from General Paz, is driven by an investment of US$20 million.
The most beautiful and developed part of San Martín is in the center of the district. We want to give life to this area, which is the access from the Capital and has enormous potential precisely because of the location,” says Orlandi. The project is located in front of the campus of the University of San Martín (UNSAM), although the secret weapon of the venture is the open view of the General Miter Golf Club, behind the University.
Aera Distrito Nueva Lynch consists of two towers with panoramic views of the city
The project located on a 11,000 m² plot of land has more than 1,000 m² of amenities. Among them, the novelty is that it will have its own sports club in which there will be a Sport Club gym. It will be open to the public, and there will be a membership system within the co-owners of the building to be able to use the facilities including the soccer and paddle courts. The project joins the few that have a chain of gyms within their jurisdiction, as Puerto Nizuc did on a large scale in the southern area of Greater Buenos Aires.
“We seek to change the areas we develop. In this case, we want to convert a former manufacturing area into a hub with residences, shops and gastronomy with sports leisure,” highlights Ezequiel Leibaschoff, Commercial Director of Root UDN (Business Plant), developer of the Aera projects. In that sense, the project contemplates including proposals such as those he already manages in Devoto, such as a patisserie by Damián Betular or a restaurant like Mecha.
Launched last year on sale, they already have 47% of the units placed. The value per square meter in this initial phase of the work starts at US$1,265 and the tickets range between US$59,000 and US$384,000, in the case of the four duplex rooms on the highest floors.
Next to UNSAM there are courts of the General Miter Golf Club that give green views to the new apartments.
The growth of the area draws the attention of different buyer profiles. Sebastián Orlandi differentiates two main types. “One is the people who live in the city and unfortunately can no longer afford it. This is because buying an apartment today is complex. For example, if I have to buy a three-room unit in the exclusive area of Devoto, they ask me for US$250,000, but if I do it five minutes by car from the front of General Paz, I buy it for US$150,000. The price difference is almost half, since in Devoto the square meter averages US$3000 and on the other hand between US$1600 and US$1800. In this situation, the CABA consumer 'is expelled', a phenomenon that happens globally in large cities when the earth becomes expensive due to scarcity," describes one of the profiles.
On the other hand, it brings up the “buyer who lives in the Province, who has never had this level of product design, quality and capital in the province.” That profile that lives in neighborhoods like San Martín or Tres de Febrero and wants to stay in the area but aspires to good quality is the one that is interested in these new projects.
Under the same brand, another tower is in full development that will add to the high-end proposals. On Luis Agote Street, at the entrance to Sáenz Peña, Aera General Paz consists of a single 22-story tower with an investment of more than US$10 million. This project also has gastronomy imprinted on its identity, since it will have a restaurant on the 15th floor with double height to create a meeting spot with panoramic views.
The projects estimate to revalue almost double the price at which they are sold today
The project in question has 72 apartments with one to three rooms (from 34 to 86 m² total) and is half a year ahead of the other project. Thus, they estimate to deliver the units within 30 months. At the moment, 20% of the apartments have been sold at a value per square meter that starts at US$1,475. In that order, the most accessible ticket is US$50,000.
The purchase of these units has a business woven together. “Today we sell from US$1,450/m² and the revaluation projection for when the project is finished is no less than US$2,700 per square meter,” says Leibaschoff. That is to say, the profitability for anyone who wants to buy to sell in a few years is almost double the current price. “This is what gives you these projects that transform the area, because they provide a lot of added value,” he adds.
The project suitable for laundering can be purchased through a financed payment plan, with the payment of an advance payment of 30% plus peso-denominated installments plus CAC depending on the number of months left in the work, in this case between 30 and 36.
The projects seek to add high-level gastronomic offerings to the area, and thus replicate the pole generated in Villa Devoto
A no less important fact is that given the proximity to the city and educational centers, the project aims to attract a public interested in temporary rentals. “The conventional income in the area is around 4% and in the case of temporary ones it doubles and averages 8%,” analyzes Leibaschoff.
In that sense, Orlandi adds: “In the case of Distrito Lynch we made a series of one- and two-bedroom apartments on low levels so that they could be used for temporary rental . The idea arose from the fact that the University of San Martín in front has 20,000 students, some from the interior and a wide variety of majors. Maybe that public today rents from the capital side, travels by train and walks and we see a space for rent there.”
The kings of the area
These ventures, along with the rest of the current developments, are framed by two large-scale projects. One of the first to make a splash was MilAires, the Devoto urban complex that borders General Paz on a plot of land of more than 29,300 square meters. The Ecipsa Group contemplates an investment of US$140 million in the project known for providing long-term financing within the city. The more than 900 planned units will have between one and four rooms with balconies or private terraces, as well as space for houses, and the base value per square meter is around US$2,700/m².
Mil Aires will have more than 900 homes
The Córdoba holding company, which has almost 100 projects in its portfolio, delimits the booming area with its two main developments. MilAires on one side and its new promise on the other end. This is the 15.9 hectare land that was purchased this year from IRSA , a company that had acquired it in 2011, for US$22.9 million. The property is historic in the area. The General Motors automobile company operated there until the 1970s. In 1981, the Nobleza Piccardo tobacco company installed its plant, a company that eventually sold part of the land to the Carrefour group, gave another part to the party's administration, and in 2011 moved its production to the Pilar Industrial Park.
A few meters from General Paz, the megalot is adjacent to the Carrefour, Sodimac, McDonald's hypermarket and is anchored in an environment with an important commercial, service and educational area such as the San Martín University.
The 15.9 hectares that the Ecipsa Group bought from IRSA in 2023 are adjacent to the Carrefour hypermarket
“MilAires was our kick-off in CABA and with it we proved that we are capable of developing new categories in the market with exclusive residential products that offer quality of life, a wide range of amenities, green spaces and services,” he said in dialogue with LA NACION. Jaime Garbarsky, owner of Ecipsa, and announced that the project will have open commercial spaces integrated into the neighborhood and residential proposals with financing for the middle class.
