Messi buys the old Wagner Galleries for €11.5M
The footballer's socimi will renovate the building and dedicate the spaces to corporate rentals
BarcelonaInter Miami footballer and Barça legend, Leo Messi, has purchased the building of the former Via Wagner galleries for 11.5 million euros. As reported by the asset seller, Santomera Bay, Alejandro Alcaraz's office, the operation was carried out through the Argentine forward's socimi, Edifici Rostower.
The building is located in Barcelona's Turó Park and consists of approximately 4,000 square meters. The former Via Wagner galleries closed in 1993 due to the complicated coexistence of 87 commercial premises without a shared direction. With the new acquisition, according to the seller, the property will undergo a comprehensive renovation process.
Once the works are completed, the resulting spaces will be dedicated to the rental market. It has not yet been specified who will occupy the building, although Santomera Bay assures that the project "is already attracting the interest of various financial operators as potential occupants".
Messi's investments
Leo Messi's holding company, in this way, further escalates its presence in Catalan countries. Edificio Rostower is already the owner of MiM Hotels, a hotel chain with assets in Sitges, Ibiza, Mallorca, Baqueira, and Andorra; as well as in Sotogrande, in Cádiz, all of them operated by Meliá. They also have in their portfolio the Hincha restaurant chain, led by chef Nandu Jubany; as well as various urban and industrial assets around Barcelona. Furthermore, the footballer has recently completed the acquisition of Unión Deportiva Cornellà.
Santomera Bay, the selling company, bought the building in the year 2025 due to "the interest of the main family offices and institutional investors" to occupy it. According to the office, the old Via Wagner galleries offer "high heritage value", as well as a strategic "enclave" for various businesses that want to operate from Barcelona.
Finally, they have opted for the offer from Messi's socimi, an "investor of global dimension and recognition". According to Alejandro Alcaraz's firm, the footballer's operations in the country's capital "send a signal to the international market that places it in the spotlight of major international investors and reinforces its position as a European capital of reference for high-value real estate investment".