A luxury penthouse for Ayuso: the Community of Madrid buys a "temporary" office of 485 meters
The president assures that it is not clear that she will use it and denounces a "discrediting campaign" in full emergency due to fires
BarcelonaThe Community of Madrid has bought a 485-square-meter penthouse as a "temporary office" for Isabel Díaz Ayuso's government, as published this Wednesday by published this Wednesday El País. The Madrid president has admitted the purchase of the property, in the residential neighborhood of Chamberí and which includes a 199-square-meter terrace, but has assured that it is not clear that she will use it personally and has denounced a campaign of "discredit in full emergency" due to the fires. "It's false, I'm not buying anything nor are they buying anything for me," she said at a press conference, although she acknowledged that the apartment is one of the spaces that will be used during the rehabilitation of the Royal Post Office, headquarters of the regional government. The opposition has denounced the situation and has called for explanations.
The acquisition of the apartment was made in mid-April by Planifica Madrid, the public company that manages the Community's land, and it was not publicized or included in any budget or transparency portal. Neither the government nor the president have clarified the price, but according to the investigations of the Prisa group newspaper, a penthouse of these characteristics is located between four and six million euros. The same information indicates that the penthouse is on the ninth floor of a residential building and without offices on Paseo del General Martínez Campos, next to the Sorolla Museum and Paseo de la Castellana.
"I regret having to defend myself from alleged smear campaigns in the midst of an emergency," Ayuso lamented at a press conference this midday, convinced that the objective of the "how and when" of this journalistic article is for the people affected by the fires in the Community to "turn on her." "It was done in bad faith," she said. And while insisting that the executive has not yet decided how the "move" from the Royal Post Office, which will undergo an "integral reform," will be organized, she also defended the act of looking for a place where "institutional meetings can be temporarily held." "I think it's the right thing to do," she said.
However, she has not clarified why the decision was made to buy the apartment rather than rent it. According to the aforementioned information, the Community has bought the apartment from the economist and writer Astrid Gil-Casares, who is also the ex-wife of the president of Ferrovial, Rafael del Pino Calvo-Sotelo, one of the richest men in Spain. The article also states that before the Madrid government acquired it, the apartment was rented to a couple, although it does not provide further details.
Although Ayuso wanted to temper expectations, a spokesperson for her government had assured El País that the president will work in the new penthouse "with a minimal team" while the works at her executive's headquarters, which "will begin in August," are underway. And this has angered the opposition.
"Millions of euros from all Madrid residents for the use and enjoyment of Mrs. Ayuso," assured the minister and socialist candidate for the Community, Óscar López, via X, from where he also questioned that an office would require a 200-meter terrace. "Today they must explain how, how much, why, and for what reason," he added. "How she mocks everyone," also joined in, on the same network, the also minister Óscar Puente in reference to Ayuso, while the minister of Housing, Isabel Rodríguez, accused her of "buying penthouses" while refusing to freeze rents for Madrid residents.
Més Madrid has also delved into the president's real estate controversies. "Ayuso's third attic in Chamberí. Quirón doesn't pay for this one, we all pay for it. Including a 200 square meter terrace 'to receive visitors as president', she says", tweeted the spokesperson for the party in the Assembly, Manuela Bergerot.
The precedent: the use of an advisor to find an apartment
The controversy arises after in April –when the penthouse was acquired– Eldiario.es already revealed that Ayuso had used a Community official to search for and buy a new flat in Madrid. This is Álvaro Sanz, head of office for the Madrid presidency secretariat, and he was in charge of contacts with representatives of at least one property, the arrangement of visits to the building, and even the negotiation of the purchase price.
In this case, the objective was a flat also in the Chamberí neighbourhood of about 100 square metres and an asking price of 850,000 euros. The Madrid president visited it last December and January, first alone and then with her partner, Alberto González Amador, although finally the purchase – for which her advisor would also have negotiated – did not materialise.