Curate Ventures has partnered with Spanish hotelier Juan Ceña for a new joint venture focused on the transformation of office buildings into hotels.
Curate Ventures, an investment platform founded by former Crown Estate director Alexander Kim and ex-Chelsfield senior leaders Rebeca Guzman Vidal and Darius Divwalla, focuses on providing solutions to building obsolescence.
The joint venture will expand Cena’s hospitality brand “Bastardo” into the UK, repurposing and retrofitting stranded office assets into contemporary, energy efficient and affordable CoStay hotels.
The Bastardo hotel in Madrid has a capacity of 250 beds across boutique private suites, family rooms and shared dorms with private bunks and the hotel incorporates elements of select-service hotels and lifestyle hostels with all day dining and cultural event spaces. The model will be replicated in the UK, beginning in London followed by other regional cities, with sights set on expansion in western and central Europe.
What they said
Rebeca Guzman Vidal and Alexander Kim, co-founders at Curate Ventures said: “Our primary reason for founding Curate Ventures was that we each recognised the scale of the problem real estate faces when it comes to commercial assets: alternative uses for office buildings is a challenge all cities face, including London. Our team is deeply committed to finding solutions that work and, crucially that investors and communities alike actually want. There is no better embodiment of our mission and values than this partnership with Juan Ceña’s hospitality group. Affordable travel has proven highly resilient, and the opportunity to scale a successful brand in the UK and meet the unmet needs of a large global market is hugely compelling for investors. We are hugely excited to launch Bastardo and support environmentally and socially sustainable tourism and real estate investment.”
Juan Ceña, founder at Bastardo added: “Millennial and Gen-zs are the most represented group in international travel, contributing hugely to the global economy, and yet there are very few hospitality brands that meet their needs. These travellers are looking for somewhere that has the inbuilt trust of a hotel stay at the accessible price point of self-catered accommodation. Over the past five years, our Madrid location has demonstrated that this is not only possible, but can be successful at scale and meeting international demand. London is the natural destination to expand Bastardo outside Spain. Like Madrid, the city has a variety of exciting and individual neighbourhoods and communities that we want our guests to discover and experience.”