UK fund to redevelop prime Lisbon Rossio site

 In Development, News

The site of an emblematic Lisbon café and patisserie shop in the centre of the city is to be redeveloped into a luxury hotel, shops and apartments.

Bought over a year ago, the entire block occupied by the landmark Pastelaria Suíça by UK fund Jackyl for €60 million will replace the café and the old shops and apartments which have remained empty and boarded up for years will now have a lease of new life.

The café has occupied part of the block since 1922 and looks out over two Lisbon squares – Rossio and Dom Pedro VI.

The developer’s founder Blake Loveless told the online business news site ‘ECO economia online’ promised the project would breathe new life into the squares without ruining their essence and authenticity.

Lisbon residents were shocked when they discovered that an institution that had been in the square for a century would close.

It provoked the same kind of indignation when the Pastelaria Roma and Roma Cinema on Lisbon’s chic Avenida da Roma/Praça de Londres closed down and became a McDonalds restaurant and Chinese bargain basement shop over 10 years ago.

The building had been bought by a fund and at the time Spanish tennis champion Rafael Nadal was incorrectly cited as one of the investors.

The buyer was the British Fund Jackyl who snapped up the 12,000 m2 site for €62 million.

The famous tobacconists and grocers which specialises in rare teas and luxury coffees will remain on the site.

The fund will contract developers to restore and refurbish the entire building while maintaining the integrity of the original façades . “It is important for us that the heart and soul of the street should not be changed. It is one of the best blocks in Europe” says Loveless.

The UK-headquartered property investment fund purchased the prime city-centre location from a local Portuguese family headed by businessman Fausto Roxo.

The deal for the entire block was said to have also involved Mabel Capital in partnership with Harald McPike.