Investment in the cultural sector offers infinite possibilities. You just have to detect the demand and establish a good business plan, considers Jaume Sabater, CEO of the Swiss-based real estate fund Stoneweg, which through the firm Stoneweg, Places
Investment funds and culture traditionally followed separate paths. What makes you think it is a profitable sector?
We see it as a business and in that sense we decided, on the one hand, to invest and, on the other, to be present in the sector. We are a company that aims to identify investment opportunities. And our approach as a real estate investor in a way is still present here because we have always thought a lot not only about the continent, but about the content. And when we have positioned ourselves in other investment sectors, such as hotels, we have always followed the philosophy of thinking about the experience. A hotel is not a place where there are beds and you go to sleep. People are increasingly demanding and are not only looking for a place to stay, but an experience. Content is key. And it is under that premise that we do not see it as far away from investing in projects with cultural content. Business comes through management and identifying demand.
Why have you decided to start your activity in Barcelona?
It is a unique city where this demand exists and it is both local and international. And there is also little supply. Compared to Madrid, the difference is overwhelming. That implies an opportunity.
They recently inaugurated an immersive information center for the Copa América at the Imax, the America's Cup Experience, and joined the management and ownership of the Palau Martorell. Two very different projects.
For us, they are projects with a great cultural focus but also dissemination, making people known. For the city of Barcelona, the Copa América will possibly be the most important event since the Olympic Games. It is a great opportunity to show its relevance again at a particularly difficult time, with inflation, rising rates... And it can be done in Barcelona because there is institutional support, the Port of Barcelona has given up infrastructure, including the Imax , a disused building that has had infinite ups and downs and where new life can be generated and that will allow people to know much better what this competition is. We want to be active in projects where we can make people live an experience, whether through culture, leisure or entertainment. And we continue looking for projects and partners.
One of its most ambitious projects is the conversion of the old Godó i Trias de l'Hospitalet factory into a digital arts center whose remodeling will be carried out by the Pritzker-winning studio RCR. When do you plan to inaugurate the equipment?
It is the largest project in terms of investment, 50 million euros. We are currently working on redefining the project, because it has to be a center that combines all these visions linked to new technologies and digital, with immersive experiences, an educational program... And not only that. It goes further. We want to give it back to the city, create an open space where people can walk, experience it, where things happen and there are events. It is an incredible space that has been abandoned for years. We are in the licensing phase and the reform could begin at the end of 2024.
At some point it was announced that they were going to become a shareholder in the Museum of Forbidden Art that Tatxo Benet is going to inaugurate in the Casa Garriga Noguès. It did not materialize. What happened?
That's how it is. We had had conversations with the intention of collaborating and working together, but we need to have a leading role in management and decision-making, and this is a project closely linked to him, very personal. There were things that he had to be able to control and decide, and I understand that perfectly.
What lesson have you learned from the Hermitage affair?
Quite a few, but the fact of being active in Barcelona and wanting to bring that museum to the city is what has now allowed us these projects. It wasn't the time.
They filed a lawsuit with the City Council, 141 million euros in compensation for the impossibility of implementing the Russian museum franchise in the port. Can the change of municipal government reopen the door?
Of course the Hermitage is a project that cannot be recovered. But we still think that it is a location where there could be a very attractive project.
Have you spoken with the new managers?
There is a very good dialogue, because it is one thing that we filed a lawsuit because we understood that we had rights due to the situation that had arisen, and another that we have given up our will to work on the aspects that make sense with the help of the City Council or in collaboration with other public or private entities. We want relations with the people of Barcelona to be the best because we believe in Barcelona and the bet we made in 2017 with the Hermitage to invest in the city remains intact.
One of the misgivings about the Hermitage is that there was an investment fund behind it.
It's hard for me to understand it. It is like considering that investment funds by definition have a speculative and non-coherent positioning. And this is not the case, there are very emblematic projects in which there are investment funds involved, many infrastructure projects that could not have been done any other way. They are investments and if they are considered it is because there is the possibility of generating a business, but from the outset it is considered not good when there is a public-private collaboration or it involves cultural issues...
He said that there may be alternative projects to the Hermitage in the port. Are you thinking about another museum?
Well, the museum concept falls into a very specific category. But it could be a cultural, dissemination center that would have to do with art, yes.
