Odebrecht invests on the coast of São Paulo
Valor Econômico
Raised to the status of strategic region, the Baixada Santista (São Paulo coast) will receive new investments from Odebrecht Real Estate Developments, which should generate an overall value of sales per year between R$ 200 million (US$ 117.7 million) and R$ 300 million (US$ 176.5 million). The estimate is of the regional director of Incorporation of the company, Paulo Melo, and was made yesterday on the eve of the launch of The Blue Officemall in Santos, the first commercial undertaking of Odebrecht in the seaside town, performed in partnership with Franz Commercial and Construction.
This is a multiuse building with high standard with 6 thousand square meters, 481 rooms and a shopping mall with 58 shops, an innovative concept in the region. Next to The Garden - residential undertaking opened in the first half and with 95% of units sold - the company closes the first year of business in Santos prospecting generating of sales worth R$ 280 million (US$ 164.7 million ).
Although the sales of The Blue Officemall has not yet started, the expectation is that the clients profile varies widely - from the pure investor to companies with operations in the port sector and in the chain of rendering of services of exploration and production of oil and gas. "The Baixada Santista is going through a cycle of investment in infrastructure projects highly relevant in light of the pre-salt discoveries, there are other companies in the chain of oil and gas in the region and also the expansion of the port of Santos", says Melo.
A study carried out by Odebrecht Achievements shows that the metropolitan area of Baixada Santista, composed of nine cities (Santos, São Vicente, Cubatão, Guaruja, Bertioga, Itanhaém, Mongaguá, Peruíbe and Praia Grande), will receive R$ 44.6 billion (US$ 26.2 billion) in public and private investment by 2020. Only Santos is expecting to attract about R$ 35.2 billion (US$ 20.7 billion) of that amount.
According to the executive, regardless of these investments, Santos is a city of just over 400 thousand inhabitants (407,506, according to the Census 2010) which has its own demand. The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita of the city in 2007 (latest data available from IBGE) was of R$ 47,1 thousand (US$ 27.7 thousand). The GDP per capita of the metropolitan area of Baixada Santista was of R$ 21,8 thousand (US$ 12,8 thousand) and the State of São Paulo, in the period, amounted to R$ 22,6 thousand (US$ 13.3 thousand). Paulo Melo said that the company does not take investment decision in a quantitative but in a qualitative way. And the forecast of generation of sales of up to R$ 300 million (US$ 176.5 million) per year is an estimate that takes into account, among others, the population and the GDP of the Baixada Santista.
"In the perspective of 10 to 15 years we see great real estate opportunities. We analyze each undertaking as unique". In his opinion, it is not possible to assess Santos as an isolated city, the Baixada Santista works as a metropolitan area. Mas Santos, Melo said, is becoming limited by being betweenthe hills and the sea, there is little available land, which makes the price go up and make the real estate more expensive. "We continue prospecting in the city, but we are also looking for land in São Vicente, Guarujá and Praia Grande", said the company director. In 2009, the number of residents in the region totaled 1.7 million people.