El Estado es el mayor propietario de bienes inmobiliarios del país, con más than 33,000 assets of various types. Of these, slightly more than half (51%) are rustic properties, 35% are multi-use buildings, and 10% are vacant lots. Local businesses, residential units, and industrial warehouses make up the remaining small proportion, according to the latest update to the General Inventory of State Goods and Rights from September.
State Holdings in National Parks and Military Zones
Rustic properties include many estates that make up the bulk of the National Parks and other areas of special natural interest. A second large group of assets consists of former military installations that no longer exist as such and are now part of this type of heritage. Within the national list of more than 16,400 assets, the most notable is a farm in Retuerta de Bullaque in Ciudad Real, part of Cabañeros National Park, with more than 8,700 hectares. The park also contains other extensions in Horcajo de los Montes with 1,560 hectares.
Other large state-owned plots are located in Cáceres, specifically in Zarza de Granadilla, under the name Monte de Granadilla with almost 50,000 hectares, or the 2,520 hectares of a environment in the Isla de la Graciosa in Teguise. However, the largest rustic farm in the State inventory is in the León municipality of Val de San Lorenzo, in polygon 42, plot 22, with more than 100,000 hectares.
Regarding the more than 11,300 buildings in this asset category, large military barracks stand out for their extent. By extension, the nearly 4,500 hectares of Cerro Muriano and Obejo in Córdoba are notable, as well as the Conde Gazola base in San Andrés del Rabanedo in León with more than 2,000 hectares.
State Owned Vacant Lots
Among the more than 3,000 vacant lots, the top spot goes to the Las Marismillas estate in the Rocera town of Almonte, south of the Doñana Park, where the presidential residence is located and which covers more than 6,700 hectares. The second largest lot is in Siero, Asturias on the Pruvia-Noreña road, where the State owns nearly 1,000 hectares. A large asset near the Los Rodeos airport in Tenerife with more than 120 hectares, and land adjacent to the San Carlos military barracks in San Fernando, Cádiz, with 81 hectares, also stand out.
A figure that stands out for its low number compared to other assets is that of residential properties, which appear in the list because only 63 are listed, and most are currently used by official bodies such as the Treasury of Social Security or some Autonomous Communities. The largest is on Mallorca Street, number 6 in Madrid, with more than 4,000 square meters and currently in use by the mentioned Treasury. Mallorca Street, Diego de León, and Conde de Peñalver in Madrid are other locations in the capital’s prime zone, currently in use by the same body, with areas all around 1,000 square meters.
The largest State local is located on Gran Vía, 89 in Berriz in Vizcaya, also occupied by the dependent body of the Ministry of Inclusion and Social Security and measuring 10,700 square meters. The largest warehouse by extension is located in the Barcelona municipality of Granollers, at Jordi Camp, 16, another Social Security office with nearly 14,000 square meters, followed by another asset of this type on Brezo Street, 1 in Arganda del Rey, Madrid, of 6,300 square meters.
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At the provincial level, Madrid has a figure close to 1,700 assets, of which more than 1,200 are buildings, including a good number of the barracks surrounding the capital. The largest of these are the installations of the Army Engineers Academy in Hoyo de Manzanares, which with 2,200 hectares is the largest Madrid asset. Another example is the barracks of the former Armored Division Brunete of El Goloso on the Colmenar highway, which has 450 hectares, or the 360 hectares that encompass the Air Force barracks and Getafe Air Base along John Lennon Avenue in that municipality.
Madrid capital also has, due to its status as capital, a number of buildings that house ministerial headquarters, as well as a significant number of properties linked to Casa 47. Thus, on Ríos Rosas Street it has the property in use by the Mutualidad General de Funcionarios del Estado (Muface) or the building on Serrano 140, in use by the Royal Patronage on Disability or the various territorial offices of the Tax Agency.
These figures contrast with the 387 buildings the State possesses in Barcelona, where the more than 10 hectares of Santa Eulalia Barracks in Sant Boi de Llobregat or the Vall D’Hebron hospital complex in Barcelona with nearly another 10 hectares stand out. The State is also the owner of more than 6,000 square meters of the Barceloneta Seafront Promenade belonging to State Heritage.
In this sense, Valencia surpasses Barcelona in the number of assets (642), with the largest being the Jaume I Military Base in Betera with nearly 600 hectares, as well as a number of buildings in use by the General Treasury of Social Security in the Valencian capital and a trickle of assets belonging to the public entity Casa 47 in various towns in the province.
Rustic Assets by Province
Madrid has 48 assets under the designation of rustic compared to Barcelona’s seven, standing out for its extent with a little more than 2,000 hectares, the Cabeza de Hierro pine forest in the Madrid municipality of Rascafría, dependent on the Autonomous Body of National Parks.
Following it in extent with its more than 700 hectares is the Marañosa farm in San Martín de la Vega belonging to the National Institute of Aerospace Technology (INTA) Esteban Terradas and the La Canaleja farm in Alcalá de Henares with nearly 800,000 square meters. In the reference to which this newspaper had access, the Fresnedillas de la Oliva space tracking station is also found with its nearly 6,000 square meters, also in use by INTA.
However, in this type of asset, 2,534 properties located in the province of Valencia and 857 assets in Zaragoza stand out. In the Aragonese capital, the more than 33,000 hectares found on the road from France to the exit of the capital, where former military installations were located and are now part of a transition zone between the urban core, northern industrial parks, and connections with circumventing roads, are notable.
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According to this newspaper, the Ministry of Finance has the privilege of being the guarantor of the largest number of assets, with more than 18,000 goods, many of them framed within State Heritage. Of this total figure, more than 15,500 correspond to rustic farms, standing out for their size the more than 26 million square meters that make up the Saltworks of Torrevieja.
Ministries Manage Assets
Finance also has more than 1,600 vacant lots, standing out for their size the more than half a million square meters of surface area of the Barcelona seafront, a lot in the Granada municipality of Motril of 178,000 square meters, and another lot of more than 167,660 square meters in a parcel in Los Gordales in Seville. Regarding its building and housing heritage, 1,141 assets stand out, where good part of the Tax Agency offices distributed throughout the national territory are framed. The asset category also includes local businesses and a few garages, as well as warehouses, although in this case the representation is very reduced.
The second department by number of assets corresponds to the Ministry of Inclusion and Social Security with 4,396 goods, where good part of the territorial offices of this body are integrated, but also rustic farms such as the Sierra del Real in Istan, Málaga with more than 5,700 hectares and in use by the Junta de Andalucía. This ministry has more than 2,000 assets cataloged as buildings and thus has one asset in Andalucía, two in Madrid, which is in use by the Community of Madrid and measures 310,000 square meters, according to the excel file of the State real estate inventory.
The weight of local businesses is also important in this department as it has 1,269 assets, most of which are in use by the General Treasury of Social Security, Mutual Accident Insurance companies like Asepeyo, Fraternity Muprespa, or Mutual Universal. Its largest local is on Gran Vía in Berriz, Vizcaya with 10,705 square meters. It also has a set of 92 warehouses, the largest of which is nearly 14,000 square meters in Granollers, Barcelona, in use by the General Treasury of Social Security.
The Interior Ministry closes the podium of the ministries with the largest number of real estate properties with 2,914 goods. Here are the penitentiary centers and other official centers. Its largest asset with more than 2.7 million square meters is located in Polygon 18 Las Lomas in Rivas Vaciamadrid, where the Valdemingómez incinerator is located.
To this total figure, another set of goods must be added that are excluded from the list because the information could cause prejudice to national security, defense, foreign relations, and public security. Within the extensive list of assets that contemplates this information range from warehouses, local businesses, vacant lots, rustic buildings, and buildings that result to be the most numerous.