For a short period of time, between 1985 and 1993, the Vía Wagner galleries were the exponent in the Upper Diagonal of a commercial model that found some success in pre-Olympic Barcelona. It was the alternative in the upper part of the city to the Bulevard Rosa, which thrived on Passeig de Gràcia, in a Barcelona at that time without large shopping centers beyond general stores like El Corte Inglés, and with a vigorous local commerce of which only remnants remain today.
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The agony of these galleries just a stone’s throw from Turó Park, which were born with the aspiration of securing a loyal clientele with high purchasing power, came too soon. With the shutters of the premises down, the facilities located between Wagner Square and Bori Fontestà Street fell into an accelerated process of abandonment and deterioration. The enormous fragmentation of ownership – the difficulty of getting all neighbors to agree in any property is well known – thwarted various revitalization projects for the space, which ended up being prey to rats, cockroaches, looting, various uncivil behaviors, small fires, and occupations by homeless people and those suffering from drug addiction.
A company linked to the Argentine star faces three decades of abandonment
The day before yesterday, colleague Blanca Gispert reported in the Economy pages of La Vanguardia the latest move regarding these old commercial galleries: their acquisition by a company linked to Leo Messi.
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No one would have imagined that the greatest footballer in history, brand image of a network of companies determined to build an economic empire around the figure of the Argentine star, would end the more than 30-year ordeal of a cursed site, a surprising anomaly in a privileged area of Barcelona that in recent times is becoming a refuge for companies and professional offices fleeing astronomical rents and the saturation and access problems suffered by more central areas of the city.
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The previous owners of the galleries had already commissioned the architectural project to convert this commercial space into an office complex, which could speed up the transformation if the building permit is not delayed more than expected. The entry into the field of the socimi that has Messi as its banner adds more competition in a rising market in Barcelona but still far from full occupancy. Some developers who have recently bet on this sector with large-scale operations that have transformed entire buildings into office space know the difficulty of finding tenants that guarantee the viability of the business. For the good of all, especially the neighbors, it would be desirable that the new project of the old Vía Wagner becomes a reality as soon as possible.
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