Zara wants to expand its Plaça Catalunya store, housed in the old BBVA headquarters, to 6,500 square metres. Barcelona council’s governing commission initially approved the Special Urban Plan on 18 September. The Eixample district council debates the Inditex group’s expansion plans on Thursday, with the Collboni government giving it a favourable report despite opposition from ERC and doubts from Barcelona en Comú.
Council sources confirmed the expansion size. According to the Special Urban Plan’s technical sheet, the current Zara store has 3,203 square metres of sales floor (though another section mentions 2,224 sqm) and 2,145 sqm of private annexed space, totalling 5,348 sqm of built area. The proposed expansion bumps this to 4,659 sqm sales floor and 1,863 sqm annexed space, reaching 6,521 sqm total.
Local parties split on Zara expansion
The plan distributes the new retail space across the building’s five floors. However, not all political groups welcome Zara’s expansion. ERC sources told TOT Barcelona they’ll vote against. “We’re talking about an expansion that would bring a 6,500 sqm clothing mega-store to Plaça Catalunya. We think this model doesn’t meet the district’s or city’s needs: our commitment is to local shops that create networks, neighbourhood fabric and community life,” they explained.
Meanwhile, Barcelona en Comú expressed “many doubts” about the operation because “it looks like it’s pushing normative limits and deepening urban overexploitation in the area for a big multinational, like what happened with the Thyssen , where we also raised concerns shared with FAVB”. The party, still led at council level by Janet Sanz, is reviewing the project because the government hasn’t provided all information.
The building’s history
Zara’s Plaça Catalunya store opened nine years ago in 2016 and is the brand’s largest in Barcelona and one of its biggest globally. Ortega bought the building in 2013 from German fund Deka Inmobilien for around 80 million euros. According to the council, the property “has an irregular and chamfered floor plan with two public entrances to the shop”. It rises vertically across 15 floors: 12 above ground and three below.
The building features the iconic BBVA clock at the top, stopped for years but recognised by Barcelona council as a Small Landscape of Barcelona, symbolic elements forming part of the urban landscape. The PP urged Collboni’s government to negotiate with Inditex about fixing the clock, but first deputy mayor Laia Bonet said in committee that the private owner should repair it.
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