Until 2016, number 1 Pez Street in Madrid was a social welfare space. This building located a stone’s throw from Gran Vía housed a retirement home that the Brotherhood of the Shelter, its owner, had dedicated to “welcoming the humble”. The organization, dedicated to offering charity to the most disadvantaged in society, then decided to end an activity that at the time had 45 beds and 26 employees.
The justification then given by those responsible for the eviction was to try to mitigate economic losses of 1.4 million euros. The Refuge closed its residence to maintain the distribution of food to the needy and the charter school attended by 300 students, it indicated in a letter sent to residents, in which it detailed its accounts. But it did not communicate what was the intended destination of the building on Pez Street, once emptied of its elderly.
In the letter that the residents’ families received and published by Somos Malasaña, he explains that he did it to “maintain its viability, the prices we ask the residents (1,600 euros per month) are market prices, very far from our initial prices” objective, and we had to stop welcoming the humble.
It was not until the political change in the Madrid City Council that the real plans of those responsible were revealed: to transform the retirement home into tourist accommodation, with much greater profitability. This was done first by signing a contract in 2020 with the company Asistencia y Ayuda Yadisema SL, to which it transferred the works and their subsequent operation for the next 20 years, and then through a special plan requested from the Almeida team for which it proposed building a hostel with which to charge more than three million euros per year. The council approved the project in 2022 with votes in favor of the PP, Ciudadanos and Vox. The PSOE and Más Madrid voted against following complaints about “the outsourcing and touristification of the center of Madrid.”
Time is now revealing the effects of changes in uses that are destroying the fabric of the neighborhood in favor of a more economic valuation of real estate in the heart of the capital. In the case of Pez Street and once the works were completed, the tourist activity has just opened its doors last August. It has done so under the name of Adventure Hostel Gran Vía, with beds starting at 31 euros in rooms shared with up to 13 other people, it states on its website. Its activity license, recently granted by the Madrid City Council and to which this newspaper has had access, allows a capacity of up to 551 people in the building, which has an area of 2,600 square meters. An activity very different from the assistance to the 45 elderly people who lived in the old residence.
The change of model was possible because Esperanza Aguirre’s husband, Fernando Ramírez de Haro, holds the position of El Refugio’s elder brother, the position of greatest responsibility in the Brotherhood. His closeness to the mayor is such that he was invited to the latter’s recent wedding, along with his wife.
The company that requested the special plan to open the hostel and that currently manages the business is Asistencia y Ayuda Yadisema SL, a company created for this business, which in turn has another company, Jima Patrimonial de Hostales, as its sole partner. Ignacio Núñez Luque and Miguel Ángel Garrido appear as directors of both companies, which also control Hostalcarria Hostales, a company that manages a tourist business in the surroundings of the Plaza Mayor in Madrid.
Jima Patrimonial is behind another of the most controversial hotel companies in the centre of Madrid: it is preparing to open a hotel in the former convent of Las Recambios on Hortaleza Street, currently owned by the UGT and which rented the property to its tourist exploitation. The property was briefly squatted in 2022 to denounce tourist speculation in the centre of Madrid. Those responsible dishonoured the union for participating in the process of transforming the city into a centre of mass tourism, “adhering to the neoliberal policies of consumerism”.
School closures and uncertain future
The closure of its retirement home did not allow it to support the charitable activities that the Brotherhood wanted to maintain in 2016. Despite the intentions indicated in the letter cited in this information, the Purísima Concepción school also closed its doors in June 2023 and put an end to 372 years of history open in the part of Malasaña closest to Gran Vía. It also did so for economic reasons, leaving a significant economic hole in the accounts of the institution, which continues to show red figures in each financial year. last with losses of more than one million euros – and leaves its future uncertain.
Many families and teachers have been protesting for months against this school closure and have accused Ramírez de Haro of having “lied” to them for promising to extend its operation until the 2024 school year. But not even the noise in the streets or in the media has changed the situation of the Saints. decision. Pontifical and Royal Brotherhood of Refuge and Piety of Madrid, which now only maintains the soup kitchen in the building adjoining the church of San Antonio de los Alemanes and the delivery of food to the underprivileged, who line up every afternoon to receive it at the church. the slide of San Pablo.
