Vaquerizo buys on Madrid's Gran Vía and plans hotel in the pink house

Mario Vaquerizo buys on Gran Vía and dreams of a hotel in the pink house

Mario Vaquerizo has confirmed that he and Alaska have bought a concierge flat on Madrid's Gran Vía. The plan: to take over the pink house and turn the rest of the building into a hotel. The media personality, who boasts of owning more than six properties on the capital's most central artery, defends his profile as a property investor without apology. "I'm a capitalist, I love private property," he said on television, in an explicit defence of bricks and mortar as a home for savings.

Gran Vía can no longer take another hotel

The deal reopens the awkward question: how much can central Madrid take before it becomes a theme park for tourists? Some argue that on and around Gran Vía almost every entrance hall is already a hotel or tourist apartment, and that any further purchase pushes land prices beyond the reach of residents. Others reply with the classic property owner's manual: the money is private, the venture creates jobs and the market will price any oversupply accordingly. The debate has even cited Article 281 of the Spanish Incivil Code, which punishes withholding essential goods from the market. In a city like Madrid, is housing one of them?

The business behind the character

To understand the deal, you have to look at the artist's balance sheet. The Nancys Rubias, his band, reportedly earn between 18,000 and 30,000 euros per concert, according to figures circulated on television and in the press. But most of those gigs come from municipal bookings, a flow of public money that ends up turning into square metres on one of Europe's most expensive streets. It is a model not everyone likes: some see Vaquerizo as a shrewd businessman who has monetised his persona, while others prefer to recall that trash TV and municipal subsidies also generate capital gains.

The pink house deal is still at project stage, with no licence or firm plan. But the direction is clear: entertainment and municipal concerts are being turned into premium property in the heart of Madrid. And the debate over what kind of city is being built —one to live in or one to visit?— remains, for now, open.