Messi Buys a Derelict Barcelona Shopping Centre for €11.5 Million

Lionel Messi has become the new owner of Galerías Vía Wagner — an abandoned shopping centre in the north of Barcelona. According to the EFE news agency, the footballer purchased the building for €11.5 million through his property company Edificio Rostower. The seller was Alejandro Alcáraz's private investment office, Santomera Bay, which bought the property in 2025 and prepared it for resale.

Galerías Vía Wagner opened in 1985 at the intersection of Avinguda Diagonal with Carrer de Beethoven, Bori i Fontestà, and Ganduxer, positioning itself as an upmarket shopping centre to rival Pedralbes Centre and Galeries Berlín. However, the impossibility of reconciling the interests of more than a hundred co-owners led to its closure in 1993. Over three decades, the building has had a chequered history: it was occupied by squatters, and in 2001, a fire destroyed much of the interior. City authorities twice opened administrative proceedings against the owners over the state of the façades.

The new owner plans a full renovation of the roughly 4,000 sq m building to create premium office space. According to Santomera Bay, several financial sector companies have already expressed interest in renting premises, though no agreements have yet been signed.