The Business Group, like many companies dedicated to the construction and real estate sector, was affected by the economic crisis that Colombia experienced at the end of the 20th century. Although growth seemed promising in the 1990s, global problems and domestic politics would affect the country’s economic stability. National export products (coffee and oil) suffered price drops, affecting neighboring countries such as Venezuela, Ecuador, Chile, and Argentina. Colombia, for its part, mainly felt the weight of the decline in prices as it depended on continued external financing.
The recession of 1999 evidenced the excess of public spending, high deficit, uncertainty, and economic instability that afflicted households and the real estate sector. The families that had invested in housing fell into a condition of poverty, trying to cover the high installments of the mortgage loan (UPAC). Along with this, the unemployment rate increased in 1999, approaching 20%, causing the interest in purchasing residential, industrial, and commercial real estate to decrease drastically, notably harming the construction companies that are the engine of growth for the country. Many construction companies were forced to close their doors due to the prolonged difficulties of the economy and the sector, remembering that during these years, builders in Colombia first took on debt and built. Once the project was finished, sales began.
This was then building projects that had not yet been completely sold. The economic crisis demonstrated the need for additional activities to withstand the construction cycle situation, allowing it to control critical moments with better financial muscle.
Fortunately, the business group had embarked on a path towards expansion in the years before the crisis, incorporating new lines of business associated with the real estate and real estate sector with Inmobiliaria and Titles.
These two lines thus became the key to overcoming the financial and sector crisis. Income from leases, appraisals, horizontal property administrations, sale of used real estate, and especially the structuring of real estate trusts called investment titles and Trust Rights supported the economic collapse and prevented the company’s failure. Much of the stability and success is due to its vision of creating lines of diversification because, in Gabriel Díaz, “a table with four legs does not fall over and is more stable than one with three.”
Strengthening of KNOW-HOW with growth and diversification in
Learned that diversification was the secret formula for maintaining economic stability and permanently responding to the needs and demands of its customers and the market. He knew that the real estate market is dynamic, and its clients constantly seek new services and better options.
This is how leasing and selling real estate and investing in real estate require innovation, technology, and development to stay current in the market and meet its expectations, which is why the business group expanded its activities into what is now known as lines of business or pillars of the organization.
The precursor was Constructora, which supplies the supply of industrial, institutional, housing, and commercial projects. After ten years of building and learning from the business, the need to create a portfolio of real estate for the sale of used and lease became evident where interested parties could easily find the property of their choice; that is how the line began. Real Estate business at the end of the 80s, including the offer of real estate administration for Bogota families from La Sabana de la capital and its surrounding municipalities.
In turn, over the years, this line has been adopting technological strategies to respond to the trends of the digital age, betting in recent years on implementing tools that facilitate appraisal procedures for clients and offer intuitive, fast processes and affordable online.
At the beginning of the 1990s, it ventured into the real estate securitization line of business, pioneering in this field of action. Today, it is a frequently used financial tool in the sector. To simplify and facilitate the purchase of real estate projects, securitization converts real estate through an autonomous patrimony into fiduciary rights so that the investment can be shared among several investors, democratizing the real estate and turning it into a product of easy access for all. The Titles line was essential in the development and maturation of real estate macro-businesses since people found the opportunity to invest in profitable projects according to their economic capacities.
Later, at the beginning of the century, in 2005, Storage was born, a line of business that offers storage solutions for homes and businesses. The different warehouse locations are available to those who seek to store and care for their belongings under the concept of self-storage. There are more than ten offices in Bogotá and other cities in the country, with storage services, and personalized and specialized warehousing. An acyclical construction line of business that strengthens the company’s stability.
The most recent line of business is Vertical Dimension, created to guarantee efficiency in the administration of the horizontal property of an industrial and commercial nature, providing security and coexistence in the properties, in addition to other services that they may require,e such as surveillance, cleaning, maintenance,e, and sale. Or lease within the co-ownership.
The business lines reflect its growth and innovative facto; they are the essence of snow-How in the real estate sector since they fully cover the needs related to the real estate sector, ensuring the satisfaction and tranquility of its clients.
