Cuatro Torres Business Area
The Cuatro Torres Business Area (CTBA), or Four Towers Business Area, is a business park previously know as the Madrid Arena located
on the Paseo de la Castellana in the city of Madrid, close to the Chamartin train station. It is built on the former Ciudad Deportiva, an area that once belonged to Spain's well known football team,
Real Madrid. The business park is so named because of the four tall buildings, or towers, that are located here.
Many visitors to Madrid will be here on business and may have to visit companies located in or close to the
Cuatro Torres Business Area, or the nearby
IFEMA Trade Fair area.
Conveniently, there are several hotels and self-catering properties located nearby, allowing such business
travellers to stay close to their place of work. We list here the hotels and other lodging within 1000 metres distance of the 4 Towers.
Tourist Accommodation Near the Cuatro Torres Business Area
The four towers in order of height above the ground are: Torre Espacio, which stand at 236 metres or 774 feet; Torre Sacyr Vallehermoso also standing at 236 metres or 774 feet; Torre de Cristal standing at 249.5 metres, or 817 feet; and the tallest of the four, Torre Caja Madrid standing at 250 metres or 820 feet high. The towers stand so high and are in such a position that
Madrid's main airport at Barajas-Madrid was forced to change its emergency flight path to accommodate the tall structures.
The towers superseded the
Picasso Tower as Madrid's tallest buildings, and the
Gran Hotel Bali in Benidorm, which was Spain's tallest building previously,
and is still Europe's tallest hotel.
Torre Espacio has an oval central structure with a spiralling fluted outer part, making it a very futuristic looking building. The designer of this amazing building was Pei Cobb Freed. The construction of Torre Espacio was started in 2003 and completed four years later in 2007. It was briefly the tallest building in Spain. It has 56 floors above ground, and six basement below ground floors. The tower was built by Dragados. It is an office building with tenants from all over.
Torre Sacyr Vallehermoso was designed by Enrique Álvarez-Sala Walterwas and Carlos Rubio Carvajal. It was the last tower to be started in the business area. Construction by Sacyr Sau began in 2004 and finished three years later in 2007. The building is a rounded, triangular structure in section, and is quite impressive in its simple but effective design. It has 52 floors above ground, and is used mainly as office space,
although it also houses the newly opened
Eurostars Madrid Tower Hotel,
which boasts some of the highest hotel rooms in Europe.
Torre de Cristal was also briefly the tallest building in Spain when it exceeded the height of Torre Espacio.
It was started in 2004 and completed three years later in 2007. Torre de Cristal, designed by Cesar Pelli and constructed by Dragados, has a kind of twisted appearance, depending on how you view it. The building has 45 floors above ground and six below. It is an office building and its strong glass-fronted appearance is where its name is derived from.
Torre Caja Madrid is the tallest of the four towers within the Cuatro Torres Business Area by a mere 89 centimetres. It has 45 floors above ground. Its designer, Lord Foster, has given it a chunky kind of "Lego built" look, which nevertheless gives it a very strong appearance.
It was originally named Torre Repsol and was to have served as headquarters for the oil and gas company, Repsol YPF. However, they decided against using it and bankers Caja Madrid purchased it and moved in. The building of Torre Caja Madrid was through a partnership of Dragados and Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas.
The Four Towers Business Area is a perfect complement to the
AZCA Commercial
District, and provides Madrid with another major business and
financial district.
