Zara billionaire Ortega buys Marylebone rental development

Inditex SA founder Amancio Ortega added another central London property to his sprawling portfolio, with a luxury development in Marylebone. 

Ortega’s family office Pontegadea Inversiones paid £150 million ($202 million) for the residential rental building at 219 Baker St., a spokesperson told Bloomberg News, following a report by Green Street News. Rents for available flats range from £7,275 to £9,850 per month, based on listings published by property manager Ila.

Ortega, 90, is estimated to be the world’s 15th wealthiest person and one of Europe’s largest private property owners, with a portfolio that was valued at around €19.3 billion ($22 billion) in 2024. He and his then-wife opened their first Zara store in 1975. Its more than 2,000 outlets form the core of Inditex, which also owns Massimo Dutti and Pull&Bear. 

Most of his property empire is made up of premium offices, retail and hotels. They include Madrid’s Norman Foster-designed Torre Moeve, The Post in London, and part of Amazon.com Inc’s headquarters in Seattle, known as the Troy Block.

In July, Ortega bought the Capital 8 business centre in Paris for €800 million, the billionaire’s largest European deal to date. Last year he bought the Post building in Vancouver for C$1.1 billion ($780 million). In recent years the group has invested more in residential real estate, alongside traditional office and retail investments.

Pontegadea’s portfolio of luxury housing includes 19 Dutch, a 63-story apartment building in Lower Manhattan, and 727 West Madison, a multifamily development in Chicago. The family office funds its global real estate acquisitions with the annual dividends generated by Ortega’s controlling stake in Inditex. This year, he will collect about €3.2 billion from the fashion retailer.