“With my own funds, I am going to do what I can, but either there is support, or in the end it will become a rural house for my family and friends,” says Óscar Torres.
Oscar Torres Gallegoconstruction businessman from La Mancha, real estate developer and rural tourism business, is the new owner of castro town, located in the municipality of fonfria. At 42 years old, this Toledo entrepreneur admits that with the purchase transaction of the old town built by Iberduero (today Iberdrola) to house the workers who participated in the construction of the Castro waterfall, fulfills an old dream. Acquiring a village or a small town where a rural tourism project could be molded to his measure was an illusion shared with his eldest son. It has not been in Castilla-La Mancha or in the north of Spain, as she initially thought. The unexpected offer from the Zamora group opened the eyes of this businessman who longs to turn the town into a rural tourism complex to take advantage of all the resources offered by the environment nestled in the Arribes del Duero Natural Park, also declared a Biosphere Reserve.
What has brought you to Zamora, nothing less than to buy an abandoned town?He had been behind a project of these characteristics for some time. I am a builder and promoter, I am also dedicated to the tourism sector and one of my dreams was to buy a village or some abandoned village in the area of Castilla-La Mancha or the north of Spain, although in reality any territory was worth it, as long as it adapted what I was looking for. My eldest son and I are passionate about this and he has a mobile application where the sale of the town of Castro jumped out. I immediately contacted the person who had the sales mandate and the next day I went to the town of Castro. I was going through and reviewing everything, making a mental study of the possibilities that this could have. As soon as I met him I fell in love and I automatically indicated the operation.
The day after seeing the ad, I showed up in the town and fell in love
What sensations did you have when you visited it for the first time?With the photographs that I had seen, I imagined a little what I could find. The possibilities that this town and its surroundings have are endless.In what sense?The natural environment is fantastic, Portugal is next door, with all the opportunities that open up. It’s a Natural Park (Arribes del Duero), Biosphere Reserve (Iberian Plateau), zone of protection for birds. I think that area should be exploited. The town is impressive, constructively it is a spectacular town, with stone walls one meter wide, it had to be a major work.What is really your project in the town?My approach is a tourist complex with a rural hotel where you can offer hiking, horseback, bicycle or quad routes. I would like to ride a zip line to be able to cross the Duero and take advantage of resources such as the Arribes Denomination of Origin to make a tiny winery. The area has great possibilities for excursions through the Natural Park, which is also a Biosphere Reserve. And if we obtain authorization, in agreement with the Duero Hydrographic Confederation, nautical sports can be promoted, taking advantage of that wonderful Duero river that runs through the canyons, for example to go canoeing through the Arribes as there is already something in the area and in the Portuguese part. The possibilities are immense, linked to rural tourism.The purchase was finally closed at 300,000 euros, but there is a lot of work ahead that will require significant investments. How are you going to channel it?In principle, with my own funds, I am going to start and start the documentation, project, license procedures. A cleaning and closing operation of the town is a priority so that it is not vandalized anymore. Furthermore, once I definitively acquire ownership of these properties, the responsibility is mine and I do not want to take risks of accidents or anyone who may enter there. And from there I need help from the public administration because otherwise it is unfeasible.
I am from La Mancha and in our autonomous community they help us a lot in this type of project
The rehabilitation of the town is a major work. Have you valued the investment?Between 3 and 5 million euros. I hope that public administrations respond with facts to your concern about depopulation. If they are selling us so much the need to support inland areas, what they call emptied Spain, they will have to help the entrepreneurs we are betting on. I have done it, buying the town, now they have to help me, without public aid it is unfeasible. I am from La Mancha and in our autonomous community they help us a lot in this type of project. I dedicate myself to it, especially in Toledo buying old buildings, with protection, that threaten ruin, and help us to restore them and direct them towards tourism.Have you had any contact so far with public administrations?We have contacted the Junta de Castilla y León by email, and we will see if we have an answer. From now on I would also like to support myself in the Diputación de Zamora and see all the possibilities of support to carry out a project that, I am sure, would promote the entire area.So, does the viability of your tourism project depend on this support from the administrations?If we do not have aid from public administrations it is unfeasible to be able to carry out a tourism project and less of these characteristics. With my own funds I am going to pull as far as I can, but I need the institutions to support me. It’s clear. Either they help me or in the end the town of Castro becomes a rural house for me, for my family and for my friends. It can not be another thing.
Either they help me, or in the end the town of Castro becomes a rural house for me, for my family and for my friends
What will be the first steps?First notarize and have formalized the purchase-sale contract, which will be in about 20 days. And from then on, the first thing would be to fence off, clean up, and begin to draw up a topographic map in order to organize the project, and with the license in hand, begin to request subsidies. There are also companies that are contacting me to contribute funds or tourism companies that want to participate and collaborate. But I insist, everything goes through the subsidy because otherwise it is unfeasible.
An operation closed at 300,000 euros
The sale of the town of Castro, which was put on the market for 260,000 euros, has finally closed for 300,000 euros. It is the amount paid by the Toledo businessman Óscar Torres Gallego. The real estate company that put the Zamora town up for sale confirms that it has received offers from Saudi Arabia, Russia, Brazil, and the United Kingdom. “Investors from more than twenty countries around the world have contacted us& rdquor; he has explained Romuald Rodríguez, spokesman for the company that represents the owners.
Offers of up to 600,000 euros have been received, but the real estate agency has tried to respect the initial price proposed by the Toledo businessman, who presented one of the first viable purchase offers. As this newspaper has already reported, proposals were also received from a private university, including some NGOs that proposed restoring the town with citizens from Ukraine to settle in the area. Finally, it was Óscar Torres, CEO of Iniciativas Faos, a company with more than 20 years in the construction sector.
The town belonged, until this latest purchase-sale operation, to a family of Galician origin that bought it at the beginning of the 20th century from Iberdrola. Dedicated to tourism, the family saw how their plans were cut short with the 2008 crisis, and their project to turn this village into a town dedicated to tourism was cut short. He then decided to put the town on the market, which has 44 houses, five of which are independent. It also has a bar, a church, and a school with several classrooms. There is also an old Civil Guard barracks, a swimming pool and sports areas.
In 2017, the town of Castro came up for sale for 1,750,000 euros. Later it shot up to 6.5 million euros in 2019, when the owners claimed to have offers from Russians and Arabs interested in the complex that offers impressive views.