The encyclopedia · Strategy & Leadership · Strategic decision · 1989–2016
Space Ibiza built a 27-year legend on a rented building
Ibiza's famous club ran from 1989 in a building rented from the Matutes family; when the lease was not renewed in 2016, the landlord rebuilt it as Hï Ibiza.
Space Ibiza · 2016-10
What happened
Pepe Roselló ran Space at Playa d'en Bossa from 1989, renting the building from the Matutes family, and over 27 years it became Ibiza's most celebrated club — famous for its open-air terrace, its 22-hour dance marathons and Carl Cox's long-running residency. DJs called it the most significant club on the planet; the brand was the island's.
But the club never owned its home. In 2016 the lease was not renewed — the Matutes family, whose neighbouring Ushuaïa empire was remaking the strip, took the venue back. On 2 October 2016 Space held its final party: after a 12-hour closing set, Cox played Angie Stone's 'Wish I Didn't Miss You' as the last record. 'There's been no other club on this planet that has basically been as significant as this one,' he said.
The landlord's rebuild took months, not years: on 28 May 2017 the same building reopened as Hï Ibiza, operated by the Matutes group's Ushuaïa Entertainment. Roselló kept the memories and lost everything structural — in later court battles he even lost the Spanish rights to the Space trademark.
Why it happened
- The whole business stood on a lease: 27 years of brand equity lived in a building the club never owned.
- The landlord was also the competition — once the brand made the location famous, the owner had every reason to take it back.
- A club's assets walk out the door each morning: without the venue there was nothing to sell, move or reopen.
The lesson
Space proved that residencies, crowds and a name are worth nothing without the walls — the moment the lease lapsed, the Matutes family owned the legend and rebuilt it under another name.
Aftermath
Hï Ibiza opened on the site on 28 May 2017 and became one of the island's leading clubs. The Space name survives in retrospectives and a trademark dispute.
Sources
- BBC Newsbeat, 3 October 2016 — Carl Cox closes Space in Ibiza for the final time (opened 1989, closed after 27 years; lease not renewed; Carl Cox 12-hour final set ending with Angie Stone's 'Wish I Didn't Miss You'; Cox: 'There's been no other club on this planet that has basically been as significant as this one'; known for its terrace and 22-hour dance marathons)
- Mixmag — Ibiza nightclub Eden has been forced to cancel its Space residency (legal cases over the management of the Space building, now Hï Ibiza, which Roselló had rented from the Matutes family)
- Wikipedia — Hï Ibiza (opened 28 May 2017 on the site formerly occupied by Space Ibiza; superclub operated by Ushuaïa Entertainment)
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