Union Investment: Eurocastle's "Fürstenhof" in Frankfurt acquired for €129mn
Union Investment Real Estate has gone shopping again in Frankfurt. The fund company acquired the "Fürstenhof" in the financial district from the Fortress subsidiary Eurocastle Investment Limited. The investment volume for the office and commercial building with a usable area of 18,450 sqm is quoted at approximately €129mn. The new acquisition is to be integrated into the open fund UniImmo: Deutschland. The "Fürstenhof," situated on the corner of Gallusanlage and Kaiserstrasse, is completely rented to Dresdner Bank.
Hamburg: Hamburger Strasse shopping center being modernized for €200mn
The Hamburger Strasse shopping center in Hamburg's Barmbek district is being modernized and comprehensively refurbished for €200mn while continuing its operations. Work began on July 1 and is scheduled to be completed in fall, 2010. The owner of the shopping center opened in 1970 and the investor for the revitalization measures is a joint venture composed of ECE and the Hermann Friedrich Bruhn group. General contractor is Ed. Züblin AG. The modernization will comprise a reorientation of the sales mix, a thorough renovation of the external facade and the restyling of the shopping street, which will run along the entire length of the building complex (some 600 m) after completion. According to ECE, more than 60% of the lettable area is already rented to such tenants as C&A, H&M, Esprit, s.Oliver, New Yorker, Bestseller, Thalia, Rewe, Aldi and Budnikowsky, as well as to the entertainment electronics dealer Medi Max.
Ingolstadt: CBRE investors starting logistics project in August
Construction work on the logistics project planned by CB Richard Ellis Investors (CBRE) and the developer Helios Properties in the "Interpark" commercial park in Ingolstadt can start before the end of the year. CBRE Investors announced that the construction permit for the distribution hall with 36,000 sqm of storage and 900 sqm of office space was issued ten weeks after the submission of the building application. Actual building is now to begin in August; completion is slated for spring, 2009. DTZ and the brokers of CB Richard Ellis have been assigned to market the speculative project. In addition to Ingolstadt, CBRE is also planning speculative logistics investments in Leipzig and Berlin. Taken together, the three projects are to develop up to 270,000 sqm of logistics area on a total area of 70 hectares. In total, these three projects comprise the biggest speculative logistics investment ever made in Germany, CBRE Investors claims. The projects belong to the CB Richard Ellis Strategic Partners Europe Fund III (SPE III).
Hamburg: MEAG starts revitalizing "Rahlstedt Center"
On July 15, MEAG Munich Ergo AssetManagement will be starting the revitalization of the shopping center called "Rahlstedt Center" in Hamburg's Rahlstedt district (Borough of Wandsbek). The lettable area will be expanded from 18,000 to 22,500 sqm; the number of stores will be raised from 45 to about 70, and the two presently separated building segments will be connected by a glass bridge building. The branch mix of gastronomy, apparel and entertainment electronics is to be improved. The investment volume is quoted at €45mn. The modernization of the shopping center built in 1983-84 will be carried out by mfi Management für Immobilien AG. The conclusion of the conversion in stages is scheduled for spring, 2010. The shopping center will then be renamed "Rahlstedt Arcaden".
Deutsche Reit: Basic capital raised 10%, new shares go to Vivacon
Deutsche Reit AG has increased its basic capital, excluding previous shareholders' subscription rights, by nearly 10%. The company announced that 791,950 new shares were issued at €5.31 per share. After the capital increase was recorded with the commercial register, Deutsche Reit's issued and paid-in share capital will amount to €8.64mn. The firm also reports that the new shares were completely subscribed by Vivacon AG. It was said that the emission's gross cash receipt of approximately €4.2mn will be used for the acquisition of further residential and commercial properties.
Open funds: Further expansion of foreign activity
Open funds continue to raise the proportion of their foreign investments. On the average, they now hold 58.9% of their properties in foreign European countries (one year ago: 54.6%), according to an evaluation compiled by BVI, the Federal Association Investment and Asset Management, issued on March 31, 2008. The proportion of objects located in Germany fell, compared with the same period during the previous year, to 31.4% (38.3%). The portion of properties held in countries outside Europe was not quite 10% (7.1%). Outside of Germany, France, with a 19.2% share, is the top investment location, followed by Great Britain (11.5%), the Netherlands (6.7%) and Italy (5.0%). Outside of Europe, the U.S.A., Japan and Canada are among the preferred locations.
Invesco: Retail park near Stockholm acquired for BVK special fund
Invesco Real Estate and Scius Partners acquired a retail park in Varmdo near Stockholm for €40mn. The purchase was performed for iii-BVK Europa-Immobilien-Spezialfonds, an institutional property fund put out by the Bavarian pensions' agency Bayerische Versorgungskammer. Invesco has been managing the fund since 2000. According to Invesco, the buildings in the 16,500 sqm Molnvik Retail Park are either new or still under construction and are rented to nine local dealers. The average length of the leasing contracts is ten years, it says. This is the first acquisition made by Invesco and Scius Partners in Scandinavia since the two firms joined in a cooperation for the Nordic countries at the end of 2007.
Berlin: ECE brokered 13,000 sqm office space for DBV and Axa
Commissioned by DBV-Winterthur and Axa Property Managers Deutschland, ECE has newly rented out a total of 13,000 sqm of office space in Berlin. In the "Knesebeck-Ensemble" alone—the federal state's former court of audit, or "Landesrechnungshof"—at Knesebeckstrasse 59-61 in Charlottenburg, ECE brokered 8,700 sqm for DBV-Winterthur, divided among units ranging from 212 to 928 sqm, to 20 different firms. The occupancy rate in the Knesebeck-Ensemble with a total of 9,500 sqm of office space is just under 95%. The average rent price is quoted at approximately €12/sqm. ECE also brokered more than 3,700 sqm in the "Michaelsen-Palais" built in 1904 at the later location of Checkpoint Charlie. The occupancy rate here is now around 80%. Some 600 sqm were newly rented in the "Haus der Schweiz," or "House of Switzerland" in the Borough of Mitte at the corner of Unter den Linden and Friedrichstrasse; the renting rate is thus also higher than 80%.