News from 09/19/2008
Frankfurt: KanAm buys Opernturm from Tishman Speyer and UBS
KanAm Grund Kapitalanlagegesellschaft bought the Opernturm project in Frankfurt for its open-ended fund KanAm grundinvest Fonds from the US-developer Tishman Speyer and the Swiss bank giant UBS. KanAm announced that the parties have agreed to remain silent regarding the sale price. The purchase of the Opernturm is the first investment in Germany for the until now solely international KanAm grundinvest Fonds. The Opernturm is currently being built on Bockenheimer Landstrasse in Frankfurt's Westend district. When the building is completed at the end of 2009, the 168m tall tower will have 42 floors and over 62,000 sqm of office space, half of which will be occupied by UBS Deutschland.
Berlin: Construction may start in 2008 on first hotel at the main railroad station
Construction on the first of the planned hotels at Berlin's central railroad station may still get underway in the fourth quarter of 2008 according to the building site's owner, Vivico. It will be a two star accommodation that will be developed on the 950 sqm MK 3 site near the station's south entrance. High Gain House Investments GmbH is now committed to be the investor in this approximately €25mn project that will be operated by Meiniger-Gruppe, Berlin. The plans from Vivico envision three hotels with a total of 1200 beds and a 3,500 seat convention center in the so-called Lehrter Stadtquartier. The total investment is projected at around €300mn. “We are confident that world interest in Berlin will not decline,” said Henrik Thomsen, director of Vivico Berlin.
Bonn: Topping-out of World Conference Center expansion
The topping-out ceremony for the World Conference Center's expansion in Bonn is being celebrated today. By the end of 2009, the facility will have space for events hosting 5,000 people. The attached 17 story World Conference Hotel will have 336 rooms and suites, two restaurants as well as a wellness area and will be opened in January, 2010. The expansion's investor is the American/Korean consortium SMI Hyundai Corporation, which will operate it for 30 years. The project is one of Germany's biggest public-private partnerships currently under construction.
NCC: Construction company to build power plants of future BBI airport
NCC Deutschland GmbH won the contract to build the power plant at Berlin's new Brandenburg International (BBI) airport. The contract was awarded by the energy firm E.oN edis AG, which has a contract from the airport operators to provide energy through combined power, heating and cooling plants by 2011. On September 19, the construction site will be officially turned over to NCC. The Fürstenwalde/Spree firm could possibly complete the three building complex by May, 2010. In the recent year, the firm, with around 760 employees, has had revenues of around €249mn. NCC Deutschland is a subsidiary of the Swedish construction and real estate company, NCC AB.
Wolfsburg: HIH to invest in Nordkopf's new health center?
Hamburgische Immobilien Handlung (HIH) wants to build the health center the City of Wolfsburg has planned for the Nordkopf area across from the main railroad station. The firm wants to invest more than €20mn in the project the daily Wolfsburger Nachrichten reported. HIH's plans project two buildings between the Jobcenter and the location of the future market hall. They are to provide space for medical offices and medical retail services as well as prevention and rehabilitation services. If HIH gets the go-ahead – which seems probable – construction could, at the earliest, start in Spring, 2009 according to the newspaper. As previously reported, the city issued a request for tenders in the middle of 2007 to build a health center on the former Hertie location. The area between Heinrich-Nordhoff-Strasse, Bahnhofspassage and Porschestrasse Nord provides 3,800 sqm for construction.