Immobel SA and AG Real Estate Asset Management have sold to Home Invest the 'Louvimmo' properties in the center of the Belgian university city Louvain-la-Neuve for €34.4 million. International real estate advisor Savills and JLL advised on the sale to Home Invest Belgium.
Louvimmo comprises three fully let buildings with a total of 23,126 m², divided into residential (40%), retail (36%), office and auditorium space (24%) across the three properties. The buildings include 51 ground floor retail units (8,273 m²) let to mostly food and independent retailers, as well as 4,134 m² of office space. In addition 9,319 m² of residential space is primarily let as student accommodation (77%).
UCL is Belgium’s largest French-speaking university and owns all the land in Louvain-la-Neuve, which is located 30km from the Belgian capital Brussels. Home Invest Belgium acquired the Louvimmo assets in a “right to build” deal which expires in 2026. At this time UCL can choose to pay an indemnity at market value for the properties to be transferred back to the university or grant the owner a further long leasehold of 49 years, until 2075.
Gregory Martin, managing director at Savills Belux, says: “The Louvimmo assets are excellent, fully let mixed-use properties in the city center and are closely linked to the busy university which is one of Belgium’s largest with over 27,000 students. The high level of interest that we obtained for this asset reflects the increasing diversification trend that is present with many investors.”
Philip Vroninks, head of capital markets at Jones Lang LaSalle Belgium, comments: “This transaction confirms the trend that institutional investors are increasingly looking at student accommodation as an asset class on its own and we expect to see more deals like this in the future.”
Source: Savills
