Bouwinvest acquires Rotterdam World Trade Center and Amsterdam’s Citroën buildings (NL)

Institutional real estate investment manager Bouwinvest’s Dutch Office Fund, has acquired the World Trade Center in Rotterdam and the iconic “Citroën buildings” in south Amsterdam, as part of its strategy to diversify its portfolio across the major cities in the Randstad conurbation of the Netherlands.
The transactions take 2014 Dutch transactions to €628 mln. The two deals, which were signed towards the end of last year, take Bouwinvest’s total investments in its Dutch real estate funds to €627.5 mln and overall globally to €1.16 bln in 2014.
The WTC Rotterdam was purchased from listed holding company Beurs-WTC, which is 50%-owned by the city’s municipality. The building comprises around 37,000 m² of offices, a 7,000 m² congress and events center, 8,000 m² of retail space divided into 29 shops, as well as 2,000 m² for other commercial uses. It also provides 467 underground parking spaces.
The buildings have a combined area of 25,000 m² and will be redeveloped for multifunctional office, retail and restaurant/café use, in line with the investment strategy of the Office Fund. The refurbishment project will be conducted in close cooperation with the municipality of Amsterdam to preserve the important architectural features. Construction is scheduled to start after the European Athletics Championships, which are being staged in the neighboring Olympic Stadium in early July 2016, to avoid disrupting the event and is due for completion a year later.
Source: Bellier Financial