DEGI Deutsche Gesellschaft für Immobilienfonds mbH, the real estate investment manager of Allianz, has invested in Croatia for the first time. It has acquired from CRZ d.o.o. the shopping mall of the 'King Cross' shopping center in Zagreb's Jankomir district which was developed by the Italian shopping center developer Coimpredil S.p.A.
The property with around 17,000 m² rental space belongs to the DEGI GLOBAL BUSINESS public fund, which is specially tailored to the requirements of institutional and high net worth individual investors. Jones Lang LaSalle and DLA Piper Rudnick have acted as the sole advisors to DEGI on the above transaction.
Great attraction with the public in the west of Zagreb
The shopping center is located at a strategic motorway junction in the western part of the Croatian capital, and is of national importance. King Cross has always enjoyed a 100% occupancy rate since its opening in September 2002. The 87 shop units are fully let up to the end of 2012. Tenants are mainly large national and international companies, the tenant structure corresponds to up-market European level. A hypermarket operated by COOP is connected to the shopping center. With a floor space totalling 35,000 m², King Cross is the largest and most important shopping center in Croatia and has approximately 1,600 parking spaces. Designed as a 'single level mall', it is one of the few such shopping centers in Croatia. In 2005, 4.7 million people visited the center 370,000 people are less than 20 minutes driving distance from the shopping center. Since opening the Centre has always enjoyed impressive growth rates on sales turnover, on a year to year basis the latest increases have been between 20% and 25%.
Efficient retail trade structures
The opening of the King Cross center has accelerated the establishment of other retail traders in the area, enhancing the attraction of the area and drawing an increased number of visitors to it. In the immediate vicinity there is a do-it-yourself center, the largest furniture superstore in Croatia, as well as various car dealerships. The location therefore covers almost every consumer requirement, ranging from daily food purchases to long-term purchases. "Efficient and high-turnover retail trade structures like those in Western Europe are rapidly establishing themselves in Zagreb and its surrounding areas. Among these structures, King Cross has already established itself as the core of a modern shopping culture," according to Bärbel Schomberg, Speaker of the DEGI Management Board.
Source: DEGI
