Hines, acting on behalf of the Hines European Value Fund (HEVF), has acquired the Atrium Charlottenburg office building in Berlin, for over €160m. The building consists of up to 9 floors of offices and offers a Net Rentable Area (NRA) of 40,000m². Located on Berlin’s Kaiserin-Augusta-Allee, the building is 100% leased to tenants including Land Berlin, Jobcenter Berlin Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf and Fraunhofer FOKUS. The building benefits from a good and improving inner-city location within Berlin’s S-Train circuit as well as flexible floor plans. Located close to the “Mierendorffplatz” subway station, the building is within close proximity to Berlin’s City West area, the Zoologischer Garten, Berlin’s main station Hauptbahnhof and highway A100.
Dr. Kai-Magnus Schulte, Director of Hines Immobilien, said: “We are happy to have secured this exciting investment opportunity for our Hines European Value Fund. The building offers a rare combination of a good inner-city location, high flexibility, a very strong tenant line-up and substantial potential to create value through physical improvements and leasing activities. Our local team has significant expertise in development, asset management and value creation and we are eager to create new value in the Atrium Charlottenburg.”
Christoph Reschke, Senior Managing Director of Hines Immobilien, added: “Our great confidence in Berlin's excellent long-term prospects and development is ongoing and it is our strategy to overweight Berlin exposure. The current sentiment in the office market is leading to a substantial uplift of non-traditional office locations within the inner-city. As such upgrading of existing buildings in these locations have become a viable addition to speculative developments and buying core. Atrium Charlottenburg is already benefiting from this transition which will continue further in the future.”
Paul White, HEVF Fund Manager, said: “The acquisition of the Atrium Charlottenburg demonstrates HEVF’s strong belief in the Berlin market and strong rental growth. The city attracts a highly diversified occupier base for office space, including research and technology. The fundamentals in Berlin are exceptionally strong with a positive trajectory for rents. The asset offers an attractive balance of secure income alongside the opportunity for value creation.”
