Hines, the international real estate firm, has announced the sale by the Hines European Value Added Fund (HEVAF) of Postquartier to the federal state of Baden-Württemberg-Stiftung. Financials on the sale were not disclosed.
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Postquartier is an 11-story office building that includes retail on the first two floors.
Located in Stuttgart's CBD on the corner of Kronenstrasse and Lautenschlagerstrasse, adjacent to Stuttgart's main shopping street, Koenigstrasse, Postquartier is a 301,000 ft² (approx. 28,000 m²), 11-story office building that includes 102,000 ft² of retail on the first two floors.
Originally constructed in 1927, Postquartier was demolished and rebuilt in the 1980s. HEVAF purchased the former headquarters of Deutsche Post (German postal service) in 2008. Hines Germany then oversaw the property's 100 million refurbishment on behalf of HEVAF, resulting in a modern, high-performance building competing with the best new product in the market. Hines Germany also provided leasing management services for HEVAF.
At building completion in 2012, it was fully leased mainly to the Federal State of Baden-Württemberg for their Ministry of Education and Sports, Deutsche Bahn Fernverkehr AG, and high-end retail tenants including Conrad Electronic, Mammut, The North Face, Rewe, Rossmann, and Sixt.
Hines Managing Director Alexander Moell stated, "We are very pleased that our vision for Postquartier could be realized successfully with the help of the city of Stuttgart. In addition to having the responsibility to develop a landmark building, we also wanted to create the starting point for upgrading the entire neighborhood."
Hines Project Manager Christian Meister commented "We are now looking forward to new development opportunities in Stuttgart."
Postquartier is the first property in Stuttgart that has earned Gold pre-certification under the US Green Building Council's LEED for Core & Shell Rating System. Hines put great emphasis on energy efficiency during planning and construction including using up-to-date technical equipment and low-emission materials. The sustainability level of Postquartier, after the refurbishment, is equivalent to a newly built property.
Launched in 2005 with 287 million of equity commitments from a group of European institutional investors, HEVAF was at inception the second pan-European investment fund raised by Hines. The objective of the fund has been to invest in and add significant value to European real estate opportunities, principally in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK.
Source: Hines
