Invesco Real Estate (IRE) announced its first residential acquisition in Europe being the 21-storey Westside Tower, a forward-purchase development project in Frankfurt for c. €62 million. The acquisition has been made on behalf of a club of German institutional investors with an initial target volume of €250 million to invest in the residential sector
The acquisition follows the announcement in April of IRE’s appointment of John German as director of residential investments to spearhead the firm’s expansion into the residential sector across Europe.
Westside Tower is situated in the development area known as Europaviertel to the west of Frankfurt. The acquisition is a forward purchase of a freehold site and the commitment to fund the development of the tower in partnership with Revitalis Real Estate AG, an experienced developer. The completed Westside Tower will be 21 storeys and comprise c.23,250 m² segmented into 248 residential units, as well as retail and other facilities such as a child day care facility, car parking and cellar storage units for each flat. Construction is scheduled for completion in Q4 2015.
John German comments: “We are delighted with this first step in providing the opportunity for our institutional investors to access this increasing important sector. The Westside Tower project will produce an institutional grade, market-leading product in a location with proven investor and rental demand.
“As the firm is already dominant in multi-family in the US and has a strong presence and track record in this space in Asia Pacific, we believe the timing was therefore right to bring this considered investment philosophy to Europe.”
Additional residential investment opportunities are currently being reviewed across Germany, including Dresden, Hamburg, Dusseldorf, Berlin and Freiburg, as well as the UK and the Netherlands.
Source: Invesco
