Valad Europe has acquired the Haagse Poort office building in The Hague on behalf of its Valad Netherlands Diversified Partnership (VNDP). This is the largest single office transaction in the Netherlands to date this year.
Haagse Poort comprises 68,500 m² of high quality office space divided between 18 high rise floors and seven low rise floors, as well as 1,000 parking spaces. The building underwent an extensive refurbishment over 2013-14. Haagse Poort is built over the A12, the main motorway into The Hague, making it easily accessible by car and public transportation. It is currently almost fully let, with major tenants Nationale- Nederlanden and CB&I who both operate their corporate headquarters from the site.
Constructed in 1995, Haagse Poort has previously been owned by ING Real Estate, KanAm, and Evans Randall.
Thierry Leleu, Head of Funds Management, at Valad Europe, said: “Given recent upgrades to the GDP forecast and the expectation that employment growth in the services sector is likely to be as high as 10% by 2025, we are broadly positive about the outlook for the office sector in the Netherlands. Indeed, we are already starting to see increased demand for new office space and larger floorplates from tenants looking for more space, provided the location and quality of the building is right. In 2014, office take-up reached 1.2m m² and in the first half of 2015 around 490,000 m² of office space was leased – an increase of 11.5% compared to the previous year.”
Mark McLaughlin, Valad Europe’s Head of Benelux, commented: "This is our third acquisition for VNDP since it launched earlier this year and takes the Fund’s total invested to more than €300m. Located in the Beatrixkwartier, the central business district of The Hague, the Haagse Poort is an excellent addition to the growing VNDP portfolio.”
BNP Paribas RE and Nadorp Investment Services advised Valad Europe on the purchase, CBRE advised the vendor.
