Warburg-HIH Invest Real Estate has acquired the neighbourhood retail centre located at Wittrockstrasse 3/5 in the inner city of Kassel. The acquisition was transacted in the form of an off-market deal on behalf of “Warburg-HIH Perspektive Einzelhandel: Fokus Nahversorgung,” an open-ended special AIF focused on local retail centres. The acquired property is located in a good district location and highly visible from Wilhelmshoher Allee, the street that connects the parklands of Bergpark Wilhelmshohe with the inner city of Kassel. It has a gross lettable area of around 5,400m² and 117 car parking spots.
The entire building is almost fully occupied. It is anchored by a Rewe food market that occupies more than 50% of the lettable area. Other major tenants include an Aldi discount supermarket and a Rossmann drugstore. The average remaining lease term among the property’s tenants is currently around nine years.
Originally built in 1972, the neighbourhood retail centre was redeveloped and topped up in 2003. In 2019, comprehensive upkeep works were carried out in the section occupied by Rewe and the forecourt parking outside Rewe.
“By acquiring the neighbourhood retail centre in Kassel we brought the portfolio of our fund up to twelve properties or c.€238m in real estate assets now,” said Thomas Christ, Senior Fund Manager at Warburg-HIH Invest. “Key arguments in favour of buying this property included the outstanding location and transportation access, the sound tenant structure and the existing capital appreciation potential.” Hans-Joachim Lehmann, Managing Director of Warburg-HIH Invest, elaborated: “The acquisition is helping us not only to boost the profitability of our local retail investment fund but are also to further diversify the regional spread of its portfolio and its tenant structure.”
