Barings Real Estate Advisers, part of Barings LLC, one of the world's largest diversified real estate managers, has acquired an office and retail property in Berlin-Friedenau on behalf of a separate account mandate andwill have responsibility for both the refurbishment and asset management of the property. The purchase price was undisclosed.
The vendors are the Cologne-based SILVER CLOUD Invest and the Klingsöhr Group from Berlin. Zenk Rechtsanwälte. Ebner Stolz and Engel & Völkers acted for the vendors, while Berwin Leighton Paisner LLP and KPMG AG Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft advised the purchaser.
The property, situated at Hauptstrasse 78/79, currently provides around 4,000 m². The lettable area of the existing historic listed building could be extended to ca. 5,100 m². Constructed in 1929 as the so-called "Roxy Palast" the building originally housed a cinema alongside other facilities. The large cinema auditorium is now let to an organic supermarket. Most of the remaining space has already been vacated, with the remaining tenants leaving before the year end, allowing Barings to start refurbishment and repositioning of the property.
The "Roxy Palast" is close to the Friedenau town hall, with good local shopping facilities and public transport links, with U-Bahn and S-Bahn stations nearby. The city motorway and the Berlin-Südkreuz ICE (high-speed train) mainline station are also within easy reach.
As part of the refurbishment work, the loft-style office accommodation, with ceiling heights of around four metres, will retain some of its original brickwork so as to maintain the property’s character. A double-storey office unit with 125 m² space, as well as roof terraces is also planned.
The Berlin office market is very dynamic. Low vacancy rates and substantial excess demand mean that it has the highest forecast rental growth among the major European markets. Under the planned manage-to-core strategy, this investment has the ability to generate strong investment returns.
