HIH Invest has just acquired a health centre located in Michendorf near Potsdam from the GP Gunter Papenburg AG conglomerate for its open-ended special AIF, “Vita Invest.” It represents a property development that is part of “Neue Ortsmitte,” a new residential block under construction in a central location. The scheme consist of two separate four-storey buildings directly next to the entranceway to the new quarter. One will be used as a health centre, the other being as an office building. Their combined gross lettable area approximates 3,597m². The health centre with its lettable area of about 1,660m² is expected to be completed by the end of 2023. The first units in the property have already been let to a local home care service. The other units will be occupied by various doctors’ offices or therapy facilities. The already completed administrative building with its lettable area of 1,937m² was rented by EMB Energy Mark Brandenburg GmbH, a local utility company that has been using it as its principal place of business since January 2021.
Felix Meyen, Managing Director at HIH Invest, commented: “We are pleased to report the first transaction for our new investment fund. We are interested not just in cities but in the wider metro regions, too. Especially in the greater Berlin area, the gravy belt keeps widening, but the corresponding development of medical amenities lags behind. Brandenburg, which surrounds Berlin on all sides, is the state with the lowest density of physicians in Germany, generating strong demand for outpatient medical services. This makes it plausible to provide medical amenities at health centres where a range of surgeries cover various specialities.”
Carsten Demmler, Managing Director of Warburg-HIH Invest, elaborated: “Unlike other types of use, the demand for healthcare properties—and thus their relettability—is more or less immune to short-term fluctuations of the market and the economic cycle. This makes them a highly attractive investment for our institutional clients. Structured as an Article 8 fund, the fund meets specific sustainability criteria: It helps to ensure the local provision of medical amenities while the sustainable management by its operator lives up the fund’s social responsibility. In addition, the development in Michendorf emphasises the environmental aspect. Heating and electricity is provided to the properties via the quarter’s own combined heat and power plant and by a roof-mounted photovoltaic system operated by EMB.”
