HIH Invest Real Estate has acquired a multi-use neighbourhood retail centre in the town of Espelkamp in eastern Westphalia (North Rhine-Westphalia). It was sold by aik Immobilien-Investmentgesellschaft (aik). The property has a total lettable area of around 8,500m², and is almost fully occupied. It consists of five buildings that are grouped around a central parking lot with more than 300 spots. Anchor tenants include a Lidl discounter on 1,820m², a Muller Drogeriemarkt drugstore on 1,440m² and a Woolworth of 2,650m² of lettable area. The tenant mix is complemented by retailers of the textiles and footwear segments as well as by offices, doctors’ surgeries and service providers occupying smaller units.
The retail park opened for business in 2007, and represents a key component of the high-street retail line-up of Espelkamp. Located next to the central parking lot are other retail, service and leisure amenities, including an Aldi discount supermarket and the only cinema in town. The site comes with convenient transport links to the rest of the Espelkamp city area, and is easily accessible by both public and private motorised transportation. Inner-city residential areas are located within walking distance.
Jens Nagelsmeier, Head of Retail Transaction at HIH Invest Real Estate, elaborated: “With its well-balanced tenant constituency and its blue-chip anchor tenants, the neighbourhood retail centre in Espelkamp is a particularly attractive asset for our institutional fund. The tenants are highly recognisable, and benefit from mutual synergy effects with retail and leisure options in the direct vicinity as well as from the surrounding residential areas.”
