Rockspring on behalf of TransEuropean Property Limited Partnership VI (TEP VI), announces that it has acquired a second ‘brick and beam’ tech office investment in Berlin for ca. €25m. Located in a TMT ‘hotspot’ on Chausseestrasse, Mitte - directly next to the Humboldt University and several ‘New Economy’ tenants – the acquisition comprises a ca. 7,000 m² office building, together with 26 residential apartments, one retail unit and 20 car parking spaces.
The transaction follows two other similar office investments in Friedrichshain in Berlin and Lisbon’s Santos district and brings the total amount committed to Europe’s rapidly expanding creative urban districts to well over €100m.
The office building was originally constructed in the 1930’s as a six storey factory and has been occupied for the last 20 years by the Humboldt University. The tenant has recently vacated, offering an exceptional opportunity to fully refurbish the open plan floorplates and bring the ‘brick and beam’ accommodation to the market in the last quarter of 2017, at a time when office vacancy rates are expected to be under 3%. The vendor was a private German family office represented by Steffen & Co. Commercial GmbH & Co. KG.
The refurbishment and repositioning of the asset will be implemented by Rockspring’s Berlin office, which also originated the transaction. Rockspring now has circa €2bn assets under management across Germany and Switzerland.
Paul Hampton, Rockspring Partner and Fund Director of the TransEuropean series said: “A perfect complement to the Fund’s first investment in Berlin, this deal concludes the initial portfolio assembly phase for TEP VI. With investments in a number of dynamic urban centres, including Geneva, Paris, Madrid, Lisbon and Berlin, we are excited about the prospects for significant value creation within the Fund.”
Ulf Christiansen, Head of Acquisitions at Rockspring Germany commented: “After our recent acquisition of a ‘loft office’ in Berlin Friedrichshain, we have now completed our second transaction in this sought after Berlin location. The offices are vacant, full of character and, on completion of the refurbishment, will offer attractive office space in a supply constrained market at a time when we are seeing strong tenant demand, a very limited pipeline of speculative development and rising rents.”
TEP VI, which held a final close in July 2016 with €430m of equity as well as leverage of up to 55%, is now fully committed across twelve projects in six European countries. The diversified pan-European portfolio consists of office, retail, residential and industrial properties in large metropolitan areas of core Western Europe (including the UK). The Fund has focused on assembling a cash-flow generative portfolio that can be aggressively ‘managed to core’, utilising the firm’s Europe-wide platform and, more specifically, its hands-on asset management or operator-style approach. The programme concentrates on ‘value-add’ transactions.
