Union Investment has acquired the StadtCenter Düren shopping centre, which is home to 54 retailers and food outlets across some 17,800m² of rental space. The two-storey centre is in an inner-city location and includes a 311 parking spaces. The vendor of the property, which is currently 96% let, is a property fund managed by CBRE Global Investors. The purchase price is approximately €70m. Completed in 2004, the shopping centre will join the portfolio of open-ended real estate fund Unilmmo: Deutschland.
StadtCenter Düren is visited by 4.8 million customers a year and is thus a key destination for the around 260,000 inhabitants of Düren and the surrounding area. Among the biggest tenants in the shopping centre are Saturn with 3,800 sq m, H&M with 2,200m² and other well-known brands such as Deichmann and New Yorker.
In addition to the parking deck at StadtCenter Düren, there is a multi-storey car park in close proximity, giving visitors access to a total of almost 700 parking spaces. There are also several bus stops immediately in front of the property on Gutenbergstrasse, and a railway station in six-minute walk distance.
“StadtCenter Düren has experienced heavy footfall for years now, it acts as an anchor for the city centre and is very important in terms of meeting the daily shopping needs of residents across the whole area,” said Henrike Waldburg, head of Retail Investment Management at Union Investment Real Estate GmbH.
The property consultant CBRE advised the seller, Savills advised the buyer on the transaction. Legal and tax advice was provided by BLP, Clifford Chance and Deloitte.
Union Investment currently holds 47 shopping centres and other retail properties in Europe and the US worth a total of €8.6bn. Alongside properties in major cities, the German retail portfolio includes regionally important shopping centres in locations such as Kiel, Osnabrück, Neuss, Esslingen and Ulm.
