VALUES Real Estate has acquired the former telecommunications office in the Hamburg-Rotherbaum district on behalf of an investment fund of Bayerische Versorgungskammer (BVK). The listed building in Schluterstrasse 51-53, which was the largest telecommunications office in the world upon completion, is leased to the City of Hamburg for a 30-year term.
The forward deal with the investment manager Peakside Capital Advisors encompasses the property with approximately 65,000m² of gross floor area. VALUES is acting as investment manager in the transaction for a BVK investment fund administered by Universal Investment as the AIFM in Luxembourg. Asset management will be taken over by VALUES with long-term support by Peakside. The building complex was part of the Peakside Real Estate Funds II and III (PREF II and PREF III) and is currently being refurbished and expanded by Peakside. Following completion, some 52,000m² of the property will be used by University of Hamburg, Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (ZBW), German Institute for Global and Area Studies (GIGA) and Studierendenwerk Hamburg.
“The long-term lease contract with the public tenant as well as the planned ESG measures are an excellent fit with BVK’s current investment approach. We are convinced that the asset will generate stable and secure rental income for our investors,” said Norman Fackelmann, Head of Real Estate at BVK.
Dr Carsten Fischer, Managing Partner at VALUES Real Estate, added: “The University of Hamburg’s Humanities Research Center at this central location is an important milestone in the future development of Germany’s second largest city as an education and science hub. It is a forward-looking investment into the Hanseatic city’s public services. For BVK, this investment offers long-term, secure distribution yields. And we are looking forward to working together with our partner Peakside.”
Boris Schran, Managing Partner at Peakside, said: “The former telecommunications office is a flagship project of our manage-to-green strategy. We are preserving as much as possible of the old building fabric and are raising the property to state-of-the art standards in terms of energy efficiency and interior design. At the same time, we are activating new space by developing the attic stories and adding basements and roofing. We look forward to working together with our partners, including the tenants from the education and science sectors, as we continue to service the building.”
