In a region long defined by steel and heavy industry, a former steel rope factory in Gelsenkirchen is about to be reborn as a hub for e-commerce and last-mile delivery. Pan-European logistics real estate specialist Verdion has acquired the 6.67-hectare site in Germany's Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region to develop a €68m urban logistics scheme for its second European Logistics Fund, VELF 2, marking the investor's third German acquisition for the fund in just six months.
Verdion will now progress design and building permitting for a speculative LiteHub development comprising 37,675 m² of urban logistics space across two self-contained blocks, with units ranging from 2,945 m² to 20,098 m² across up to 10 flexible configurations. The scheme is targeting EG40 and DGNB Gold sustainability standards, positioning it toward the higher end of Germany's increasingly ESG-driven occupier demand. The site itself, acquired from Bekaert, a world leader in steel wire transformation, sits on the northern outskirts of Gelsenkirchen close to the A42 motorway between Duisburg and Dortmund, with Duisburg Inland Port and central Essen both under 30 minutes away.
"This acquisition further strengthens our development pipeline in Germany, securing a strategically located site in the heart of one of Europe's largest industrial and consumer markets. With excellent connectivity and access to a substantial customer base, we expect strong occupier demand from e-commerce, light manufacturing and last-mile distribution businesses, continuing our strategy of delivering flexible, modern space in prime urban locations with constrained supply," said Moritz Heißenberg, Executive Director, Head of Germany at Verdion.
What makes this deal particularly relevant for investors watching the German logistics market is the consistency of the brownfield strategy behind it rather than the deal itself in isolation. Verdion has now committed to four brownfield redevelopments for VELF 2 within Germany alone since June 2025, a €96m LiteHub in Munich in June 2026, a €95m combined LiteHub and CoreHub scheme in northern Cologne in February, and a €45m automotive-ready asset in Rastatt on the German-French border due for completion in July 2027. That pattern signals a repeatable, scalable approach to converting Germany's ageing industrial land bank into modern logistics stock, at a time when constrained urban land supply is becoming one of the defining constraints on new logistics development across Western Europe.
"This acquisition is a strong fit with our investment strategy for VELF 2. We remain disciplined in targeting brownfield opportunities in established urban markets where we see clear potential to create value through redevelopment. Gelsenkirchen combines strong underlying demand fundamentals with the opportunity to transform an underutilised industrial site into modern, flexible logistics space," said Oliver Kemper, Head of Investment, Germany at Verdion.
VELF 2 closed at the end of 2024 having raised more than €300m of equity, and continues to deploy capital across Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden, drawing on Verdion's vertically integrated development and technical expertise. JLL brokered the transaction.
Founded by Michael Hughes in January 2010 and headquartered in London with offices in Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Copenhagen and Stockholm, Verdion has built a €3.3bn European logistics portfolio spanning new developments and value-add assets across Germany, the UK, the Nordics and Benelux, with a current development pipeline exceeding 1.1 million m².
People mentioned
- Moritz Heißenberg, Executive Director, Head of Germany, Verdion
- Oliver Kemper, Head of Investment, Germany, Verdion
- Michael Hughes, Founder, Verdion
Companies mentioned
- Verdion, pan-European logistics investor, developer and asset manager acquiring and developing the Gelsenkirchen site
- Bekaert, world leader in steel wire transformation and seller of the former factory site
- JLL, broker on the transaction
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