Savills and Engel & Völkers Commercial advise

CORESTATE Capital Holding S.A. (CORESTATE), a fully-integrated real estate investment manager and co-investor based in Luxembourg, and Universal-Investment have acquired a micro-apartment building with 179 units in Hamburg. The property was acquired for the real estate umbrella fund created on behalf of Bayerische Versorgungskammer on Universal-Investment’s Luxembourg AIF platform. The vendor was Jargonnant Partners S.à r.l., who received €64m for the property. The Grindel high-rise in Hamburg-Harvestehude provides a total lettable area of 14,800 sq m and comprises 179 micro-apartments, twelve offices, eight storage units and six commercial units. Global real estate services provider Savills and Engel & Völkers Commercial acted as joint advisors and negotiated the sale on behalf of the vendor.

The mixed-use property, constructed in 1950 and modernised between 2013 and 2015, is part of the heritage-protected complex of twelve Grindel high-rises, which are enduring landmarks of Harvestehude as the district’s first and only high-rise buildings.

Comprising 14 standard floors and one set-back storey, the property provides space for 179 micro-apartments, twelve offices, eight storage units and six commercial units to the west of the Outer Alster lake. The diversified tenant structure is also reflected visually by the vertical division of the building into three sections. The 7,000 sq m of residential space is located primarily in sections A and C, while the central section accommodates the 6,100 sq m of office units as well as apartments on the top two floors. The commercial space, comprising offices and restaurants, is divided over approximately 1,100 sq m across the entire ground floor of the high-rise while the basement provides approximately 450 sq m of storage space.

“The property provides fully-furnished living space adjacent to the Innocentiapark and in the immediate vicinity of the University of Hamburg and the exhibition centre,” says Sascha Hanekopf, Director Investment Hamburg for Savills. The building comprises 45 one-bedroom, 129 two-bedroom and 5 three-bedroom apartments measuring between 24 and 70 sq m, thus meeting the rising demand for micro-apartments. “Complemented by the commercial and restaurant space, the property satisfies not only the requirement for centrally located apartments but also demand for functional offices in an attractive urban location,” adds Sascha Hanekopf. The concept is validated by the current occupancy rate of 89 per cent. “Owing to its diversified occupier mix and long-term leases on the offices and commercial space, the Grindel high-rise is ideally suited as an investment property,” says Gottfried Bauer, Member of the Executive Board of Engel & Völkers Commercial Hamburg. “In addition to the rental income from the one, two and three-bedroom apartments, anchor tenant Elbkinder is also instrumental. The city's largest daycare centre provider since 2010 provides a strong covenant and occupies nine of the twelve office storeys.”