CBRE GI buys Hamburg shopping center for €60m

CBRE Global Investors (GI), the Los Angeles-based real estate investment manager, has acquired the Rahlstedt Center in Hamburg, Germany for a figure understood to be in the region of €60 million.

The urban mixed-use center measures up at around 300,000 square feet and includes 45 shopping units, 12 office units, 56 residential apartments and 554 parking spaces. The shopping units generate 85 percent of the asset’s income.

The center is anchored by tenants such as Edeka, Aldi, Medimax and Douglas, as well high street fashion brands H&M and Deichman. Built in 1983, and then extensively refurbished in 2012, the asset is located on the high street of Rahlstedt, an affluent suburb of Hamburg. It is 15 kilometers northeast of Hamburg city center and has a catchment of more than 185,000 people within a 10 minute drive.

The asset was bought behalf of CBRE GI’s pan-European retail strategy. The seller was German real estate asset management firm MEAG.

“Rahlstedt is the dominant shopping center within its micro market, offering a good mix of convenience and mass market fashion retailers. The property is located in one of Europe’s strongest markets where the supply of investment opportunities are limited,” said Florencio Beccar, head of retail EMEA, CBRE GI.

“The asset has a strong operational track record and good fundamentals from where to build the investment case. We believe, with our experienced retail asset managers, we will be able to add further value to this asset by letting the current vacant units and renewing leases. This asset management strategy will provide us with an attractive return and will complement our portfolio very well,” added Beccar.

CBRE GI was advised by BLP and parent company CBRE.

In Germany, CBRE GI has approximately €1.4 billion of assets under management of which approximately 60 percent is retail.

The firm has been relatively quiet in Europe recently. In May, CBRE GI acquired the IZD Tower in Vienna, Austria, for around €270 million. The firm bought the tower on behalf of Korean clients through one of its separate accounts.