Hines has invested €160m for its European core-plus and value add commercial real estate fund.
The manager said the Hines European Value Fund (HEVF) has expanded its portfolio with the acquisition of the Atrium Charlottenburg building, making it fund’s first Berlin office building acquisition.
Located on Berlin’s Kaiserin-Augusta-Allee, the 40,000sqm building is fully-leased.
Hines said it plans to identify and evaluate potential upgrades and improvements to the building, over the coming years.
The acquisition of Atrium Charlottenburg is HEVF’s seventh investment by the fund since December 2017.
Hines said over 65% of the fund’s €721m investor equity commitments are now allocated to a diversified portfolio including office, retail, hotel, residential and logistics in Germany, Denmark, Spain and the UK.
Kai-Magnus Schulte, director of Hines, said: “We are happy to have secured this exciting investment opportunity for our Hines European Value Fund.
“The building offers a rare combination of a good inner-city location, high flexibility, a very strong tenant line-up and substantial potential to create value through physical improvements and leasing activities.”
Christoph Reschke, senior managing director of Hines, said: “Our great confidence in Berlin’s excellent long-term prospects and development is ongoing and it is our strategy to overweight Berlin exposure.
The current sentiment in the office market is leading to a substantial uplift of non-traditional office locations within the inner-city. As such upgrading of existing buildings in these locations have become a viable addition to speculative developments and buying core.”
Paul White, HEVF fund manager, said: “The fundamentals in Berlin are exceptionally strong with a positive trajectory for rents.
”The asset offers an attractive balance of secure income alongside the opportunity for value creation.”
