Instone to convert former tea trading HQ into apartments

Newly listed Instone Real Estate has acquired the former tea trading headquarters in Germany for an undisclosed sum.

The German residential property developer said, the property in Halle an der Saale, will house more than 100 modern apartments with a total of around 6,100sqm of floor space once it is modernised and converted.

Instone said the construction on the site, known as T.Kontor, is scheduled to begin in autumn 2018, with sales commencing earlier in spring 2018.

The complex was built at the end of the 19th century to trade and process tea and was later used by the wholesale tea and pharmaceuticals businesses. 

The building fell into disuse in the late 1990s and is a listed building.

Roman Richter, the senior sales manager at Instone Real Estate Leipzig, said: “Due to its location and the building’s structure, this former tea trading headquarters is ideally suited for conversion into a residential space.

“The external façade of ‘T. Kontor’ will be visually based on the former tea trading headquarters, allowing it to fit in with the neighbourhood nearly unchanged.” 

Torsten Kracht, the CSO of Instone Real Estate Group, said: “In the greater Halle-Leipzig area, there is high demand for small to medium-sized apartments that provide a high level of flexibility, but also high living and housing standards.

“With our ‘T.Kontor’ apartments, we want to create an attractive, contemporary residential offer that appeals above all to students, singles and commuters, but also to young families.”