Patrizia buys Postbahnhof office asset in Berlin from HighBrook

Patrizia has acquired the Postbahnhof building in Germany from real estate private equity firm HighBrook Investors.

HighBrook said it has completed the sale of the historic Postbahnhof asset in Berlin, Mediaspree through two separate sales transactions totalling approximately €163m.

The larger transaction involved a sale of an ensemble of loft office buildings totalling 12,700sqm to Patrizia, who acquired the property on behalf of one of its institutional clients. The other transaction involved an adjacent land plot which was previously sold to a local developer in late 2019.

HighBrook acquired the Postbahnhof property for €98m in January 2019. 

First built in 1907, the listed building originally serving as a rail hub for parcel delivery before it was converted into an office and event space in the mid-90s. 

It consists of two large buildings and two smaller buildings located between them. The site includes around 9,100sqm of existing office space.

Patrizia said it is undertaking extensive renovation work on the remainder of the site, which will see the former event space converted into an additional 3,600sqm of office space.

In addition, due to the property’s listed status, one of the buildings is to be carefully renovated, preserving its historic appearance.

Ulf Christiansen, head of value-add acquisitions at Patrizia, said: “Postbahnhof is an important piece of Berlin’s heritage and we are privileged to be playing a role in preserving and transforming this incredible space into a new destination for the city’s businesses.”

Christiansen said Berlin remains an important market for Patrizia where it already manages a number of office buildings and developments across the city.

“Given its stability and affordability against a European backdrop, its position as a worldwide innovation centre and an established hub for major multinational companies, Berlin continues to be an attractive location for institutional capital.”

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