Allianz Real Estate has entered the US by acquiring a majority ownership stake in a retail property in New York.
Allianz Real Estate has entered the US by acquiring a majority ownership stake in a retail property in New York.
The property arm of the German insurance giant established a joint venture with New York-based Crown Acquisitions to own the property at 484-490 Fulton Street in Brooklyn.
Crown and an institutional investor were the sellers. Crown will continue to act as leasing agent. The financial details were not disclosed.
With a population of 2.5 million, Brooklyn is one of New York’s largest and most attractive retail markets, Allianz Real Estate said. The population of downtown Brooklyn is expected to grow by 60% in the next several years as various residential developments come online.
The building was completely refurbished in 2012 and comprises 5,300 m2 of leaseable area. The tenants include retail tenants Express, Planet Fitness, furniture chain Raymour & Flanigan, and Swarovski, a producer of luxury cut lead glass.
Allianz Real Estate had €22 bn assets under management at end-December 2013. Crown Acquisitions is one of the largest private owners of retail and office properties in North America.
Separately this week, LIC Fund No 1, a Luxembourg-registered fund backed by German institutional money, sold the Plaza San Remon in Coral Gables, Florida.
Plaza San Remo is a retail property anchored by grocery chain Whole Foods which LIC acquired in 2008. The asset has been sold for $38.7 mln (€28.4 mln). The sales price was 25% higher than the original acquisition price of the property and generated an internal rate of return of 11.86% per annum for its investors.
LIC US Real Estate Fund No. 1 was established by LIC Asset Management and has an investment volume of $300 mln. The fund partners in the US with Lincoln Property Company, which has $38 bn of assets under management.
