Global alternative investment manager Carlyle Group has completed the acquisition of a 17,000 m2 department store operated by Karstadt in the southern German city of Esslingen.
Global alternative investment manager Carlyle Group has completed the acquisition of a 17,000 m2 department store operated by Karstadt in the southern German city of Esslingen.
The property was sold by the Highstreet consortium and the Stuttgart-based Nanz Group. The transaction was carried out in joint venture with Frankfurt based developer PBG and retail property firm 3W Immobilien. Carlyle made the investment on behalf of its European real estate fund CEREP III.
The investors plan to refurbish of the existing building and to expand the retail space by 11,000 m2. New residential accommodation will also be added.
The total investment in the project, including the acquisition and development costs, will be around €70 mln, with debt financing provided by local bank Kreissparkasse Esslingen-Nürtingen. Karstadt Warenhaus is a long-term tenant of the site, with 13 years remaining on its lease.
Colliers International's Stuttgart office have been appointed letting agent.
The disposal comes hard on the heels of Highstreet's sale in December of a portfolio of Karstadt department stores in Germany for €1 bn. The portfolio, which includes the Kaufhaus des Westens (KaDeWe), an iconic department store in Berlin, was sold to Austrian real estate investor Signa Holdings.
At end-January Highstreet also divested a shopping centre in northern Germany to developer-investor Matrix Immobilien. The price for the mall, which is located in Norderstedt, amounts to €15 mln, reflecting a net initial yield of 7%, according to well-informed market sources.
The Highstreet consortium consists of Goldman Sachs' Whitehall Funds, Deutsche Bank's RREEF unit, Prelios and Generali Real Estate.
