Berlin-based Catella Residential Investment Management (CRIM) has acquired an Austrian residential development for around €70 mln on behalf of the Catella European Residential Fund (CER) from Austrian property developer Wohnkompanie.
The purchase follows a €100 mln equity ‘top-up’ to the Fund from existing investors in September 2020 and was carried out through Catella Real Estate AG’s AIFM platform.
The 217-apartment Höchstädtplatz complex is currently under construction close to Nordwestbahnhofviertel, one of Central Europe’s largest urban renewal projects covering an area of 44 hectares in the south of Vienna’s 20th Brigittenau district.
The residential project comprises two eight-storey buildings and is being developed along low energy consumption sustainability principles. Altogether the complex will provide 13,800 m2 of lettable space, a ground-floor supermarket and two floors of underground car parking with 146 parking spaces, as well as storage facilities. It is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2022.
Benjamin Rüther, head of Fund Management CRIM, said: ‘Modern, purpose-built and energy-efficient: the Höchstädtplatz acquisition is a perfect long-term fit for CER and brings the Fund’s allocation in Austria close to 10%. It demonstrates the Fund manager’s active approach to portfolio optimisation and follows the recent sale of a €100 mln portfolio in the Netherlands, which no longer met its investment criteria.’
Launched in 2007, CER was the first European open-ended real estate fund established in Germany with a clear focus on residential property and it is now the largest of its kind with over €1.5 bn in assets under management (AUM). CER is part of the Catella residential investment platform.
