Berlin-based Catella Residential Investment Management (CRIM) has acquired student housing and general residential developments in Bielefeld and Bad Homburg in Germany for a total of €51 mln, under a mandate for a southern German pension fund.
CRIM’s investments for the client in this German ‘Spezialfonds’ institutional fund structure have now reached close to €700 mln across four European countries.
‘These two acquisitions fit perfectly into our strategy to acquire affordable residential units in inner-city and suburban areas in key growth centres across Germany,’ said Matthias Bursi, CRIM Fund Manager.
The development in Bielefeld, in the northeast of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, offers affordable student housing in the immediate vicinity of the town’s growing university. The Bad Homburg scheme is being built in this residential suburb to the north of Frankfurt, where a large number of medium-sized companies are headquartered.
The 7,388 m2 ‘Campus Westend’ student residence will offer modern apartments with 250 beds in the immediate vicinity of the local university and technical college by the 2022 summer semester. The vendors are a joint venture between the Bautra Group and Borchard-Bau.
The 3,575 m2 scheme in Bad Homburg is located in the immediate vicinity of the town centre and will offer 37 high-quality apartments and two ground-floor retail units. Construction of the project, providing a mix of two- to four-room apartments, is scheduled to begin this month (June). The development was acquired from Galic Immobilien GmbH, an owner-manager and locally active property developer based in Bad Soden.
In addition to the two new developments, CRIM has transferred a student residence in Graz, Austria, on behalf of the same institutional investor mandate. Acquired in 2019 for €19 mln, the asset comprises 199 rooms over a surface area of 5,184 m2.
