Cresco Capital, an owner-managed integrated real estate investor and developer, has announced it has raised capital commitments of €110 mln from large European and Asian family offices in the first close of its first German real estate development fund.
Multi family office, LJ Partnership has partnered with Cresco to support its activities in Germany and is a cornerstone investor in the new fund.
Daniel Schuldig, Cosco's co-managing partner, said: 'The fundraising has proved a big success and we expect to close the fund by the end of this year with capital commitments totalling €200 mln. Our investment pipeline is very active and going forward the fund will enable us to invest in projects even more quickly and flexibly, allowing us to develop market leadership for our micro apartment platform.'
The fund’s investment focus will be on micro apartments in all major German cities as well as attractive university cities. Additionally, Cresco plans to continue to invest opportunistically in other property areas.
'In addition to micro apartments, we will also continue to evaluate targeted investment opportunities in other areas, particularly properties that are suitable for hotel developments,' added Alexander Bürk, co-managing partner.
Cresco Capital Group Fund 1 has made its first investment, acquiring a 12,000 m2 property close to the Riedberg university campus in Frankfurt am Main. This includes a fully-let office building as well as land reserves for the development of around 250 micro apartments for students and 1,300 m2 of retail spaces.
The project with a total investment volume of €40 mln is expected to be completed by the third quarter of 2017.
In 2013, Cresco teamed up with LJ Partnership to create Cresco Urban Yurt, a real estate platform that is focused on the development and operation of micro apartments, primarily aimed at students.
Cresco has offices in Berlin, London, Luxemburg and Guernsey. London-based Cresco Capital Advisers acts as investment adviser to Fund 1.
