German property group DIC has signed a preliminary agreement to sell the Opera Offices Neo office and commercial development project in Hamburg's city centre to an unnamed buyer from the financial sector.
German property group DIC has signed a preliminary agreement to sell the Opera Offices Neo office and commercial development project in Hamburg's city centre to an unnamed buyer from the financial sector.
DIC Group's listed unit DIC Asset, which holds a 20% stake in the project, said that the development represents a cost of around €35 mln. Financial details were kept confidential.
The project represents the second stage of the Opera Offices ensemble which DIC bought in 2007. The asset, designed by architects Störmer Murphy and Partners, will comprise 8,200 m2 in lettable area and 35 parking spaces.
Construction is scheduled to start in the fall of 2014 with completion planned for mid-2016.
DIC will remain responsible for the realisation of the building, as well as for letting the asset. JLL brokered the deal.
The Hamburg office scheme is the latest development project to be sold by DIC before the start of construction. In 2012, DIC divested the first construction stage of the Opera Offices project to a northern German pension fund while in Frankfurt a total of five properties were sold through forward deals during the last years.
Frankfurt-listed DIC has seen rental income surge to €73.6 mln in the first half of 2014, up from €61 mln in H1 2013.
Earnings for the six-month period were down at €4 mln from €6.5 mln for the same period last year, mainly due to lower profits on property sales.
