Germany's Union Investment said on Wednesday that it is buying the massive Y-Towers development in the north of Amsterdam from developers IES Immobilien and Invester United Benefits for an undisclosed amount.
The project, representing a total investment of around €460 mln, encompasses two towers covering a gross floor area of some 106,000 m2 in the Overhoeks district of the Dutch city.
One of the towers will accommodate a Maritim-branded conference hotel with 579 rooms. It will be the tallest building in Amsterdam, with 33 floors. The neighbouring residential tower will comprise 174 apartments, with the entire project slated for completion by the end of 2022.
Y-Towers will be added to the portfolio of the UniImmo: Europa open-ended real estate fund and will become one of the largest properties in the fund. In addition, the Maritim hotel will be one of the largest hotel properties in Union Investment’s portfolio, which currently comprises some 70 hotels across nine countries.
'We recently set up a separate Value-Add team in Union Investment’s Real Estate segment so that we can expand our range of investment options in ever tighter core markets. We have also adopted a develop-to-core approach to take advantage of opportunities currently being offered by robust letting markets,' said Volker Noack, a member of the management team at Union Investment Real Estate.
'As part of our new value-add strategy we have been able to secure a unique development project in the shape of Y-Towers. We successfully completed this off-market deal after a brief but very intense acquisition process and are open to further acquisitions with value-add potential,' added Monika Gerdes, head of the Value-Add team at Union Investment Real Estate. 'Apart from the inner-city waterside location, what makes Y-Towers special is the opportunity it gives us to carry out a hotel development project of this size and create a residential tower that is not subject to rent controls.'
'The sale of our share in the project to Union Investment means that work on realising the Y-Towers development can now proceed,' said David Hofmann, managing director of IES Immobilien, which will continue to support the project as a partner.
Construction work is scheduled to resume at the beginning of 2020.
In Amsterdam, Union Investment currently holds a portfolio of 10 commercial properties worth around €940 mln.
