HIH buys 18,000 m[sup]2[/sup] Columbus Haus in Hamburg

A consortium of Tishman Speyer Properties, Lehman Brothers Real Estate Partners and Hamburg-based Quantum Immobilien has sold the Columbus Haus office complex in Hamburg's Hafen City to an institutional fund managed by German investor Hamburgische Immobilien Handlung (HIH). The financial details were not disclosed.

The 20-floor office building, located at the Sandtorkai, offers 18.000 m² of office space and is one of the landmark office buildings in the German city. It has been built in 2002 and has been designed by Frankfurt architects Nägele, Hofmann, Tiedemann & Partners. The building has an occupancy rate of approximately 90% and is long-term leased to law firms and insurance companies.

'It is the prime investment object of the district', said Hans-Joachim Lehmann, head of real estate transactions of HIH, which acquired the asset for a Spezialfonds vehicle it manages on behalf of Warburg Henderson. Tishman Speyer has been advised by Freshfields' Hamburg real estate team.

The Columbus Haus is part of the Hanseatic Trade Centre office complex in the large Hafen City redevelopment project, other parts of which have already been sold to Credit Suisse and Axa Real Invest II in 2005 and 2008 respectively.