One of Munich’s most prestigious shopping centres has been pulled from the market, EuroProperty has revealed.
German real estate group Quantum had been trying to sell Hofstatt, an upmarket scheme in the centre of the city, on Sendlinger Strasse.
Hofstatt was developed by Hines, which still has an office in the building. It comprises 15,500 m2 of retail and 18,500 m2 of offices as well as residential.
Quantum and Universal Investment bought the building in 2013 for about €400 mln for a spezialfond club of institutional investors.
Retailers trading at the time included Abercrombie & Fitch, Adidas, Tom Tailor, Gant, Hollister and J Lindeberg. Retail has become a buyer’s rather than a seller’s market with buyers reluctant to pay the prices achieved in the recent past.
One agent working in German capital markets said: ‘Something like eight out of 10 shopping centres for sale in Germany did not close last year. It is not worse than anywhere else – the economy is healthy and income is well-dispersed – but seller expectations can be too high.’
EuroProperty reported in October that Unibail-RodamcoWestfield had pulled the sale of a portfolio of three shopping centres in Germany to Generali. URW was seeking about €300 mln for the schemes in Recklinghausen, Monchengladbach and Gera.
Hines has just sold a large office asset in Munich, in a deal that again involves Universal Investment. A consortium of Swiss Life for one of its funds, and Universal acting for BVK, has agreed to buy the 26,000 m2 former Siemens Forum at Oskarvon-Miller Ring 20 for a price believed to be about €390 mln.
Hines is also involved in the acquisition of the Helix office in Frankfurt, on behalf of south Korean asset manager Hana Financial Investment. The deal is structured as a sale-andleaseback, with seller Commerzbank occupying the 36,200 m2 of offices.
In London Hines has won the Transport for London scheme at 354-358 Oxford Street, where it will build retail with residential above, opposite the new Bond Street underground station. And in Italy, it is to buy the Dolce & Gabbana store in Milan, from Thor Equities for €200 mln.
This article previously appeared in PropertyEU's sister publication, EuroProperty
