NREP unveils big-box retail project for Copenhagen

Nordic Real Estate Partners unveiled plans to develop a 44,000 m2 big-box retail scheme in the Danish capital Copenhagen.

NREP's Nordic Strategies Fund has acquired land for the development of the Disa centre. This is the fund's first acquisition and follows the vehicle's first closing, announced earlier in May.

The development is expected to have a total value upon completion of DKK 1 bn (€130 mln) and the Disa centre is scheduled to open in October 2015. The retail centre is 80% pre-let to 15 tenants. Negotiations for the letting of the remaining units are under way, with the expectation that the centre will be fully let during the course of 2014.

The project is being developed together with local development partner NPV and construction is done on a turn-key contract basis with Casa, a Danish construction company that NREP has worked with in the past.

Rasmus Nørgaard, chief investment officer at NREP, commented: 'The Disa centre will be a unique retail area in Copenhagen. In contrast to other Nordic markets, municipal authorities in Denmark have been very restrictive with zoning for any kind of big-box retail, even single stand-alone buildings in non-central locations.

'Having received all the permissions for a large cohesive strategically planned open-air big box retail area is extraordinary, in particular given the strong location. In this way, Disa contrasts with existing big-box retail assets in Copenhagen, as evidenced by the type of tenants the centre has attracted. For example, clothes retailer H&M has chosen Disa, even though it had previously not used big box locations in Denmark', Nørgaard said.