#Provadare Savills to launch marketing of De Rotterdam

International property adviser Savills is to begin marketing De Rotterdam mixed-use complex in the Dutch port city after the summer.

The recently delivered 160,000 m2 complex is being sold by Rabo Real Estate and comes to market at a time of strong international investor interest in the Netherlands after several years when the over-built market was considered almost untouchable.

De Rotterdam is the largest single asset hanging over the Dutch market at the moment. Assuming a sale is agreed it will likely be the largest single-asset transaction ever in the Netherlands.

The property comprises three towers of 150-metres in height connected by a plinth. The 160,000 m2 of leaseable area is divided between office space, luxury apartments, a four-star NHow hotel, as well as a restaurant, relaxation and cultural space. Some of the elements have already been sold separately.

The scheme was a joint venture between Rotterdam-based green office developer OVG and MAB, the development arm of the real estate arm of Dutch banking group Rabo. FGH, Rabo's property financing arm, provided a €180 mln facility to back up €28 mln of equity when construction started in 2009.

Rabo Real Estate acquired De Rotterdam from OVG in January 2015 as part of the dismantling of MAB.

The hope is that a sale can be agreed before the end of the year as the best locations in Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht are getting more attention from international investors looking for scarce product across Europe.

Dutch offices are relatively cheap compared to other European locations. In addition, the supply in the Amsterdam Zuidas, the top office location in the Netherlands, has been scooped up by German fund managers Union Investment and Deka Immobilien in the last few years. As a result investors are taking another look at the best assets in other Dutch cities. For instance, Dutch investor Bouwinvest acquired the World Trade Center in Rotterdam at the end of 2014.