Savills Investment Management (Savills IM), the international real estate investment manager, has acquired a Light Industrial Park in Essen, in Germany´s Ruhr area, for its European Urban Logistics & Industrial Fund (EULIF).
The seller is a joint venture of the Adolf Weber Real Estate and Project Development Company, which realised the inner-city business park in the last two years.
Financial details were not disclosed.
The two-building Light Industrial Park in Essen was completed in July 2022 and was fully let to eight tenants immediately afterwards. The property offers approximately 15,500 m2 of flexible lettable space.
The property has a 24/7 operating permit and can act as a last-mile location, with only five kilometres to Essen city centre and access to the wider Rhine-Ruhr conurbation of 11 million people.
The modern industrial park has an energy-efficient design that includes LED lighting, a thermally insulated façade and charging infrastructure for electric vehicles. Gold certification from the German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB) is being sought.
Jochen Boudon, managing director of Adolf Weber West in Dortmund, said: 'The commercial space was specially designed for urban locations, usable according to demand and expandable at any time.
'Very good accessibility was also important to us when selecting the site. We are pleased to be able to hand over the property to Savills Investment Management, thank them for the good cooperation during the process and wish them every success with this outstanding project.'
The investment is the first acquisition for EULIF, which is targeting high-quality urban logistics and light industrial properties in densely populated logistics regions in Europe.
Savills IM’s group logistics AuM now totals €6 bn worldwide.
Tim Ulrich, head of transaction management Germany at Savills IM, said: 'The letting market for light industrial space in the Ruhr region has developed very positively in recent years, with many large companies settling here.
'There is an imbalance between supply and demand due to the limited availability of space, which has led to dynamic rental price development. The development pipeline is limited due to increased financing and construction costs, so almost no space is being developed speculatively.'
Evert Castelein, investment director, European Logistics, at Savills IM, added: 'Savills Investment Management has a strong track record in the European logistics sector.
'The acquisition in Essen further demonstrates our excellent access to the market, which enables us to identify investments that meet our requirements in terms of quality and location.'
Savills IM was advised on the transaction by Noerr (legal), PWC (tax), Drees & Sommer (technical) and JLL (commercial).
