German property company Trei Real Estate has acquired two development plots in Mainz's ambitious riverside regeneration scheme Zollhafen, with a view to building 150 residential units on site.
Financial details were not disclosed.
The deal includes the Hafeninsel II and Hafeninsel III development sites, comprising some 11,500 m2 in total, on the grounds of an inland port closed in 2013. The new urban quarter, dubbed Zollhafen Mainz, has been under development since 2010, and is expected to be completed by 2025.
'We are planning to raise around 150 apartments in Mainz. We will rent out one set of apartments and retain them in our portfolio long-term while selling the other set as condominiums,' said Pepijn Morshuis, CEO of Trei Real Estate.
'We rate the housing market here in the state capital of Rhineland Palatinate as permanently attractive. Depending on the forecast, the population of Mainz is expected to rise from 220,000 today to maximally 227,000 by 2030. Another factor that comes into play is the university, because it keeps bringing young new residents to Mainz,' Morshuis added.
Trei beat out the competition for the deal in a structured multi-step competitive bidding process. The property was sold by the partnership Zollhafen Mainz, a joint venture of CA Immo Deutschland and Mainzer Stadtwerke. The seller is responsible for the overall development of Zollhafen, where around 1,400 apartments will be created.
According to the firm, the architectural competition for the final design of the residential blocks is still ongoing. 'Once the planning stage is completed, we will present our concept design in more detail,' Morshuis noted.
The Mainz scheme has attracted a number of big-name investors. CA Immo is developing the adjacent sites Hafeninsel IV and V in partnership with UBM.
'We look forward to the joint development of these attractive residential development sites which will be surrounded by water-filled canals,' concluded CA Immo's Matthias Winkelhardt, business director of Zollhafen Mainz.
