Tristan offloads Berlin office scheme to KGAL for €79m

Tristan's Episo 3 opportunity fund and Cornerstone Real Estate Advisers have agreed to sell the landmark Jannowitz Center office building in Berlin’s central Mitte district for €79 mln.

The buyer is a fund managed by Germany’s KGAL Group.

Jannowitz Center was built in 1997 and consists of 32,500 m2 spread over 10 storeys. The asset was acquired by Episo 3 in 2013 as its first investment.

Jean-Philippe Blangy, managing director of portfolio and asset management at Tristan Capital, said: 'The Jannowitz Center is one of the most visible landmarks in Berlin-Mitte and one of the most coveted locations in a city that is currently one of Germany’s strongest office investment markets. A shortage of prime office space and strong underlying occupier demand support robust rental growth, which in turn underpins pricing for core assets like this.'

In the two years since acquiring the building, Episo 3 has worked closely with tenants to lease the 12% of vacant space and double the weighted average lease term to six years. The state of Berlin, DAK health insurance and Techniker Krankenkasse health insurance are the building’s anchor tenants, jointly occupying together more than 20,000 m2 of the office space.

The sellers were advised by CBRE, JLL and Olswang/Greenberg Traurig.