Union snaps up Zebra Tower in Warsaw for EUR 76m

Union Investment has signed an agreement to buy the Zebra Tower office and retail building in Warsaw for around EUR 76 mln. The purchase - Union's third in Warsaw in less than 12 months - was carried out on behalf of the group's Immo-Invest: Europa fund.

The deal, which was tipped by PropertyEU in December, involves 18,280 m² of office and retail space developed and completed in the fourth quarter of 2010 by Austria's S + B Gruppe. The 17-storey property in the city centre is 75%-leased to a range of tenants including Samsung and Boston Consulting, with Union securing a three-year rental guarantee for the remaining space.

The Zebra Tower is expected to receive a Gold rating under Leed certification.

Hamburg-based Union has spent EUR 220 mln in Poland in less than a year, with the other purchases consisting of Horizon Plaza and the Lipinski Passage. 'Warsaw has caught up in many ways with the established investment markets in the West, which is particularly true of building standards and sustainability,' said Hermanns-Engel of Union.

'Through our ongoing confidence in the Polish market, and regardless of the international crisis, we have been able to successfully complete and lease the Zebra Tower, one of just a few real estate projects delivered in Warsaw in the last two years,' said Reinhard Schertler, Chairman of the S + B Gruppe. S + B's main development projects include the 13,000-m² Marxbox, the 30,000-m² Greenworx and the 21,000-m² Shangri La Hotel project in Vienna, the Qubix project with 13,000 m² in Prague and Magheru Boulevard 1 with 4,000 m² in Bucharest.