Le mie ricette per la real estate communityHenderson Park, the private equity real estate firm, announces that it has acquired, as part of a value-add strategy, the historic Mosse-Zentrum office building in central Berlin from Real I.S. AG, the real estate investment management arm of the Bavarian Landesbank. Real I.S. is acting on behalf of the special real estate alternative investment fund (AIF) “Real I.S. BGV VI”. Henderson Park is planning a ‘manage to green’ refurbishment of the building to create a flagship workspace that meets the demand for well located, prime modern offices with strong sustainability, amenity and technological credentials, reflecting new trends in working patterns that have accelerated as a result of the pandemic.
Originally constructed in the early 1900s Mosse-Zentrum once served as a printing house and office of the ‘Berliner Tageblatt’ newspaper and is located in the heart of the Zeitungsviertel (newspaper quarter), where about 500 newspaper, printing and publishing companies were based at that time. The property comprises of 37,000 sq m and has been acquired fully let to multiple blue chip tenants.
Mosse-Zentrum is located adjacent to the new Axel Springer headquarters in the Berlin Mitte central business district, a highly sought micro-location between Checkpoint Charlie and Gendarmenmarkt, which attracts strong demand from investors and occupiers, including government organisations, public service providers and major corporates.
A central focus of Henderson Park’s asset management efforts and capex investments will be the implementation of measures to improve the building’s sustainability credentials, targeting a minimum LEED Gold certificate. The plans for repositioning the building also include refurbishing the ground floor lobby and historic façade, upgrading outside areas and delivering communal hubs such as coworking space, as well as adding additional food and beverage provisions.
As Europe’s fourth largest and one of its fastest growing office markets, Berlin continues to see significant rental growth in prime locations as it becomes Germany’s dominant city and a global metropolitan destination, attracting a vast range of occupiers from international corporates to start-ups, while being recognised as a key technology hub. The central business district currently has a vacancy rate of sub-2% and a limited pipeline of the types of modern office stock generating the strongest occupier demand.
Henderson Park has appointed Stoke Park Capital as its local operating partner for ongoing asset management and the implementation of its business plan for Mosse-Zentrum. This is the second occasion Henderson Park has worked with the Germany-focused real estate investment manager, following an acquisition within the immediately adjacent Quartier Schützenstrasse in 2020.
Source : Henderson Park