This Week's Europe Deal Sheet
Hines and German investment company Universal-Investment acquired Royal Exchange in Manchester city centre. The building's best known as the home of the 700-seat Royal Exchange theatre.
The 264k SF building also incorporates 81k SF of retail and leisure space and 121k SF of office space. The retail portion is leased by Molton Brown, Starbucks, Swarovski, L'Occitane and Hotel Chocolat. The seller was Trinistar Manchester, a JV between Starwood Capital Group and Trinity IM.
UK
Gramercy Property Europe bought a 330k SF institutional quality logistics warehouse in Worksop, UK, for about £18.3M. The Arrow property is fully let to Siro (UK) Limited until 2035. Colliers International advised Gramercy Property.
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Orchard Street Investment Management agreed to a new 10-year lease with Tacklestore, a health and safety equipment business, at Rockingham Gate distribution park near Bristol. This letting has returned the asset to full occupancy following its acquisition two years ago on behalf of St. James Place Property Unit Trust. The asset is 105k SF divided into four units, each separately rented.
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LondonMetric acquired eight "last mile" distribution warehouses for £39.9M. Six of the distribution warehouses were purchased from Helical plc for £26M. LondonMetric also bought a 53k SF distribution development in Crawley for £10.7M. That property has been pre-let to retailer Barker & Stonehouse for 15 years at a rent of £10.77/SF. Practical completion is expected in March 2017. Furthermore, the firm acquired a 30k SF distribution warehouse in Bicester for £3.2M. The warehouse is let to DPD Group. LondonMetric was advised by Franck-Steier Price Property on the portfolio and by Colliers on Bicester.
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Tesco Pension Investment signed Vivreau at Beaufort House, Uxbridge (shown). Vivreau leased the entire first floor, 8,914 SF, on a 10-year lease at a rent of £27.50/SF. The landlord was repped by Colliers International. Rose Williams repped Vivreau.
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Luxury accessories retailer MCM opened its flagship in Mayfair after closing down its former Sloane Street shop. MCM is in the 2,970 SF space formerly occupied by Christian Dior at 16 Conduit St.
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MAC Cosmetics opened in Lendlease and Invesco Real Estate’s Queensgate development in the East Midlands. The new 1,480 SF boutique showcases products and shade ranges of makeup, as well as skin care, brushes and fragrance. CBRE and Time Retail Partners acted for Queensgate.
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Griffen UK sold its 187k SF distribution warehouse in Amber Park, South Normanton, Derbyshire, for £13.7M, reflecting a net initial yield of 5.7%. The warehouse is occupied by a single tenant on a remaining term of eight years. The property has been acquired by clients of Colliers Capital, advised by Colliers International.
Ireland
CBRE Hotels & Capnua Corporate Finance advised on the €150M sale of three hotels in Dublin to Lalco Hotel and Hospitality Group. The three hotels are The Spencer, The Morgan and The Beacon, which will continue to trade under their current brands.
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Wicklow County Council purchased Florentine Centre, a one-acre main street site that has been the subject of numerous retail-led development proposals since 1996. The county council has sought the approval of An Bord Pleanála for a scaled-down retail development providing opportunities for anchor stores, retail units, restaurants, offices, cinema and associated car parking. Wicklow County Council is seeking a development partner for the 2.5M SF retail scheme in the heart of Bray, Co. Wicklow. The gross development value is about €35M, and Wicklow County Council aims to have a partner and contractor in place by March 2017, with a view to completion by Q4 2018.
Italy
CBRE appointed Benjamin Khafi Grynfas as head of the industrial and logistics team in Italy.
France
Barings Real Estate Advisers acquired nearly 111k SF of Class-A refrigerated warehouse in Lille. Once completed, in 12 months, the property will be fully let to XPO Logistics on a fixed nine-year lease. The seller was Norauto.
Germany
Hammerson acquired four established outlet centres in Germany (shown), Portugal, Spain and Poland, represent total gross asset value of €587M. The largest outlet to be acquired is in Zweibrucken, Germany, at 312k SF with 114 tenants. It is on the border between France, Germany and Luxembourg and connected by the main arterial roads in the region. It was Germany's first established retail outlet and includes Versace, Michael Kors, Polo Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger and Esprit.
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German Estate Group acquired the former Commerzbank Skyscraper in Frankfurt from Commerzbank. The asset adds around 323k SF of lettable area to the GEG portfolio. In late 2017, GEG will start stripping out the building, before remodelling and repositioning it as Global Tower. The total investment volume comes to more than €220M.
Finland
Avant Capital Partners acquired about 2,000 residential units in growing cities in Finland for its new residential investment platform. The 70 assets top 1.2M SF. Avant was advised by Krogerus Attorneys and PwC.
Spain
A JV between NEINVER and TIAA purchased Nassica, an outdoor retail park. TH Real Estate acted as investment advisor. Located in Getafe, just south of Madrid, the 592k SF asset has 46 retail and lifestyle tenants, including a multiplex cinema and multiple bars and restaurants. The JV now owns and controls approximately 861k SF of retail, dining and leisure space.
