This Week's Europe Deal Sheet

UK

The government plans to transform the north and south coasts of the Thames Estuary into an arts hub that could reinvigorate a neglected part of London and bring tens of thousands of jobs and homes by 2050. The scheme proposed by London Mayor Sadiq Khan will stretch 40 miles from Canary Wharf to Southend in Essex and Thanet in Kent. The new development will include a sculpture foundry in Silvertown, theatre studios in Bexley, a gaming hub at the University of Essex, an arts centre in Woolwich and industrial research laboratories in Kent. An expansion of the Turner contemporary gallery in Margate and film studios in Dagenham and Purfleet have already been approved.

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British Land and Hercules Unit Trust broke ground on a £23M leisure extension at New Mersey, Speke. British Land is doubling the amount of food and drink across its retail portfolio over the next five years to integrate a bolder, broader, deeper mix. The 66k SF development will be anchored by an 11-screen state-of-the-art Cineworld cinema complete with Superscreen technology. The extension will also deliver an additional 29k SF of restaurant space across six units. Pre-lets have been secured with TGI Fridays, Nando’s and Wagamama. The restaurant element will open in late spring 2018 with the cinema opening in summer 2018. British Land is represented by Wilkinson Williams and Cushman & Wakefield.

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Willmott Dixon scored a £32M contract to create the new Hertswood Academy in Borehamwood. The academy’s existing premises in Thrift Farm Lane will be replaced by a new educational and communal facility in Cowley Hill.

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Housing association Catalyst will provide 186 affordable housing units at Berkeley Group’s 3,750-home development in west London. The contribution includes 120 affordable rent homes and 66 shared ownership homes. The Southall Waterside development is one of the largest in London with 500k SF of commercial space, a new cinema, a new primary school and a health centre.

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Belfast Office Properties signed a new lease to house a Starbucks at its Ards Shopping centre in Newtownards, N.I. Launching in Q2, it will be the first coffee shop in Newtownards for the globally recognised brand. It is part of an approximately £7M redevelopment within the centre, which has seen a former 40k SF unit split into three to accommodate Starbucks, TK Maxx and B&M Bargains. Designed by Starbucks’ in-house agency, it will have space for 80 covers. Gary Martin and Tony Kernan acted on behalf of Lambert Smith Hampton, which manages the centre.

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M7 Real Estate purchased two assets for £7M in Hull and Deeside.

• The company acquired The Mash in Hull for £4.5M. The Mash comprises 33k SF of Grade A office accommodation across a series of Grade II listed buildings, and are fully let to a single tenant, Wescot Credit Services. 
• M7 has also acquired Parkway Business Centre in Deeside, Wales, for £2.6M. Comprising 10 industrial units and six office units across a total of 51k SF, the estate is 89.5% let to a range of tenants.

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Newrst-All Ltd let Lothbury Investment Management’s Poyle Central, a 44k SF prime warehouse near London Heathrow Airport. The catering company will pay £14/SF for 10 years. Lothbury Investment Management was advised by JLL/DTRE. 

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CBRE has been appointed to sell The Landseer, a residential development site in St John’s Wood. CBRE is acting on behalf of David Oprey and Richard Toone of CVR Global LLP. The 1.5-acre site has planning consent for 132 self-contained private and affordable residential units providing 143k SF of net saleable area and includes a 10-storey tower fronting St. John’s Wood Road.

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BNP Paribas Real Estate has appointed Denizer Ibrahim to drive a first-of-its-kind division focused on advising landlord and retailer clients on pop-up and transient retail strategy. Denizer, the former head of special projects at Appear Here, joins as BNP Paribas Real Estate reshapes its retail offering in line with future retail trends.

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Capital & Regional appointed Lawrence Hutchings as CEO. Hutchings joins from Blackstone effective 13 June 2017.

ITALY

UBS Asset Management appointed Vincenzo Nocerino as head of transactions, Italy. Reporting to head of real estate, Italy, Marco Doglio, Nocerino will be based in Milan and will be responsible for accelerating the growth of REPM’s investment operations across the Italian market.

THE NETHERLANDS

Supermarket chain Lidl pre-let 645k SF at Delin Capital Asset Management’s Roosendaal development. This build-to-suit is one of the largest being undertaken this year in North West Europe and demonstrates the ongoing demand for prime, high-quality logistics assets in the Netherlands, driven primarily by the continuing growth of e-commerce. Lidl has entered into a long-term lease, with no breaks. 

CZECH REPUBLIC

HB Reavis plans to pursue WELL Certification for three of its commercial building projects through the International WELL Building Institute and its WELL Building Standard, which is the first building standard to focus on enhancing people’s health and well-being through the built environment. The projects registered for this pioneering certification include: Twin City Tower in Bratislava is registered for WELL Core & Shell Certification; HB Reavis’ office in Twin City C in Bratislava is registered for New and Existing Interiors Certification; and an office building on Vinohradska Street in Prague is registered for WELL Core & Shell Certification.

FRANCE

Rockspring Property Investment Managers sold its entire French logistics portfolio to real estate funds managed by Blackstone for a total consideration of €233M. Comprising just over 3.3M SF of Grade A accommodation across seven properties, the properties are within France’s key north / south logistics corridor, around Paris and Lyon.

GERMANY

Commercial law firm CMS Hasche Sigle signed on as the anchor tenant at Hines’ new construction project in Kasernenstrasse 45-49 in Düsseldorf's Central Business District. CMS Hasche Sigle will occupy 37k SF of build-to-suit office space on a 10-year lease beginning in 2019. Once completed in 2019, the new building will offer approximately 50k SF of ultramodern office space and approximately 7k SF of retail. CUBION Immobilien AG advised for the tenant, and Pro m² GmbH provided the tenant with planning advice. The landlord was given legal advice by P+P Pöllath + Partners.