POZNAN, POLAND-Two malls have changed hands in Poland recently. A fund from AEW Europe and Tristan Capital Partners has completed the purchase of the Jantar Shopping Centre in a transaction of about $120 million, and a Heitman fund has taken 75% of the Galeria Malta Shopping Center in Poznan.
Mayland Real Estate developed Jantar in 2008, and will continue to provide property management services for the property. The 240,000-square-foot mall is 100% leased now to tenants that include a Real hypermarket, H&M, KappAhl, Deichman, Empik, Smyk and RTV Euro AGD.
Under the terms of the agreement, Mayland will add on another 260,000 square feet to Jantar. New tenants that have preleased space include Multikino, Zara, Pull & Bear, Bershka, Stradivarius, Reserved, Cropp and New Yorker.
“The Jantar opportunity allowed us to purchase a core retail asset with an excellent trading history, enhanced with the ability for us to fund a largely pre-leased extension which, at completion, will result in the scheme becoming regionally dominant,” said Daniel Harris, investment director with AEW, in a statement. Colliers International and the law firm Salans represented the seller and BLP/Beiten Burkhardt represented the purchaser.
Spanish-owned Neinver developed the 581,000-square-foot Galeria Malta in 2009, and will keep 25% ownership, as well as continuing to manage the 97%-leased property. “Heitman is a strong partner that clearly understands the value inherent in this exciting property,” said Manuel Lagares, Neinver CEO, in a statement. He said the Poznan region, the fifth largest city in the country in terms of population, is underserved by new retail.
Heitman Managing Director and head of portfolio management Otis Spencer agreed, saying that Polish consumers seem to have optimism not seen throughout the rest of the continent. “Poland is the only European country to have constant GDP growth throughout the past few years,” Spencer tells GlobeSt.com. “Retail sales did not fall off a cliff here, and while there’s a high rate of unemployment, there’s a lot of capital flowing back into Poland from Poles living abroad.”
He says there’s also a good amount of investor appetite in the country. “The core buyers are now going out to the secondary and tertiary cities and seeing a few opportunities, Developments delivered in the past two years have showed signs of stabilization. Retail looks very secure,” Spencer says.
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