HANOVER, GERMANY—Union Investment Real Estate GmbH has acquired the Kröpcke Centre retail property, located in the heart of Hanover's city center, for its open-ended real estate fund Unilmmo: Deutschland. Union Investment purchased the property from a consortium comprising a project company of Centrum Group D sseldorf and First Kröpcke GmbH. The parties agreed not to disclose details of the purchase price. Built in 1972, the Kröpcke Centre has been extensively modified and rebuilt by Centrum. Completion is scheduled for early 2014.
“The location, which has always been at the hub of Hanover's retail activity, will be further enhanced by the remodelling of the Kröpcke Centre,” said Philip La Pierre, head of investment management Europe at Union Investment. The main leases for the multi-tenant property have a duration of 15 years. “This will allow us to achieve stable long-term returns for the investors in our Germany fund,” commented La Pierre. “We are tapping into an important retail market with this investment, our first in the center of Hanover, as well as further diversifying the portfolio of the fund in mid-sized German cities.” Tenants iclude major, well-known retailers.
Hanover has a stable retail market which attracts shoppers from across the region. Based on turnover and centrality ratings, Hanover is one of the top-three locations in Germany. As the capital of the federal state of Lower Saxony, it is by far the most important regional centre in the state. With almost 520,000 inhabitants, it is also one of the most popular shopping cities in Germany.
The Kröpcke Centre is located in Hanover's city center in a prime location at the junction of Georgstraße, Bahnhofstraße and Karmarschstraße. Peek & Cloppenburg Hamburg, the anchor tenant in the old Kröpcke Centre, defined the area for 30 years. In the new property, Peek & Cloppenburg will open another flagship store early in 2014, offering greatly expanded retail space of 11,158 sq m. In addition, there will be 15 individual shop units with approximately 5,100 sq m of space. Kröpcke metro station, which is located directly in front of the property with direct access to the Passerelle passage, is the busiest regional and transregional traffic intersection in Hanover, used by up to 153,000 passengers a day.
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