Barings has purchased Medienzentrum, a 15,700 sq m office property in the MedienHafen (media harbour) district of Düsseldorf.
The property located at Zollhof 11-14 / Kaistrasse 7-8 offers more than 12,000 sq m office space, along with Event and F&B accommodation. It also features a number of terraces overlooking the harbour, as well as 337 parking lots in the underground car park. The atrium benefits from abundant natural lighting.
The company acquired the property, on behalf of its pan-European core strategy, from Blue Colibri Capital Partners Fund II SCA, a Luxembourg-based SICAV-SIF. The parties agreed not to disclose the purchase price.
The eight-storey asset was built in 1995 and has since been refurbished to provide modern, attractive office space. Tenants include the Culture Office of the City of Düsseldorf, Wacom, a specialist for digital ink, as well as software company, Infor and advertising distributor, Seven.One Media.
Medienzentrum is located in the MedienHafen district. Since the 1980s, the former industrial harbour has been transformed into one of the most sought-after office and residential locations in Düsseldorf. Occupiers benefit from its world-famous architectural highlights, including the Gehry Buildings, as well as a substantial F&B offer and excellent connectivity via the Franziusstrasse tram station and Völklinger Strasse local train station.
“This was an exciting opportunity to acquire a prominent office property with extensive upside potential for our core strategy and is the second office asset in a creative and media hub that we have acquired this year following our acquisition of the Mediapark 6 in Cologne in August. As part of our worldwide ESG strategy, we will undertake specific measures for Medienzentrum in order to create a sustainable and future-proof asset,” said Sascha Becker, Managing Director and Country Head Real Estate Germany at Barings.
“This building represents exactly the type of asset we are looking to acquire in Germany and across our six other jurisdictions across Europe: core properties with the opportunity to improve cash flow over a medium- to long-term holding period. We are strong believers in well-located office locations. Aside from offices, we also see opportunities in the residential and logistics sectors,” added Gunther Deutsch, Managing Director Germany and Head of Europe Real Estate Transactions.
The transaction was brokered exclusively by Colliers. Barings was advised by Ashurst (legal) and TA Europe (technical).