Marynarska Business Park sells for €167 million
DEGI bought the 43,700-sqm office park from Ghelamco for €167 (zł.576) million, in what looks set to be the largest Polish commercial real estate deal of 2008, both companies said.
The sheer size of the property means potentially bigger transactions in Poland this year would have to be fund-to-fund sales of entire property portfolios.
The average size of Polish real estate transactions actually decreased to €60 (zł.207) million in 2007, down from €85 (zł.293) million in 2006, mainly because investors have begun purchasing smaller assets outside Warsaw, real estate consultancy DTZ wrote in a report.
DEGI acquired MBP - located in the formerly industrial area of Służewiec Przemysłowy - indirectly through a real estate company, it said in a statement. It will add this real estate company to its open-ended, international commercial property mutual fund.
Following the global trend of service-sector growth and urban renewal, Warsaw developers have been slowly transforming Mokotow's Służewiec Przemysłowy, a neighborhood of derelict factories, into a white-collar office hub.
The Marynarska campus, four office buildings designed by the Belgian architectural studio Jaspers & Eyers Partners, is 99-percent leased, with tenants which include Schering-Plough, Ford, Reader's Digest and Netia.
Market expectations
MBP is DEGI's largest Polish purchase to date, but it is also one of Ghelamco's biggest sales. In May, Ghelamco sold its newly-completed Wrocław office building, the 22,000-sqm BemaPlaza, to DEKA ImmobilienFonds for €106 (zł.365) million.
"Our strategy is to sell our projects as soon as they are built and fully leased," said Jeroen van der Toolen, Ghelamco's managing director for Central and Eastern Europe. "This will be our biggest sale in Poland for 2008, as Bema sold already.
"However, we have investments outside Poland, such as a fully-leased Kiev project in the pipeline. We're going to launch the 27,000-sqm warehouse [in Kiev] to the market at EXPO REAL," van der Toolen said.
He added that with office vacancies so low - hovering around two percent - it was easy to get buildings leased and sold.
"Eight years ago we waited two years to sell a project," van der Toolen said.
According to DTZ, Poland's rapid GDP growth has encouraged companies to expand and to look for larger and more modern offices.
"Throughout 2007, the banking sector dominated the leasing activity on the market," DTZ wrote in a report.
Ghelamco expects to sell its next Polish commercial property, 32,000-sqm Trinity III, in 2009.
"We're in confirmed negotiations to lease half the square metrage [of Trinity III]," van der Toolen said. "Looking at the vacancy level and other projects, the market is going to be very good in Warsaw's city center in the next 18 months," van der Toolen added.
DEGI in Poland
DEGI International bought its first Polish office building, the 38,000-sqm Metropolitan building at Pl. Pilsudskiego 1-3, in March 2006. It followed this up with the acquisition of the 33,000-sqm Focus building on Al. Armi Ludowej 26 in June 2007.
DEGI (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Immobilienfonds mbH) has €6 (zł.20) billion under management and owns properties in 17 countries.
