Upgrading of the overall property through further investments in rooms and community areas as well as revised operating concept planned
Home & Co, the vertically integrated real estate platform for student housing and micro-living in Europe, has expanded further with the acquisition of a student residence in Frankfurt am Main. The property is located in Frankfurt’s Bockenheim district, which is dominated by students, and has 164 apartments with living areas between 20 and 39 square metres.
The location in the immediate vicinity of Frankfurt’s Westbahnhof train station and the 1.5-hectare Von Bernus Park with its 250-year history, the roof terrace with a view of the Frankfurt skyline and the proximity to the city’s three largest universities make the property attractive for students and young professionals.
The property meets modern energy standards. Home & Co is planning a modernization that will raise the standard of the apartments to the company-wide standard of living. The currently unused areas will be expanded for new communal areas. A gym, co-working and learning area as well as a cinema room are planned.
Vincent Steigenberger, CEO of Home & Co: “Frankfurt is a strategic location for us because it combines international appeal, academic excellence and a constantly growing demand for modern student housing. For me personally, the commitment in my hometown is a special concern. With the move to Frankfurt, we are consistently expanding our portfolio in markets that not only promise high demand, but also offer long-term location prospects for our platform.”
Enis Bayik, COO/CMO of Home & Co: “With the acquisition of the student residence in Frankfurt, we are focusing on comprehensively optimising the operation of the property. At Home & Co, our aim is to raise existing buildings to a high-quality standard through technical know-how, modern equipment and efficient processes. With this acquisition in particular, we see the opportunity to noticeably improve the user experience for residents and to achieve a sustainable turnaround through our clearly defined product standard, operational excellence, digital access and targeted community management.”
David Pongratz, CIO of Home & Co: “The property, which is almost fully let, is an ideal fit for our proven value-add strategy: The operational turnaround of supposedly stabilised existing properties through the implementation of the Home & Co standard is one of our core competencies – made possible by our broad-based corporate structure. The acquisition also underlines our expansion strategy to further expand Home & Co’s presence in high-demand university cities while continuously improving the ESG efficiency of our portfolio.”
Cushman & Wakefield, led by Wolfgang Neupert (Partner, Berlin), was responsible for the technical due diligence of the transaction, while Dentons, led by Volker Mergener (Partner, Berlin), was responsible for the legal review and the negotiation of the purchase agreement. The tax due diligence was carried out by EY (Ulrike Topp, Partner, Berlin). CBRE, represented by Sebastian Schütte and Jan Kiskemper, advised on the transaction. The purchase price was not disclosed.
