Second transaction of the joint venture with a focus on German logistics real estate
HIH Invest Real Estate (HIH Invest) has acquired a logistics project in Bensheim, southern Hesse, as part of a joint venture with the Northern European investment company Nrep, the real estate company of Urban Partners. The majority of the project will be financed with funds from Nrep's Nordic Strategies Fund V (NSFV), which is currently the largest value-add real estate fund in Europe. The investment will be handled via Nrep's logistics platform Logicenters and is the second collaboration between HIH Invest and Nrep after the first joint acquisition of a logistics project in Herten in the spring of this year.
Construction of the logistics hall on the approx. 40,000 square metre site at Albert-Einstein-Allee 3 is scheduled to begin in the first quarter of 2026. Of the total lettable area of 22,861 square metres, 18,995 square metres are logistics, 1,879 square metres are office space and 1,865 square metres mezzanine space. In addition, there are 122 parking spaces. The property is expected to be completed and ready for occupancy at the beginning of 2027. The property is already fully and long-term rented.
The project development offers a third-party space layout and can be divided into up to three rental units. The completed property meets current sustainability requirements and will be built in accordance with the taxonomy. A DGNB Gold Certificate is being sought. The property is heated by a heat pump and the roof is suitable for a photovoltaic system.
The joint venture between HIH Invest and the real estate investor Nrep and its platform Logicenters focuses on the provision of capital for development-ready, sustainable logistics properties in Germany.
Wolfgang Ködel, Head of Nrep Germany, says: "The market for high-quality logistics real estate in Germany continues to be characterised by a shortage of supply and high demands on sustainability and flexibility. Our partnership with HIH Invest enables us to implement attractive projects such as the one in Bensheim in a targeted manner and to further strengthen our presence in the German market. Together with HIH Invest, we are creating valuable real estate solutions that will also meet future user requirements."
Felix Meyen, Managing Director of HIH Invest, explains: "With the Bensheim location, we are opening up another highly attractive logistics cluster as part of our second cooperation with Nrep. We want to continue on this path and expand the portfolio accordingly. With our experience in structuring and managing such projects, we are the perfect partner for international investors."
"The cooperation with Nrep has been successful and based on partnership. The project development in Bensheim with the complete pre-letting, combined with an energy-efficient, taxonomy-compliant building concept, fits ideally into our investment strategy. As one of the largest logistics investment managers in Germany, we now manage almost EUR 1.5 billion in assets under management in logistics properties," comments Lars Bothe, Head of Value Add Investments at
HIH Invest.
The location of the logistics hall in Bensheim has excellent transport connections with direct access to the A5 and A67 motorways as well as to the B47 and 460 federal roads. Frankfurt am Main Airport can be reached in about half an hour, as well as the cities of Mannheim, Ludwigshafen, Heidelberg and Darmstadt. The Rhine-Neckar region is one of the economically strongest regions in Germany.
The legal due diligence was carried out by Ashurst. Drees & Sommer acted as technical advisor.
