CMC Capital secures €100m prime Berlin retail

CORK-BASED property investment group CMC Capital has completed the purchase of a major shopping centre in Berlin for more than €100 million.

The Schloss Strassen Centre (SSC), which opened for business in April, is located on the second-busiest street in the German capital.

It has been purchased by CMC Capital on behalf of its German commercial property syndicates.

Director of CMC Capital Derry Crowley said: “The closure of this transaction is the culmination of months of negotiations with the vendors in Germany, but it has been well worth the wait to secure such a prestigious property in Berlin’s prime shopping area.

“Property on this street rarely comes onto the market. We are fortunate that because of the quality of the local contacts and partners we have cultivated since entering the German market in 2004, we were able to enter direct negotiations with the vendor.”

CMC Capital agreed on the purchase price last September when the property was still under construction.

There has since been solid appreciation in the market, said Mr Crowley, who believes CMC Capital has secured great value for its clients in this deal.

The SSC has three floors of retailing and more than 16,000sq m of space, and its tenants include international retailers such as Zara, Toys R Us and Vodafone.

Rewe, a major German supermarket chain, is one of the anchor tenants, while other tenants include Weltbild bookstore, dM drugstore, Aktiv Schuh shoes, and fashion shops Butlers, More and More, and Mustang.

There are 365 parking spaces in the centre, which is adjacent to an underground rail station.

Most of the tenants are on 10-year leases that provide for inflation-linked rental increases, while many provide for extra rental income based on retail turnover.

CMC Capital is associated with Cork-based Crowley & McCarthy Chartered Accountants and has more than €500m under management on behalf of its property syndicate investors.