AEW acquires one building of the Rio 55 business park development in Madrid

theretailrealestate by Retailtrend.it – AEW announces that it has agreed to forward purchase an office building being constructed at the Paseo de la Virgen de Puerto (“Rio 55”) in Madrid, Spain for €43mn on behalf of the AEW Europe Value Investors Fund.

The ca. 14,000 sqm property is being developed by Insur to prime international standards and will have a BREEAM Very Good certification using high quality and sustainable materials.

Once complete, the asset will provide ca. 13,000 sqm of office space on seven floors, ca. 1,000 sqm of retail space across five ground floor units and more than 200 parking spaces.

The scheme has been designed to cater for both single tenant and multi let occupation with individual floorplates at a minimum of between 400 and 800 sqm. In addition, the building will be surrounded by 8,000 sqm of landscaped gardens, of which approximately half will be opened to the public.

Rio 55 is located in the Madrid Sur area close to the Manzanares River and the M30 highway leading directly to Madrid’s Central Business District and the famous Palacio Real.

AEW Europe Value Investors fund targets well-located assets in need of active asset management. The Fund implements a diversified value-add Pan-European investment strategy targeting office assets in need of repositioning. AEW Europe Value Investors raised €410mn of which 93% has already been invested across Europe.

Commenting on the acquisition Carsten Czarnetzki, Country Head for Spain and Fund Manager of the acquiring fund at AEW, said: “This acquisition of Rio 55 is completely in line with the strategy of the AEW Europe Value Investors fund. This high quality development is in a strong location where the outlook for rental growth continues to strengthen as a result of an increasingly supply constrained market inside the M30 ring road. We continue to explore opportunities to grow our investment in Spain which is experiencing strong economic growth prospects.”

Insur Group is the leading firm in the Andalusian office market with more than 115,000 sqm of lettable office space. The real estate firm was founded in 1945, listed on the stock exchange since 1984 and present in the Madrid market since 2007. It follows two main activities, development for its own account as well as commercial and residential promotion, in Madrid, Malaga-Costa del Sol, Seville, Cordoba, Cádiz, and Huelva.

AEW was advised by Herbert Smith Freehills and the sale process was conducted by Savills-Aguirre Newman. The Seller was advised by Simmons & Simmons.