HOCHTIEF Real Estate Division
- High demand for premium real estate development
- aurelis successfully sold properties
- HOCHTIEF is Germany's largest property manager
- Profit before taxes drops year on year
Formed as of January 1, 2008, the HOCHTIEF Real Estate division combines our real estate and real estate portfolio activities. It comprises the companies HOCHTIEF Projektentwicklung, aurelis Real Estate and HOCHTIEF Property Management. The division's capabilities are focused on the entire real estate life cycle, from development and construction to marketing and management. This integrated approach allows us to create lasting synergies.
HOCHTIEF Projektentwicklung
HOCHTIEF Projektentwicklung was able to underscore its leading position in the market for premium real estate which is still in demand. In Germany as well as in Central and Eastern Europe, construction began on 13 new projects with about 226,000 square meters of gross floor space. At December 31, 2008, 30 projects with an investment volume of EUR 1.28 billion and a total rentable space of 507,300 square meters were under construction. Of these, 87 percent were leased at the reporting date and 49 percent had already been sold to final investors prior to completion. Another increasingly important issue in this and in other areas is sustainability: Tenants and investors are interested above all in properties whose energy efficiency makes them cost-effective in the long term. One such property is the "smarthouse" in Munich. In January 2009, the planning for our office property was honored with the first-ever German sustainable building certificate in gold by the German Sustainable Building Council.One of the priorities in the reporting year was expansion of the care segment. 2008 saw the start of construction on several care projects in Germany. Our real estate development subsidiary launched a long-term collaboration with partner BeneVit, an operator of care facilities driven by innovative residential and support concepts.
HOCHTIEF Projektentwicklung expanded internationally too. At the beginning of 2008, it established its seventh
Project highlights
Offices segment
The Lindley Carrée development is currently under construction in Hamburg. Some 38 percent of the 24,500- square-meter office complex (gross floor space) in Hamburg"s City Süd is already leased to neue leben Lebensversicherung AG. The office building is being developed on ecological lines and thus meets the requirements of the internationally recognized certificate for sustainable building "Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design" (LEED).In Düsseldorf, HOCHTIEF Projektentwicklung is building the Four Elements office building. Over 70 percent of the 14,700-square-meter property (gross floor space) has been pre-leased; the tenants include a law firm. The final investor is Rheinische Versorgungskassen.
In Munich, construction began in 2008 on the Altezza, an office property with a total of 22,000 square meters of gross floor space. The property was purchased in 2007 by ING Real Estate for an office property fund. More than 50 percent of the property has been pre-leased to BT Germany. In addition, a lease agreement was signed with Deutsche Apotheker- und Ärztebank at the end of the year. The project is therefore already sold and 77 percent pre-leased prior to completion.
In Essen, building work began in 2008 on the Rüttenscheider Tor, an office development with almost 9,800 square meters of gross floor space. Even before the start of construction, 62 percent of the office space had been leased to renowned law firms.
We also notched up international success in this segment: HOCHTIEF Development Schweiz, formed in 2007, is realizing its first project with the Portikon in Zurich: The sevenstory office and business building comprises 19,500 square meters of gross floor space. Thirty-eight percent of the space is already leased to Baxter Healthcare SA.
