Real I.S. AG has announced the sale of two listed properties, Ploum House and Blaak House, at Blaak 28 and 34 in Rotterdam. The properties have been sold to LaSalle Investment Management and the fund manager Universal-Investment on behalf of the Bayerische Versorgungskammer. The parties have agreed not to disclose the purchase price.

The two office properties have a combined rental area of around 16,854 square metres, 7,334 square metres in the six-storey Ploum House at Blaak 28 and 9,520 square metres in the seven-storey Blaak House at Blaak 34. The properties are part of an ensemble of three historic bank buildings from the 1960s. Ploum House is set to be renovated by the end of 2019 and Blaak House was extensively modernised in 2018. The main tenants are the law firm Ploum and the business centre operator Tribes.

“The central location and the state-of-the-art fit-out of both buildings make this ensemble a highly sought-after office location”, explains Jochen Schenk, CEO of Real I.S. AG. “Within the Netherlands, the Rotterdam office market is going from strength to strength with rising prime rents and falling vacancy rates. Interest in core properties in Rotterdam is growing, which has created a market environment in which a sale become an attractive option for us”.

Ploum House and Blaak House are located in the heart of Rotterdam’s Central Business District, in the city’s former financial centre, next to the bustling central market hall. Blaak train station and Beurs metro station can be reached in less than five minutes on foot and the A 16 and A 20 motorways are only ten minutes away by car.

The properties belonged to the BGV V special real estate fund, which has invested in office and retail real estate in Germany, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, France and Ireland on behalf of institutional investors.

Real I.S. was advised on the transaction by Savills and Loyens & Loeff.