(BARCELONA) - Henderson Park, the pan-European private equity real estate firm, and Hines, the international real estate firm, announce that they have sold through a forward funding agreement the 743-bed purpose built student accommodation (PBSA) currently under construction in 22@Barcelona, the city’s innovation district, with further consideration dependent on achieving certain performance criteria. The project has been sold to Commerz Real Capital Management Company acting on behalf of the Commerz Real Institutional Smart Living Europe Fund.
Henderson Park and Hines acquired the project in August 2018 and have subsequently progressed the development which is on target to be operational in time for the 2022/23 academic year. Once complete the accommodation will comprise 20,000 square meters above ground, and 6,079 square meters below, with capacity for 743 students. The project will be managed by Hines’ property management team, via its aparto brand.
The 8-story student accommodation building has been designed by architects Batlle i Roig, with 2,500 square meters of exterior gardens, 1,800 square meters of amenity space and 900 square meters of roof terrace with the aim to achieve LEED Gold and WELL Platinum certification. Henderson Park and Hines will continue to develop the building until completion.
The disposal follows the €31 million forward sale in November of a second project being developed by Henderson Park and Hines on the adjacent site. This transaction occurred after Henderson Park and Hines had fully let the project to the Toulouse Business School for 15 years as a purpose built 8,700 square meter educational facility, which is due to be delivered in the middle of next year. The new facility will serve as a campus for Toulouse Business School with capacity for 1,000 students.
The area benefits from a prominent position in Barcelona’s 22@ district and is just 15 minutes’ walk from nearby university campuses. 22@Barcelona is one of the key innovation districts in Europe and is noted for its excellent connectivity to the rest the city, as well as being home to a host of successful regeneration projects.
Barcelona is a top 10 European student city and is home to eight universities, of which, four are public and four are private. Student accommodation in Barcelona is typically undersupplied with an estimated 8,700 operational PBSA beds and 165,000 students on an average year. The resulting provision rate of 5%, which equates to 19 students per available PBSA bed, signifies the need for greater provision of PBSA in Barcelona.
Nick Weber, Founding Partner of Henderson Park, said: “We identified Barcelona as a market with highly attractive supply and demand dynamics for the student accommodation sector. Over the past few years since acquiring the site we have worked together with Hines to bring forward two first class institutional quality educational and residential assets. Our projects have made a positive contribution to the new 22@ innovation district in Barcelona, helping transform this neighborhood into an international center of educational excellence. As the projects progressed we received a number of offers for these assets with continued strong investor demand for high quality properties in these sectors. We took the opportunity to accelerate our business plan via these early disposals. This latest sale to a well-respected long term investor marks a highly successful conclusion of our investment into this project on behalf of our clients. Our ‘Living’ focused residential strategy remains one of our conviction calls and we will continue to look for opportunities in this sector.”
Vanessa Gelado, Senior Management Director and Country Head for Spain, at Hines, added: “22@Barcelona is one of the largest urban regeneration schemes in Europe and is famed for innovation. We’re delighted to play our part with over 75,000 square meters under development across this dynamic hub with the student living project central to its genesis. Working alongside Henderson Park, we continue to focus on delivering these residences for the 2022/23 academic year and look forward to the ongoing property management of the site via our aparto brand.”
Cushman & Wakefield and Garrigues advised Henderson Park and Hines on the sale of the property. Commerz Real AG, acting on behalf of their European Student Housing fund, was advised by Savills and Cuatrecasas.
About Henderson Park
Henderson Park is a pan-European private equity real estate manager based in London. The firm has invested approximately $10 billion in building a portfolio of iconic real estate assets across Europe, with exposure to the gateway and capital cities of the United Kingdom, France, Spain, Germany, Ireland, Greece, Poland and Portugal. Henderson Park seeks high-quality assets in prime locations where it can identify potential to unlock or create value through asset management, or by taking on and working through complex situations. The firm’s current portfolio spans over 17 million sq ft and is diversified across the office, logistics, multifamily, student housing, hotel and retail sectors, including a number of active development projects. Henderson Park strives to work with and create long-term strategic relationships with best in class local partners. Henderson Park is led by Nick Weber, its Founding Partner and CEO. Henderson Park is a signatory of the UN PRI.
About Hines
Hines is a privately owned global real estate investment firm founded in 1957 with a presence in 225 cities in 25 countries. Hines has approximately $144.1 billion¹ of assets under management, including $75.5 billion for which Hines serves as investment manager, including non-real estate assets, and $68.6 billion for which Hines provides third-party property-level services. The firm has 165 developments currently underway around the world. Historically, Hines has developed, redeveloped or acquired 1,426 properties, totaling over 472 million square feet. The firm’s current property and asset management portfolio includes 576 properties, representing over 246 million square feet. With extensive experience in investments across the risk spectrum and all property types, and a pioneering commitment to sustainability, Hines is one of the largest and most-respected real estate organizations in the world.
¹AUM includes both the global Hines organization as well as RIA AUM.
Since entering Europe in 1991, Hines has grown its European platform to include offices in 16 cities as well as a presence in 55 cities in 13 countries, with €22.7 billion of assets under management, including
€19.8 billion for which Hines serves as an investment manager and €2.9 billion for which Hines provides third-party property-level services, in Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Spain and the United Kingdom.
Visit www.hines.com for more information.
