Commerz Real invests in the Elbtower
Commerz Real has acquired a 25% stake in the Elbtower high-rise development for its open-ended real estate fund Hausinvest. Construction of the mixed-use high-rise in Hamburg’s HafenCity, designed by David Chipperfield Architects, is scheduled to start at the beginning of 2023 and to be completed by the end of 2025. The excavation pit at Elbbrücken is currently under construction.
Three years before its completion, the pre-letting rate is already over 40% – more than 30% of the office space has already been let, and the international lifestyle brand Nobu Hospitality has also been confirmed as the hotel operator.
“It’s an absolute landmark property in an excellent location with outstanding architecture and construction,” says a delighted Henning Koch, CEO of Commerz Real. “Its exceptional position and significance for Hamburg’s urban development, the broad mix of types of use and the forward-looking sustainability concept have convinced us and are an enrichment for the fund portfolio.”
»It’s an absolute landmark property in an excellent location with outstanding architecture and construction.«
Commerz Real manages €35 billion
Commerz Real is a Commerzbank Group company. It has 50 years of market experience and manages around € 35 billion. It combines comprehensive asset management know-how and broad structuring expertise to offer its characteristic range of services consisting of asset-oriented fund products and individual financing solutions. The range of funds includes the open-ended real estate fund Hausinvest, the first private investor impact fund with a focus on tangible assets Klimavest, institutional investment products as well as entrepreneurial investments under the CFB Invest brand with tangible asset investments in the focus segments of renewable energies and real estate. As the Commerzbank Group’s leasing service provider, Commerz Real also offers needs-based equipment leasing concepts.
Partnership connection
“We are very pleased that we have been able to win Commerz Real, a financially strong and reliable investor with whom we have had a long partnership relationship, for our landmark project,” says Timo Herzberg, CEO of SIGNA Real Estate. “Our common goal is to successfully complete the Elbtower on schedule by the end of 2025 and to hold it for the long term.”
With the investment, the companies are expanding their strategic cooperation. Commerz Real has had a 20% investment in 10 Galeria department stores which are Signa properties, since 2019.
An architectural and urban development icon
Visible from afar, the 245-metre-high Elbtower will be the eastern end of HafenCity and the prelude to Hamburg’s city entrance on the Norderelbe. The landmark project will meet the highest sustainability standards. For example, the Elbtower will be operated CO2-neutrally thanks to its intelligent energy concept. The Elbtower obtains the energy for heating and cooling its interior spaces from one of Hamburg’s largest wastewater systems as well as CO2-free certified district heating. The electricity for all its tenants is from exclusively renewable sources.
The publicly accessible ground floors will offer a variety of shops, restaurants, co-working spaces and cultural uses with their innovative floor plans. They will form a public space for Elbtower users and visitors. Office users, hotel guests, tourists and Hamburg residents alike will find an excellence that invites them to stay a little longer. Nobu Hospitality will open its first hotel and restaurant in Germany in the Elbtower. The tower itself offers the most modern, flexibly configurable office space, in which the working world of tomorrow will find a home. An incomparable view of the city opens up from the public viewing platform at a height of 225 metres.