Listed icon of Expressionist architecture acquired by REInvest fund
The Luxembourg asset and investment specialist REInvest Asset Management S.A. signed the
purchase agreement for the public authority building at Ringbahnstraße 132 in Berlin in July
2021. Once the final revitalisation work has been completed, the Berlin Criminal
Investigation Office (LKA) will move its anti-terrorist headquarters into the building. The
seller was Hamburg-based Paribus Immobilien Assetmanagement GmbH.
The property was secured for the DRED SICAV FIS fund, which invests in German office
properties. The principal investor of the Luxembourg-based real estate special fund is a
major German insurance company. The entire building is being leased to BIM Berliner
Immobilienmanagement GmbH for 35 years. The first parts of the building have already
been handed over for use. Around 1,200 employees will be based there when the remaining
rental space is transferred in 2022.
“The building is being let to the LKA on a very long-term contract. It has been refurbished to
top-quality standards and is in a prime location with excellent transport links. Added to this
is its historical significance as a unique architectural monument. Investors could not wish for
more. Which is why we are so pleased that this one-of-a-kind property will soon be
enhancing the performance of our fund,” explains Stephan Böttger, Executive Director Fund
Management at REInvest.
The office property comprises a total of approximately 26,000 square metres of rental space.
It is located in Berlin-Tempelhof between Schöneberger Straße, Ringbahnstraße and Berliner
Straße. The listed property is a brick building from the Expressionist period.
It was built from 1925-28 by the government building officer Karl Pfuhl based on preliminary
designs by the architect Edmund Beisel as the headquarters of the Reich Central Post Office.
The first experimental beginnings of television took place in the building’s technical laboratories and workshops. Later, fully fledged TV programmes were eventually made there, too. The building was most recently used by Deutsche Telekom until 2018.
Thomas Böcher, Managing Director of Paribus Immobilien Assetmanagement GmbH,
explains: “The sale of the Ringbahnstraße property in Berlin marks the successful conclusion
of a project which was challenging in every respect. It began in 2016 when we took over the
asset management. Our team was able to demonstrate its expertise in all areas of real estate
asset management on this project. An extraordinary job has been done here – from the
structuring and procurement of financing and the development of a competitive utilisation
proposal and its structural implementation right through to attracting and signing up tenants
and ultimately the successful sale.”