S IMMO AG: Focus on Berlin to continue

• 400 flats let out
• 2016: Further purchases planned

S IMMO Germany, the Berlin-based subsidiary of Austria’s S IMMO AG, can look back on a successful year in 2015. In a total of 28 transactions, the portfolio was expanded by 130,000 m², which led to an increase in lettable space of roughly 30%. The majority of the purchases were made in Berlin, and select properties were also acquired in Potsdam, Magdeburg, and Leipzig. Roughly two thirds of the new properties are existing buildings, while the remainder are sites for which the company will either secure building rights or complete revitalisation projects.

At the same time, S IMMO Germany was active in its business as a conventional portfolio manager, letting out 491 units with a total area of 47,837 m² in 2015. The largest segment comprised 401 residential units. Permits were secured for the expansion of penthouse spaces, redensification, and new construction at numerous portfolio properties.

General Manager Robert Neumüller values the diversity of activities and properties of his company: “While other companies focus on residential construction, for example, we specialise in maintaining a broad and diversified property portfolio and taking care of the associated planning and management requirements. This allows us to react to the market very flexibly. At the same time, it allows us to increasingly generate synergy effects, for example, by transferring our experiences in the commercial segment to the residential segment and vice versa.”

The revitalisation and development projects completed in Berlin last year are a good example of this:

Sonneninsel

In the course of the Sonneninsel project, two largely vacant buildings on Sonnenallee in the district of Neukölln were repositioned. As a result, the roughly 12,000 m² of rental space have now been fully let out. In the spring of 2015, S IMMO also purchased additional, adjacent spaces spanning around 15,600 m² and now plans to create a new, dynamic urban quarter connected to Neukölln.

Leuchtenfabrik

The company drew on the experience gained in the Sonneninsel project for the Leuchtenfabrik building, a protected property in the Oberschöneweide neighbourhood of Berlin that was purchased in 2015. The repositioning plans were developed from the perspective of a target group comprising companies in the creative and technology industries. The historic waterfront building has already attracted its first tenant – the creative agency Culture Form, whose signing at the end of the year represented an initial letting success before the official marketing launch.

Ernst Vejdovszky, CEO of S IMMO AG, comments: “Berlin will continue to be a major focus of our activities. The demographic developments, the constant influx of new residents, and the impressive number of business start-ups suggest that the potential here will not be exhausted for quite some time.”