LaSalle acquires Westend Yards office property in Munich

LaSalle has acquired Westend Yards, a Munich office property, on behalf of the Encore+ fund, its Pan-European core fund.

Westend Yards is a six-storey office building with a net lettable area of over 31,000m², situated on Hansastrasse in Munich’s Westend district, a major office location adjacent to the CBD with strong public transport and road connections. The property is currently fully let to multiple tenants, including the Fraunhofer Institute, Europe’s largest organisation for applied research and development services with over 25,000 employees. In the long term, LaSalle will explore options for refurbishing or redeveloping Westend Yards to increase the total rental area and upgrade amenities.

The proposed acquisition would increase the Encore+ exposure to the Munich office market by ca. EUR 134 Million, which is a national leader in terms of demand, low vacancy and adherence to LaSalle’s proprietary “DTU+E” criteria assessing assets’ long-term resilience to changes in demographics, technology, urbanisation and the environment. It follows the Fund’s acquisition of the ElseBella portfolio of two office properties in Munich for €169 million in December 2018. With Else also located in the Westend district, 750 metres away on the adjoining Elsenheimerstrasse, Westend Yards represents a second investment for the fund in a submarket subject to particularly high take-up levels and limited immediate and future supply.

David Ironside, Fund Manager of Encore+, LaSalle Investment Management, said: “This is another important acquisition for Encore+ that extends our strategy of increasing the fund’s exposure to the German office market, which we regard as one of the most attractive in Europe in terms of the supply-demand dynamics. Like the ElseBella office portfolio that we recently acquired, Westend Yards is a particularly well-located property which stands to benefit from Munich’s leading take-up and low vacancy rates – even relative to Germany as a whole – and therefore sustainably appreciate by capturing future rental growth. We are pleased to have secured another asset that we expect to deliver strong and stable returns to our investors in Encore+.”

LaSalle worked on the transaction with Hogan Lovells (Legal & Tax), Drees und Sommer, BrandBerger (Technical & Environmental), Colliers International (Valuation), Howden (W&I Insurer) and JLL (Buy-Side Advice & Property Management).

The investment strategy for Encore+ focuses on improving assets and creating growth by seeking opportunities to actively manage assets to deliver superior income returns. 

About LaSalle Investment Management 

LaSalle Investment Management is one of the world’s leading real estate investment managers. On a global basis, we manage approximately $77 billion of assets in private equity, debt and public real estate investments as of Q4 2021. The firm sponsors a complete range of investment vehicles including open- and closed-end funds, separate accounts and indirect investments. Our diverse client base includes public and private pension funds, insurance companies, governments, corporations, endowments and private individuals from across the globe. For more information please visit www.lasalle.com and LinkedIn.

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