The Hamburg-based real estate investment manager Union Investment has made a successful start to the 2022 financial year with two major lettings in the USA. In Atlanta, the lease for 4,000 sqm with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) in the Ten 10th Street property was extended by a further ten years. The building in the Midtown district, which has around 40,000 sqm of office space, has been part of the portfolio of Union Investment’s internationally oriented open-ended real estate fund UniImmo: Global since 2016. Ten 10th Street has a broad tenant structure with a focus on the banking and IT sectors. 96% of the space in the LEED Gold certified property is currently rented. In Dallas, the lease for 5,500 sqm with Lincoln Properties Company in the property at 2000 McKinney Avenue was extended again. The property has also been part of the UniImmo: Global portfolio since 2016.
Within just a few weeks, Union Investment has thus been able to retain five large office tenants in the overseas markets of the USA and Australia. The most recent letting balance covers a total volume of 58,400 sqm of office space. In New York City, the main tenant Brown Brothers Harriman with an area of around 17,500 sqm was extended until 2039 for the landmark property 140 Broadway in the Downtown area. In Houston, Shell Oil, the main tenant of the Class A property at 1000 Main Street in the Central Business District, was able to extend the lease with a rental area of around 24,100 sqm until 2031. In Brisbane, Australia, a direct lease for 7,300 sqm up to 2030 was signed with the current sub-tenant Virgin Australia for the Flight Center Southbank property. The three properties belong to the portfolio of UniImmo: Europa.
“With the current changes in the office markets, it is still important to be able to offer quality properties in good locations in connection with first-class tenant support. Larger tenants are increasingly using the opportunities to position themselves strategically for the future of office work today,” says Ulrich Dischler, Head of Asset Management Overseas at Union Investment Real Estate.
In total, Union Investment let and re-let commercial real estate space totaling around 1.3 million sqm in 2021. The occupancy rate based on income from the actively managed real estate funds was thus stabilized at a high level of 95 percent in a challenging market environment.
