January 2019

Hamburg, 30 January 2019. Munich-based investment and asset management specialist Competo Capital Partners GmbH has acquired two office properties at Cremon in Hamburg from QUEST Investment Partners in an asset deal. Competo will incorporate both buildings into its new open-ended real estate special AIF “JHS Competo Immobilien Deutschland”. It launched the fund at the end of 2018 as an individual mandate for the Joachim Herz Foundation from Hamburg, working with International Real Estate Kapitalverwaltungsgesellschaft mbH (INTREAL) as a Service-KVG (capital investment company). The fund makes targeted investments in the office and residential segments in top locations of Germany’s major metropolitan regions.

The existing building “Cremon 3” has been comprehensively refurbished and comprises some 4,500 m² of rental space on seven floors. It is fully let to the crafts group Philip Mecklenburg and Enfore AG. The adjacent property “Cremon 1” is a new nine-storey building with around 2,500 m² of residential, retail and office space. It is scheduled for completion by mid-2020. A contract has already been signed for the entire office space measuring 1,400 m². Here, too, the tenant is the craft group Philip Mecklenburg.

The new construction plans for “Cremon 1” were conceived by the renowned architectural office gmp von Gerkan, Marg und Partner. QUEST Investment Partners closely coordinated the plans with the City of Hamburg and the Office for the Protection of Historical Monuments, as the construction of the nine-storey property directly opposite the “Haus der Seefahrt” building will emphasise the original entrance to Hamburg’s former inland port. In 1188, the development of the Port of Hamburg began in this historic place at Nikolaifleet. The site has been undeveloped since the 1960s.

Angermann Real Estate Advisory AG acted as broker during the letting and the subsequent transaction process. Legal counsel was provided to the seller by the law firm Jebens Mensching LLP and to the buyer by GSK Stockmann.

About QUEST Investment Partners

QUEST Investment Partners is a real estate project development and investment company with offices in Hamburg and Berlin. QUEST focuses on investments in commercial and residential properties with upside potential in top locations of major German cities. In retail developments the focus is on good inner-city locations in German metropolitan regions. The QUEST team has extensive experience in the development of high-quality real estate projects and continuously aims at increasing the real estate values of its shareholders and investors. QUEST’s shareholders are the managing directors Theja Geyer and Jan Rouven Künzel as well as the investment holding company of the Hamburg entrepreneur Erck Rickmers who is invested in real estate, equity investments and shipping. www.quest-investment.com

About Competo Capital Partners

Competo Capital Partners is an owner-operated and independent real estate company based in Munich. Our core competencies are focused on custom-tailored-investments in German project developments with equity and mezzanine loans as well as long-term investments in existing properties. In this context Competo supports a small and select number of institutional investors, almost exclusively from foundations and family offices.

In project developments, Competo Capital Partners participates with equity and mezzanine loans in selected real estate project developments by experienced developers in Germany in the office, residential, logistics and retail segments. On average, the investment portfolio consists of 15 equity investments with an investment volume of around 900 million euros and 10 mezzanine investments with an investment volume of about one billion euros. This amounts to a combined investment volume of around 1.9 billion euros.

In the segment of portfolio properties, Competo acts as an investment and asset manager and currently manages a portfolio of 12 office properties with an investment volume of around 800 million euros in Munich, Hamburg, Düsseldorf, Stuttgart and Ulm.

Competo hence manages a total investment volume of 2.7 billion euros in the real estate sector.

About the Joachim Herz Foundation

The Joachim Herz Foundation in Hamburg, Germany, promotes education, science, and research in economics and the natural sciences as well as the personal development of teens and young adults. It was founded in the summer of 2008.
The assets of the Joachim Herz Foundation amount to 1.3 billion euros. Around 16 million euros are available each year for the charitable work of the foundation.

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Hamburg, 28 January 2019. The real estate project developer QUEST Investment Partners has sold Kallmorgen Tower to BNP Paribas REIM, acting on behalf of Next Estate Income Fund III (NEIF III). Architect Werner Kallmorgen designed the 17-storey office building for IBM in 1968, inspired by a Hollerith punch card. In the last two years the listed building was gutted and completely renovated. The parties agreed not to disclose the purchase price.

Spaces, the main tenant, started operations at the beginning of the year. On an area of around 7,000 m², the leading international co-working provider offers creative professionals, start-ups, project teams and freelancers modern and light-flooded workstations along with culinary services. The office sizes range from 15 m² to 450 m². In addition, the conference area on the 16th floor also boasts spectacular views of Hamburg and the Elbphilharmonie.

“The exciting thing about this building is that it was already considered pioneering in the 1960s. In housing these state-of-the-art office concepts, it continues to reflect this today. Kallmorgen designed a modern classic, an architectural style icon,” says Theja Geyer, Managing Partner at QUEST Investment Partners.

Jebens Mensching acted in an advisory capacity during the sale of the building.
A documentation with fascinating analogue photographs of the various phases of modernisation can be found here: http://www.kallmorgen-tower.de

About QUEST Investment Partners

QUEST Investment Partners is a real estate project development and investment company with offices in Hamburg and Berlin. QUEST focuses on investments in commercial and residential properties with upside potential in top locations of major German cities. In retail developments the focus is on good inner-city locations in German metropolitan regions. The QUEST team has extensive experience in the development of high-quality real estate projects and continuously aims at increasing the real estate values of its shareholders and investors. QUEST’s shareholders are the managing directors Theja Geyer and Jan Rouven Künzel as well as the investment holding company of the Hamburg entrepreneur Erck Rickmers who is invested in real estate, equity investments and shipping. www.quest-investment.com

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Source: Abendblatt.de
Image: Marcelo Hernandez
Article: Ulrich Gaßdorf

The project developers at Quest focus on properties and plots of land in the city centre, one of which is located right next to Hamburg’s “Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten”.

Hamburg. The inconspicuous brick building is located on Große Theaterstraße – only a few metres from the Binnenalster and in the direct vicinity of Hamburg’s “Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten”. Theja Geyer and Jan Rouven Künzel, Managing Partners at Quest, have a vision for this prime location: a luxury boutique hotel with around 100 rooms.

The existing building is to be demolished and by 2021 this site will become home to a new seven-storey building with a white façade and French balconies. “The location is perfectly suited for a hotel. In addition, the property is not a listed building, which means that demolition is possible. We are already talking to possible operators. There is great interest,” said Künzel in an interview with “Hamburger Abendblatt”. The aim is to design an individual hotel that meets the highest standards and is an unparalleled feature of Hamburg’s city centre.

It’s all about the location
The two Quest managers are at their office on Hohe Bleichen. This is where business partners are welcomed into generous, light-flooded rooms. The two project developers founded the company in June 2016 together with lawyer Detlef Broszehl and ship owner Erck Rickmers, who is also chairman of the advisory board. They have since been on a shopping spree. The city centre and the old town are their hunting ground. One of the properties is the building on Große Theaterstraße: “For us, it’s always about the location. We specialise in refurbishing or extending existing buildings, or even listed buildings. But, of course, we are also open to new construction projects,” states Künzel.

These roads are under construction
Currently this is the case at “Neue Burg” right next to St. Nikolai memorial. The building pit has already been excavated. Based on the plans of Hamburg architects Stölken Schmidt, an office building is to be created here by 2020. The property will comprise 6,500 square metres of gross floor area, including retail and restaurant facilities on the ground floor. In addition, Quest is also developing the “Cremon 1” site: “The site is located in the heart of Hamburg’s old town, close to the former harbour gate. In 1188, the development of the Port of Hamburg began in this historic place,” says Künzel. The new building was designed by the renowned Hamburg architects gmp Architekten Gerkan, Marg und Partner. Overlooking Nikolaifleet, offices as well as ten high-end rental apartments are to be built here by 2020. The adjacent office building from the 70s is also part of the project and has already been modernised.

Driving along Baumwall in the direction of Landungsbrücken, a striking building at the street corner opposite the underground station catches your eye. We are talking about “Überseehaus”. Built in the early 1980s, it was acquired by Quest and Allianz last year: “We are modernising this building, creating a prestigious entrance area. We want to redesign the attic and optimise the use of space,” states Künzel.

The two project developers have been working in the industry for 14 years. Most recently, when working at Art-Invest, they oversaw the revitalisation of the building complex of the former Vereins- und Westbank on Hamburg’s Alter Wall. But the real estate experts “wanted to do something of their own.” “We found the right partners in Erck Rickmers and Detlev Broszehl. We take care of the operative business,” says Geyer.

20 employees are working for the project developers
Quest’s total investment currently amounts to around 660 million euros. Since its foundation, the company has acquired 19 properties in Hamburg. Kallmorgen Tower on Willy-Brandt-Straße, a listed building dating back to 1968, is one of them. The provider Spaces has since turned the high-rise building into the city’s largest co-working space. The portfolio also included the historical Kontorhaus building “Elbhof” on Steinhöft, which is being used as an office space. The properties usually change hands after revitalisation or construction is completed. The buyers include institutional investors such as pension funds or major private investors.

20 employees are currently working for the project developers who have also opened an office in Berlin: “Of course our heart is set on Hamburg and we are looking into further acquisition opportunities in central locations here. But the Berlin market is extremely interesting, as there are still some places that will develop positively in the coming years,” says Künzel. The properties in the German capital include the “Lenzhaus” on Kurfürstenstraße, which was built in the 1920s. It is reminiscent of American high-rise buildings from that era.

Geyer and Künzel focus their project development “exclusively on major German cities.” This is why they also operate in Frankfurt am Main, where they acquired the former “Hotel Hohenzollern” not far from the central station. The building from 1910 will be converted into an office building with retail and restaurant facilities. A new project is also due to be presented in Munich in the coming weeks.

© Hamburger Abendblatt 2019 – All rights reserved.

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