Nuveen Real Estate’s European Cities platform makes debut investment in Austria

Nuveen Real Estate, one of the largest real estate investment managers in the world, has acquired an urban logistics park in the City of Vienna for c. €65 million on behalf of its European Cities platform. The property has been acquired from SEGRO, an owner, developer and manager of industrial properties across Europe, who completed development on the first phase of CityPark Vienna in 2016.

CityPark comprises c. 20,000 sq m (c. 215,000 sq ft) of newly developed light industrial property and cross-dock accommodation, which both benefit from a DGNB ‘Gold’ rating. Tenants include ABF Pharmaceutical and AV Pro. There is also planning permission for the development of a further c. 39,000 sq m (c. 420,000 sq ft) of urban logistics accommodation across three phases.

The existing light industrial unit, which comprises c. 8,000 sq m (c. 86,000 sq ft), is occupied by Österreichische Post, as its national parcel hub. There is also a multi-storey car park on site.

CityPark is situated in the 23rd District of Vienna, just 10km south west of the city centre, and just 3km north of two major motorways. Vienna is one of the fastest growing European capital cities in terms of population, which currently sits at c. 1.8 million.

Liz Sworn, Fund Manager at Nuveen Real Estate, comments: “We are delighted to have completed our first acquisition in Austria, for this strategy, particularly given the quality of the asset and its growth potential. Vienna offers an exciting opportunity for inner-city investment, with forecasts predicting major population increase over the next few years, while the growing prevalence of e-commerce adds to the increasing importance of logistics properties in more urban areas. CityPark is a high-quality asset in a well-positioned location that we believe will attract strong occupier returns for many years to come.”

Nuveen Real Estate’s European Cities platform forms part of the firm’s global resilient series, which focuses on investing in high-quality assets in ‘future-proof’ cities that are well-positioned in terms of long-term structural trends, including demographic change, urbanisation and technology and in doing so, possibly delivers attractive, risk-adjusted returns to investors.

As part of this series, Nuveen Real Estate also manages an Asia Pacific strategy, as well as four sector-specific strategies in the U.S., which are all underpinned by the same cities-focused approach. Across its global resilient series, the firm manages over US$5 billion of assets in over 35 leading resilient cities globally.

Nuveen Real Estate’s existing portfolio in Austria comprises $1.2 billion AUM, comprising retail, office and residential assets. Local asset management and the platform’s regional investment pipeline is supported by a team of six who operate out of Nuveen Real Estate’s Viennese office.

Nuveen Real Estate was advised on the EY Law and CBRE, while SEGRO was advised by Knight Frank and Otto Immobilien.