LEADING CITIES INVEST acquires new office building in Dublin

Property meets the LEED Gold Standard - New CashCall started

LEADING CITIES INVEST, part of the KanAm Grund Group, is now also present in Dublin, the booming Irish capital following its acquisition of the fully leased Wythe Building on Cuffe Street. The Wythe Building is a grade A office development with 5 upper levels and a flat roof. It was completed in May 2019 and has around 1,617 m² of office space on the ground floor and five upper levels. The building was constructed to meet the LEED Gold Standard, with final certification expected in the coming weeks. With a portfolio that now amounts to 29 properties, LEADING CITIES INVEST has now invested in 20 locations in eight countries – Germany, Belgium, France, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Poland, Spain and Ireland. A new CashCall has commenced, and LEADING CITIES INVEST is open for deposits. The target return in 2019 is once again 3 % for the year.

Ireland, and in particular its capital Dublin, has developed in recent decades to become an open export economy. Real gross domestic product has risen 188 % in a period of twenty years, the strongest growth anywhere in the EU. A major reason for this economic upturn is the rapid increase in foreign direct investment which rose approximately 1,700 % between 1996 and 2016. US companies in particular have chosen to enter the European Economic Area through Dublin, with the city now playing host to the European headquarters of multinationals such as Pfizer, Google, Facebook and Microsoft. One reason for this is the low tax rate, as corporate tax in Ireland is only 12.5 %. This is one of the lowest rates within the EU.

The Wythe Building is located halfway between St. Stephen´s Green Park and the Technological University Dublin. The city center (City Hall) is only about 1 kilometer from the property. The building is located in one of the most important and, simultaneously, most popular districts in Dublin which is notable for the numerous hotels, pubs, gyms, parks and concert venues in the direct vicinity. Camden Street, Harcourt Street and Grafton Street, all popular with shoppers and pedestrians, can be easily reached on foot. The Wythe Building was acquired in an off-market transaction. The sale was handled jointly by CBRE & Savills on behalf of the developer Avam Limited, whereas KanAm Grund Group were represented by GVA. It has been agreed to keep the sales price confidential.

The Wythe Building has been constructed to the CAT-A standard which includes the installation of electric sockets, lighting, air conditioning systems and toilets (on each floor), suspended ceilings, a fire alarm system and raised flooring. CAT-B, on the other hand, is realized by each individual tenant. The premises are leased to 4 different tenants with a profile that is very typical for Dublin.

With 52 % tenancy, the main lessee is Young Advertising Limited, a subsidiary of Havas Ireland Limited which was established in 1983 and provides a broad range of communication services such as digital advertising, corporate communication, sport marketing, interactive multimedia communication, PR services and innovation consulting (Havas Blockchain). Other tenants are Priceline Booking (Ireland), a 100 % subsidiary of Booking Holdings which is headquartered in Connecticut, USA, Fidelis Insurance Ireland Designated Activity Company, established in December 2017 as a regulated insurer to better exploit the options offered by the European Economic Area (EEA) after Brexit, and Hitachi Vantara (Ireland) Limited, a subsidiary of the global provider of data storage systems from California.

This real estate portfolio of LEADING CITIES INVEST is notable for its extremely broad diversification, ranging from offices, industry/logistics and retail/gastronomy to the hotel trade, doctors' surgeries and medical services and leisure facilities, all 100 % leased. Together with the striking level of dynamism associated with transactions, a high occupancy rate is a clear indication of the profitability of the fund. Transformation of the energy supply to ensure sustainability will enable LEADING CITIES INVEST to save 646 tonnes of CO2 every year in future. In the current real estate fund rating of the Scope rating agency, the excellent quality of LEADING CITIES INVEST was distinguished with the third consecutive awarding of an a+AIF rating, and the asset management rating of the KanAm Grund Group was raised to AA-AMR.