8 September 2020
Union Investment acquires Diamond building in Ghent through property company
• Fully let landmark office building
• Approx. 16,000 sq m of rental space next to Ghent’s main railway station
• Acquisition for special fund UII EuropeanM
Union Investment has acquired the Diamond office building in the Belgian city of Ghent through the property company Global Life Tree NV. The transaction sees the Hamburg-based real estate investment manager acquiring 100 per cent of the shares in the Belgian company. The Seller is a joint venture between Flemish developers Global Estate Group and Life Tree Group. The parties agreed not to disclose the purchase price. The acquisition is being made on behalf of open-ended special real estate fund UII EuropeanM, which is targeted at institutional investors.
The property is located in the Sint-Pieters inner-city development area. The city authorities and Belgian railway company NMBS are creating offices, housing and parks as part of a medium-term plan. The building is located immediately next to Ghent-Sint-Pieters railway station. The asymmetrical glass façade, reminiscent of a diamond, makes the Diamond an urban Landmark.
“Ghent is the third largest city in Belgium and has a strong economy. Due to limited availability of office space, tenant demand for modern, centrally located office space is high.”
Wolfgang Kessler, member of the management board at Union Investment Institutional Property GmbH
Completed at the end of 2019, the office building is free-standing and sits above a public underground car park with some 3,000 parking spaces. The 8-storey property offers total rental space of around 16,000 sq m. It has seven office floors and a spacious lobby on the ground floor, featuring a restaurant open to the public. The building is fully let to Dutch financial services provider ING and Belgian railway operator NMBS. It has BREEAM Very Good pre-certification.
Media contact
For Union Investment Institutional Property GmbH
Astrid Lipsky
Managerin Marketing, Communication
+ 49 40 34919 4923
astrid.lipsky@union-investment.de