NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--TIAA-CREF, a leading financial services provider, today announced it has acquired an 80 percent interest in the Berlin shopping center Gropius Passagen through a joint venture investment with mfi management für immobilien AG, a major German shopping center manager and developer.
At 1 million square feet (93,200 square meters), the property is the largest shopping center in Berlin and features a diverse set of 150 stores, including anchor tenants Kaufland, Peek & Cloppenburg, H&M, Galeria Kaufhof, C&A, Douglas Group and a UCI Cinema.
“Gropius Passagen reflects TIAA-CREF’s ongoing strategy to develop a diversified real estate portfolio, including high-quality dominant shopping centers in markets benefiting from strong catchment areas,” said Aymeric Thibord, director, real estate investment, TIAA-CREF Asset Management UK Limited. “We believe Gropius Passagen’s robust tenant mix and track record and Germany’s strong economic position within the eurozone, when paired with TIAA-CREF and mfi’s active management, will help create value for our clients over the long term.”
Constructed in 1967, Gropius Passagen has undergone several extensions and refurbishments. The property includes more than 2,000 parking spaces and is strategically located near public transportation, including a direct link into the U-Bahn (U7) station, which connects to Berlin’s circle line. Gropius Passagen is located in a densely populated residential district just north of the soon-to-be-completed Berlin-Brandenburg International Airport.
This will be TIAA-CREF’s second partnership with mfi management für immobilien AG. TIAA-CREF owns the Erlangen Arcaden shopping center, a 323,000-square-foot (30,000-square-meter) shopping center with 100 stores that opened in 2007 in Erlangen, Germany. TIAA-CREF developed the center in partnership with mfi, which continues to manage the property on behalf of TIAA-CREF.
The Gropius Passagen acquisition follows TIAA-CREF’s acquisition of the Pep Shopping Center in Munich in late 2011.
TIAA-CREF owns more than $18 billion (as of 12/31/11) of high-quality properties in the office, retail, industrial and multifamily sectors across the United States, Canada and Western Europe.
TIAA-CREF Asset Management UK Limited, located in London, is a European real estate asset management business and a wholly owned subsidiary of TIAA. TIAA-CREF Asset Management UK Limited is authorized and regulated by the Financial Services Authority in the United Kingdom to conduct real estate investment advisory business on behalf of third-party professional investors.
About TIAA-CREF
TIAA-CREF (www.tiaa-cref.org) is a national financial services organization with $464 billion in combined assets under management (as of 12/31/11) and is the leading provider of retirement services in the academic, research, medical and cultural fields.
TIAA-CREF Individual & Institutional Services, LLC and Teachers Personal Investors Services, Inc., members FINRA, distribute securities products.
About mfi
mfi management für immobilien AG, the Essen-based company with 600 employees, develops and manages 24 centers for institutional investors and is developing six more projects in its own portfolio with a total investment value of EUR 1.2 billion up to 2014.
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