Skanska Property Poland is selling its Lodz-based office complex Green Horizon, the company’s first investment in the city. The building is being acquired by the fund managed by Griffin. It is the third large divestment transaction for Skanska in the last two months and the second in a week time.
Green Horizon was commissioned for use in Q2 of 2013 and offers ca. 33,000 sqm of modern class A office space. The complex is almost entirely leased to companies predominantly from the business services sector. Among its main tenants are Infosys BPO and Southwestern, with Infosys occupying the largest space at over 21,000 sqm.
"The sale of Green Horizon illustrates the investment attractiveness of Lodz, which, until now, has been recognized by many investors as merely a second-choice city. In fact, Lodz saw the third biggest growth in employment in the business services sector in Poland over the last two years – 57%. This trend is likely to continue into the future. Furthermore, the city is undergoing a rapid development in terms of infrastructure and has the opportunity to become the city with the best transport links in Poland. Also because of that, Skanska is planning to develop next office investments here", comments Krzysztof Wilczek, Regional Director at Skanska Property Poland.
Green Horizon will be part of the portfolio of investment group Griffin Real Estate.
"Green Horizon is a good purchase for an investor looking for high-class office buildings in attractive locations outside capital cities. Long-term lease agreements, a very good location and the high standard of a project are the basic characteristics which should distinguish an attractive office building from an investor’s point of view", claims Dorota Wysokińska-Kuzdra, senior partner at Griffin Real Estate.
For Griffin, the purchase of Green Horizon is not the company's first transaction in Lodz. The company recently bought the premises of the former Scheibler factory, where it is planning to conduct a full renovation of historic buildings, construct new buildings and develop a compact complex combining office, retail, services and residential functions.
Skanska Property Poland was advised on the transaction by Cushman&Wakefield international advisory firm, while the legal issues were secured by Dentons. Legal consultancy for the purchaser was provided by Linklaters law firm, and commercial by Colliers International.
Green Horizon is LEED Gold certified. Furthermore, the complex is Skanska’s flagship investment and illustrates the company's ethos of symbiosis of a building with its urban surroundings. There is a publicly available patio with restaurants, cafes and amenities designed for both tenants’ employees and residents. In addition, Green Horizon has a unique character which acknowledges its link with the location's past. In its finishing, Skanska incorporated into the building numerous elements relating to A.A. Piaskowski’s factory that previously stood on the plot.
Green Horizon’s patio and reception can be visited in a virtual stroll through Google Street View available at http://goo.gl/maps/XS0N1.
After the sale of the first phase of Kapelanka 42 in Krakow and Dominikanski in Wroclaw, Green Horizon is Skanska’s third sales transaction in the last two months.