HIH Invest Sells “The Crown Center” Office Scheme in Brussels

Eight-storey office building with a total lettable area of 9,000 square metres

Bought by Eaglestone Group

Hamburg, 07. February 2022 – HIH Invest Real Estate (“HIH Invest”) just sold an office building at Rue Royale 138 in Brussels to the Eaglestone Group (“Eaglestone”). HIH Invest acquired the property in 2011 on behalf of a closed-end real estate fund. Known as “The Crown Center,” it is located in the Pentagon District in the inner city. Out of the 9,000 square metres of the V-shaped eight-storey building, roughly 8,500 square metres are taken up by offices while over 500 square metres are used as archive area. The building, originally constructed in 1968, was thoroughly refurbished in 2001 and 2002. Its sole tenant is the federal Belgian agency, Régie des Bâtiments. Following the end of the current tenancy, Eaglestone is planning to modernise and restructure the office scheme with a focus on sustainability. In future, the building will combine the use types office and residential. The transaction took the form of an asset deal.

Matthias Brodesser, Head of Transaction Management International at HIH Invest, said: “The surroundings of the Crown Center have developed dynamically over the past years. We are glad to have found a buyer in Eaglestone Group who is renowned for sustainable high-end property developments.”

The property occupies a downtown site embedded in a mixed-use neighbourhood of offices, restaurants, cafés, retail and leisure venues. “Restructuring the building will give the buyer a chance to reposition it while taking the environmental guidelines of the City of Brussels into account at the same time,” Brodesser explained.

“Due to environmental concerns, buildings may only be demolished in exceptional cases anymore, the modernisation of standing properties under sustainability aspects being encouraged instead,” added Lea Messerschmidt, Asset Manager International at HIH Real Estate.

The “Crown Center” is located inside the administrative and historic core of the Belgian capital and main institutional seat of the European Union. The central railway station (Gare Central) is only a six-minute walk (500 metres) away. The site is also very easy to reach by public and private transportation. A number of government buildings are located in the vicinity, as is the Parc de Bruxelles.

HIH Invest was advised by JLL and Deloitte.

“The surroundings of the Crown Center have developed dynamically over the past years. We are glad to have found a buyer in Eaglestone Group who is renowned for sustainable high-end property developments. Restructuring the building will give the buyer a chance to reposition it while taking the environmental guidelines of the City of Brussels into account at the same time.”

Matthias Brodesser, Head of Transaction Management International
HIH Invest

“Due to environmental concerns, buildings may only be demolished in exceptional cases anymore, the modernisation of standing properties under sustainability aspects being encouraged instead.”

Lea Messerschmidt, Asset Manager International
HIH Invest