Mittenmang, Berlin

Lakeward purchases Groth residential project in Berlin – pbb finances

The Swiss Lakeward Group is taking over several residential buildings from the Groth Group in the newly developed «Mittenmang» quarter in downtown Berlin. To finance the purchase, pbb Deutsche Pfandbriefbank is providing Lakeward Group with an investment loan of around € 37 million. The loan agreements were signed at the end of September.

The residential buildings are part of the first, northern construction phase of the Mittenmang development on Lehrter Strasse in Berlin Mitte in the immediate vicinity of Berlin’s main railway station. The development will have a differentiated architectural design and will be built with the highest degree of construction quality. Upon completion, it will feature rental apartments, condominiums, government subsidized apartments and micro-apartments.

In addition to a single commercial unit, the residential buildings purchased by the Lakeward Group will comprise exclusively of rental apartments and an underground car park. The structural work of all buildings has been completed, and in some cases the interior finishing work has begun.

The completed properties will be taken over successively by the second quarter of 2018. The developer, Groth Group, has been successfully involved in urban development projects in and around Berlin since 1982. The Groth Group is also a customer of pbb, but not for this project.

Gerhard Meitinger, Head of Real Estate Financing Germany at pbb, said: «We are delighted about this first cooperation with the Lakeward Group, which has many years of real estate expertise. Berlin is an attractive and dynamic real estate market with high demand for residential properties, low vacancy rates and low new construction activity».

Simon Koenig, founder and CEO of Lakeward, said: «We are pleased to have realized this project together with Swiss family offices. We have come to know pbb as an entrepreneurial and reliable financing partner and look forward to working with them in the future».

Lakeward Group was supported by Panterra Capital during the negotiations with the banks.