Veteran British developers are fighting it out in Berlin to capture the still embryonic business park market which is emerging around the Berliner Ring, the equivalent of London’s M25. Gill South reports.
After being beaten to a major stake in Ronald Lyon’s Konigs Park in Berlin in March by Thai-owned Christiani & Nielsen, a consortium led by Raymond Mould, Patrick Vaughan and Pillar backer Electra Investment Trust is now negotiating on a business park site nearby.
The 540-acre site at the Berliner Ring junction for the small village of Ahrensdorf is owned by Mercedes-Benz. Berlin agents say that a 1m-sq ft “Arlington-style” business park is being proposed. But there will be pressure from the state of Brandenburg for the consortium to provide a residential element.
When questioned this week, Patrick Vaughan commented that he has little day to day influence on the project now that he has linked up with Pillar, but that negotiations were continuing through Richard Ellis’ advisory unit, Business Park Consulting. Vaughan and Mould were consultants to BPC in between leaving Arlington and joining Pillar.
Berlin agency sources said that Vaughan was still very much involved.
Main competition to the scheme would come from Konigs Park in Konigs Wusterhausen, 40 minutes south-west of Berlin.
In March, Christiani & Nielsen beat Vaughan and Mould to a 72% stake in Nobleclear, the property development company formed by Lyon, Godfrey Bradman and the Eastern German Investment Trust to develop the project. Bradman is rumoured to have bowed out of the project on March 18 owing to a clash of personalities.
The timing for the Vaughan/ Mould/Electra consortium will be crucial as demand for business park space is still hesitant. Construction of the £420m Konigs Park has just started after negotiations with 82 different landowners.
It will provide commercial development on 109 acres and light commercial on 27 acres as well as up to 1,800 houses and apartments on 91 acres. There will also be hotel and leisure facilities on the 309-acre site.
The park has hooked Deutsche Telekom, which has bought 25 acres for a 1m-sq ft facility, and petrol retailer Total Deutsch land has taken a site for a 55,000-sq ft station and facilities.
Horsham Corporation is building a 4m-sq ft business park nearby. It has sold 98 out of 540 acres to occupiers including Coca-Cola.
Weatherall Green & Smith are letting agents for both Nobleclear and Horsham.
