PROJECT FINANCE

n early March, a visionary project in Hamburg, Germany, earned some visionary backing.

   HSH Nordbank AG underwrote financing of €83.5 million (US$131.4 million) toward the purchase and development of a parcel of land at “Ericusspitze,” in the city’s HafenCity waterfront district, for the construction of a $165-million building that will serve as the head office for publisher Spiegel Verlag. The project is scheduled for completion in 2010.

   A two-building, 538,213-sq.-ft. (50,000-sq.-m.) complex is being developed by Robert Vogel GmbH & Co. KG and ABG Allgemeine Bauträgergesellschaft mbH & Co. KG. Vogel signed Spiegel Verlag to a 15-year lease in a 322,928-sq.-ft. (30,000-sq.-m.) building in summer 2007. The two developers will work together to market the companion structure, named Ericus-Contor. Both are designed to complement the new Elbphilharmonie Concert Hall, to be located at the other end of the Ericusspitze, whose design will be crowned with a glassy profile resembling waves in motion.

   HSH Nordbank said the future tenant was “integrated in the planning process from the very start.”

   “In our opinion, the long-term lease with one of Hamburg’s most prominent publishing houses, even internationally speaking, and the generally lively demand for modern office space at HafenCity, are key aspects that endorse the project and its commercial success,” said Peter Axmann, Deputy Head of Real Estate at HSH Nordbank AG. “Add to this that the project developer and owner is a renowned company with long-term experience on Hamburg’s real estate market.”

   A fourth-quarter 2007 CB Richard Ellis report on the Hamburg office market found that space take-up had increased by more than 23 percent over 2006, to more than 6.3 million sq. ft. (588,400 sq. m.), with rents rising to €24 per sq. m. ($3.51 per sq. ft.). It also reported that HafenCity led the metro area in office space take-up, in part because of large leases to Spiegel and to Germanischer Lloyd, a technology, safety and quality monitoring group for the worldwide shipping industry.

   HafenCity comprises 383 acres (155 hectares) on the Elbe River, a third of which is water. Currently, approximately 50 projects are planned, under construction or already completed. Total private investment in HafenCity is projected to reach approximately $8.6 billion.

   The Spiegel building will be the first and only building of this size category that meets the “Gold” rating awarded by the Gesellschaft für ökologische Bautechnik in Berlin, an organization similar to the U.S. Green Building Council that is dedicated to promoting environmentally sound construction technology. The building will have triple glazing and will use geo-thermal effects to generate the main part of the energy required for cooling.

   In addition to wide use of natural lighting, a solar cell installation will contribute most of the building’s power needs. The structure’s narrow design allows for natural ventilation, with a double fa?ade making it possible to open a window as high as the 13th floor.

   The project’s design, by Copenhagen-based Henning Larsen Architects, was selected in September 2007 at the end of an arduous architectural competition. The firm said the two U-shaped buildings’ “movement and vibrant appearance is an interplay inspired by sailing ships, the white paper and light.”

   That inspiration resonates well with HSH Nordbank, known as the world’s largest provider of ship finance (€30 billion of commitments), in addition to its Northern Europe leadership in other logistics and transportation sectors as well as real estate in general.

   In Henning Larsen’s annual report for 2007, the project is presented under the title “Invitation to Openness,” a theme which resonates with HafenCity’s plans for a development that is both architecturally and environmentally progressive.

   “We have designed a modern media building that opens to the surrounding world,” said Henning Larsen Architect and Associate Ulrik Raysse. “We have put emphasis on the flexibility of the arrangement to help the many different editorial offices to collaborate across the organization. It is the first time they will all be united under the same roof.”