Bouwinvest Buys Mixed-Use Hourglass Building with Hotel in Amsterdam’s Zuidas

Institutional real estate investment manager Bouwinvest has acquired the distinctively-shaped “Hourglass” mixed-use building project within Amsterdam’s main Zuidas business district for its Dutch office and hotel funds from developer Sax Vastgoed V.O.F. The building on the Parnassusweg has been designed by architects Dam & Partners and is due for full completion in 2020.

Dick van Hal, CEO at Bouwinvest said: “This is Bouwinvest’s first office/hotel investment in the Zuidas, which is the premier office market in the Netherlands. We expect that the district will continue to go from strength to strength and consolidate its leading position due to the ambitious development plans in the pipeline. It’s also an increasingly rare investment from a large Dutch institutional investor in the Zuidas as the area has been among the first ports of call for foreign investors doing big ticket core office acquisitions.”

The Hourglass Building consists of 22,000 sqm of multi-tenant offices, of which the main tenant Loyens & Loeff will occupy 15,000 sqm, as well as 700 sqm of retail and catering and 145 parking spaces.

There will also be a 115-room extended stay hotel, and restaurant open to the public, in the building. The hotel is to be let to international operator the PREM Group, which will cater for the office tenants of the Hourglass, and rising demand from the many Dutch and international companies in the Zuidas generally, with its Premier Suites living environment concept.

Jim Murphy, Chief Executive, PREM Group said: “Extended stay is an established concept in American and Asian markets and is growing quickly in Europe. Business travellers prefer flexible alternatives to traditional hotels which still offer the same level of comfort and convenience.”

Bas Jochims, Head of Asset Management Offices and Hotels said: "The multifunctional character of the Hourglass Building is a good fit for the core investment strategies of Bouwinvest’s office and hotel funds which target high quality sustainable assets with flexible layouts, situated in prime locations within the major cities. We expect this site to become a focus of activity in the area because it is the natural connection between the Zuidas and the nearby Knowledge Quarters of the VU University and its medical centre, the VUmc. The completion of the extended stay hotel will also provide a new lodging concept for the business district which currently doesn’t exist here, or hardly anywhere else in the Dutch market.”

The Zuidas is the prime business location in the Netherlands with its proximity to Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport and excellent public transport and road connections. In the major redeveloped planned for the area, the city’s main A10 ring road alongside will be covered by a tunnel to cut noise and pollution and the capacity of its Amsterdam South railway staion will be signifcantly increased. The quality of public spaces will also be upgraded, and cycling infrastructure is being developed.

Hourglass will receive a BREEAM Excellent certificate upon completion. The planned completion dates for the office section will be Q4 2019, and the hotel will be completed in Q1 2020.

CBRE and Houthoff Buruma represented the seller in this transaction, and BOEKEL represented Bouwinvest.