CTP Acquires Site in Germany for Major New High-Tech Business Park

AMSTERDAM--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Regulatory News:

CTP, Europe's largest listed developer, owner, and manager of industrial and logistics properties by gross lettable area (GLA), is developing a major new high tech business park in Mülheim, Germany, following the acquisition of a 335,000 sqm site from French multinational manufacturing business, Vallourec.

CTP will transform the brownfield site that housed an industrial rolling mill, into an innovative new modern business park that will provide over 160,000 sqm of R&D, laboratory, co-working and industrial and logistics spaces for companies in high-growth technology focused sectors including life sciences and IT manufacturing. Spaces will also be specially created to suit the needs of SMEs as well as larger businesses. Work to build the Park is expected to begin in 2025.

CTP aims to create thriving business ecosystems where businesses come to collaborate and grow together, helping to boost local economies by creating jobs and spur business start-ups. The new sustainably designed Park will feature CTP’s unique Clubhaus concept, providing a mix of leisure offerings for occupier employees including amenities such as restaurants, cafes, shops, spaces for exercise, events, socialising, medical facilities and more, all within attractive landscaped gardens alongside cycle paths. CTP believes this will not just attract clients to the Park but help them to attract and retain the best talent.

Earlier this year, CTP announced it would invest EUR 300m to expand its portfolio in Germany over the coming years, as it looks to double the size of its Europe-wide network of business parks by the end of the decade.

CTP has seen a surge in demand from high tech businesses across its European portfolio, with companies seeking to take advantage of the continent’s highly educated workforce and stable business environment. Many international businesses are also ‘nearshoring’ the manufacturing of high-tech products to Europe to be closer to where their customers are located and reduce supply chain risk. New EU regulations such as the European Chips Act are also driving companies to manufacture within the EU.

Marc Buchholz, Lord Mayor of Mülheim an der Ruhr, commented: "We are delighted about the plan to build the new CTPark as an innovation project in the Ruhr region. This will create urgently needed commercial, research and development space for companies based in Mülheim as well as for international players with diverse and high-quality employment opportunities. Due to the outstanding university landscape and the unique industrial infrastructure in the region, the park has the ideal conditions for development and sustainable use."

Timo Hielscher, Managing Director for Western and Eastern Germany at CTP commented: “Acquiring this site in Mülheim reflects our vision to build and operate sustainable future-proofed business parks for diverse fast growing clients that are embedded in local communities and set within beautiful environments. We are investing in building business ecosystems to help our clients be successful and accelerate local economic growth and contribute to wider socio-economic prosperity. Our new CTPark in Mülheim will be a shining example of a new environment we have created from scratch, showcasing how we invest in places to enhance communities, local infrastructure and biodiversity. We are looking forward to moving ahead with construction and unveiling more details about the Park in the near future.”

Sustainability will be at the heart of the new CTPark’s design. Photovoltaic systems (PV) will enable a fossil-free energy supply in operation, and parts of the existing building will be retained in construction to reduce C02 emissions. CTP is designing the Park to have a DGNB Gold rating from the German Sustainable Building Council (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Nachhaltiges Bauen).

The site is located in the centre of the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region, one of the largest conurbations in Europe and close to the German business centers of Düsseldorf, Duisburg, Dortmund and Essen. Connections to A1, A2, A3, A42 and A52 motorways are also within easy reach providing quick access to these cities and other parts of Europe. Mülheim is also close to Belgium and the Netherlands, and well-connected to the ports of Amsterdam, Antwerp and Rotterdam.

CTP has been highly active in Germany in recent months. In December 2023 it announced the sustainable transformation of a 60,000 sqm (GLA) urban business park in Krefeld, also in the North Rhine-Westphalia region. While last summer CTP announced plans to transform a 130,000 sqm site in Wuppertal in west Germany, into a new quarter for research and development alongside a hotel.

CTP entered the German market in 2022 with the acquisition of Deutsche Industrie REIT-AG, which had a 1.6 million sqm portfolio across 3.9 million sqm, for around EUR 800m. CTP now has a team of 50 employees in three offices across Germany, and 33,000 sqm of industrial and logistics space under development and a 155,000 sqm land bank.

About CTP

CTP is Europe’s largest listed owner, developer, and manager of logistics and industrial real estate by gross lettable area, owning 11.2 million qm of GLA across 10 countries as at 30 September 2023. CTP certifies all new buildings to BREEAM Very good or better and earned a ‘Negligible-Risk’ ESG rating by Sustainalytics, underlining its commitment to being a sustainable business. For more information, visit CTP’s corporate website: www.ctp.eu