The site has been acquired by NEPI Rockcastle, Central and Eastern Europe’s largest listed owner, developer and manager of shopping centres by portfolio market value.
Situated in the northern Polish port city, the property covers 63,500sq m and was sold by Multi Veste 339 B.V., which is an entity ultimately owned by Blackstone-managed funds.
Rüdiger Dany, NEPI Rockcastle’s CEO, said: “Forum Gdańsk represents a compelling investment opportunity. We strongly believe in retail real estate and its positive outlook, despite concerns over the macroeconomic context and potential slowdown as a result of rising inflation and interest rates. We are long-term investors and are confident that fundamentally Central and Eastern Europe is a region that will continue to outperform economically relative to Western Europe in the future. Poland, the second largest market for the Group’s operations, has had a GDP growth rate that has been consistently, year by year, outpacing the EU average over the last decade. One of the particularities of CEE retail markets relative to Western Europe is that the shopping centre sector plays a central role in the economic and community development of cities because the retail ‘High Street’ didn’t evolve in the post-war socialist period as it did in the west. Forum Gdańsk, with its striking architecture and dominant position in the centre of the city, is the epitome of this type of CEE shopping centre trophy asset for all the best reasons.”
