Union Investment buys retail park in Stadlau for 36 million euros!

Union Investment buys retail park in Stadlau for 36 million euros!

A new chapter for the retail park in Vienna's 22nd district, known as the Stadlau business park: Union Investment has acquired the popular shopping center from the Belgian real estate company Nextensa. For a purchase price of around 36 million euros, the property will be transferred to the portfolio of Union Investment's open-ended special real estate fund. The company is thus underlining its commitment to the Austrian market and is already planning further acquisitions, particularly in the food retail and retail park sectors, as Die Presse reports.

The retail park, which originally opened its doors in 1996 as a hardware store and was converted into a full-fledged shopping center in 2016, now offers rental space of around 11,000 square meters. Well-known anchor tenants such as Lidl, TK Maxx, Intersport and dm are represented here. The location in the Danube city is considered first-class and is a well-frequented trading area. From 2026, a new foot and cycle bridge will further improve the center's accessibility, which could potentially lead to an increase in customer numbers.

Market development and purchasing trends

Union Investment's purchase comes at a time when the real estate market in Austria is showing a turnaround after experiencing a lull over the past two years. Fortunately, real estate experts expect more stable prices in the residential segment for 2025, while a slight price reduction is anticipated for retail properties in secondary locations, according to EY.

With the takeover, Union Investment is increasing its presence in the Austrian retail market to more than 20 properties, which together have a total volume of around 500 million euros. This makes the company one of the leading asset and investment managers for retail properties in Austria, as konii.de shows.

Future outlook

When planning for the future, Union Investment would like to take advantage of the opportunity to invest in other areas. The focus is not only on retail parks, but above all on the opportunities in the food retail sector. The legal and tax support for the transaction was provided by renowned law firms, including Schönherr Rechtsanwälte, TPA and EHL for Union Investment as well as Saxinger Rechtsanwälte and EY for Nextensa.

In summary, it can be said that the acquisition of the Stadlau business park not only represents a valuable addition to Union Investment's portfolio, but also has a positive signaling value for the Austrian real estate market. It remains to be seen how the situation will develop and what other projects will be planned in the future.