Sustainable developer Base Gruppen has sold the new K8 office property in Norway to Storebrand for around NOK 1.1 billion (€96m).
The Stavanger 16-floor high rise contains 15,530 square meters of lettable space and has a WAULT of 12 years. It features a roof terrace on the 16th floor, which is open to the public, restaurants and the city’s newest conference hall. The building was designed by Schmidt Hammer Lassen and constructed by Skanska.
Base Groupen will retain project management and administrative responsibility for K8 and ensure the outdoor area with a new park is completed in the autumn.
K8 has been large and demanding project
Group CEO Alfred Ydstebø says there has been rising interest since the zoning plan was adopted in August 2020. “It has been important for us to complete the project before we considered a sale or partnership. With the agreement that is now being entered into, we will have the opportunity to do so – in Storebrand we have found an owner who is concerned with urban development, who stands for the long term and security for tenants, visitors and the public in general. It means a lot to us.”
K8 has been a large, complex and demanding project. The level of ambition in terms of environmental standards and energy efficiency was set at the highest level from day one, he says. “A great responsibility has rested on our shoulders, but fortunately we had a large majority of visionary politicians behind us.”
Region set to develop strongly
Linn Idsø Brenne, Portfolio Manager for financial services company Storebrand, which also owns the Kvadrat building in the Nord-Jæren region, says, “We are impressed by Base’s ability to implement such a complex project as K8. We are therefore very happy to have succeeded in purchasing the building on behalf of our customers in the life company. We are convinced that the region will still develop strongly and that the investment will provide a good return for our customers.
“Our investment philosophy is founded on the green shift, in K8 we get an ecologically, socially and economically sustainable building. Becoming the owner of a building to be certified as BREEAM Excellent, and perhaps Outstanding, as well as Well Platinum, is a big feather in our cap.”
Colliers offered sales advice in the transaction. The legal adviser for the seller was CMS Kluge. Thommessen was legal adviser for the buyer.
