The first Class A business centre Arka in Kaunas sold
Imlitex Holdings, an international group of companies trading in raw materials, has sold the business centre Arka, located in King Mindaugas Avenue, Kaunas, to a private investor. The international RE advisory company Newsec mediated the transaction. This was the first RE transaction of this scale in Kaunas.
The office building Arka, located on King Mindaugas Avenue, next to Akropolis and the Žalgiris Arena, was opened on March 16 of this year. This is the first Class A business centre in Kaunas. The total area of the building is 11,600 square meters, and the investment in the building amounted to 14 million euros. The construction of this seven-floor business centre was completed in the first half of 2018.
Imlitex Holdings was looking for modern premises of several thousand square meters with the central location in the city for its new offices, however, being unable to find such premises that would meet the company’s needs, they decided to invest themselves in the construction of a business centre complying with contemporary standards.
“While developing our activities in Kaunas, we realised that we wished to work in modern offices; however, we could not find such an object in Kaunas. Together with the project’s author architect Gintautas Natkevičius from Natkevičius & Partners and via consultations with the RE company Newsec, we have achieved the desired goal – we have designed a modern concept business centre, where the most successful companies will settle. Over a few years, our plans have become a reality, and now we have been working in a highly modern office for already 4 months in the area where the central business district of Kaunas has begun to develop. Currently, the management of RE objects is not our main activity; therefore, after reaching the goal of having modern premises, we have sold the building. Undoubtedly, we will continue occupying premises in this office building by leasing them from the new owner,” said Renatas Augustinas, the CEO of Imlitex Holdings.
According to Bernardas Velikonis, an investment advisor at Newsec, the sale of Arka is the first transaction of a Class A office building located in the central business district and the third sale transaction in Kaunas (investors have also acquired the Class B business centres Baršausko 66 and Kauno Dokas). Meanwhile, the advance interest of investors in the object, even while at the stage of its development, showed that market players positively assess the office market in Kaunas. Besides, the development of the business centre Arka was one of the main factors that encouraged other investors to start the development of the central business district.
“Recently, a paradoxical tendency has been emerging when Kaunas, having considerably less attractive objects for investors, surpasses Vilnius by the activity of investment transactions. This not only shows the potential of the Kaunas market but also confirms certain stagnation in Vilnius,” said B. Velikonis.
In the first half of this year, more than 30 thousand square meters of modern office space were leased in Kaunas, and most of new objects are opened with less than 15% vacancy rate.
The seven-floor business centre has received much attention from tenants – Arka was opened fully occupied, and the tenants have signed long-term lease agreements. According to the Newsec investment advisor Bernardas Velikonis, because of the promising labour market, growing foreign investment and a dynamic real estate market, Kaunas has been becoming an equal competitor to the capitals of the Baltic countries, and in the future, the volume of investment transactions related to commercial RE may increase.
In Arka, 1-3-floor premises have been leased by Swedbank; Happspace, which offers cooperative space, operates on the 4th floor; the IT company Helis is located on the 5th floor, and the Imlitex Holdings group of companies has settled on the 6th and 7th floors of Arka. In addition, the restaurant “Snobas” will open its doors soon, which is owned by the owners of “UOKSAS”, included in the list of top 30 restaurants of Lithuania.
Each company operating in the building has equipped rest areas for their employees, who can come to work by bike; here, not only secure bicycle parking spaces have been installed, but also special rooms with showers and storage cabinets. In addition to the underground and ground car parks, electric charging stations have also been equipped.
During the conclusion of the transaction, Imlitex Holdings was provided with legal advice by Cobalt, and Ellex Valiunas consulted the buyer.