The commercial real estate market in Brazil has been in turmoil since the recession in 2015. Just when things seemed to finally move in the right direction, Covid pushed the market further down.

On a positive note, there are now clear signs that things are finally picking up. It had been a while since we were able to report a new letting in Rio but we are happy to report that Vabrad, 100% subsidiary of Vabeld, let a 2.500 square meter office building in rua Teofilo Otoni to CIEE, a prominent university. The previous tenant, also a university, had left the building in 2018.

Vabeld has acquired an industrial site in Ghimbav,  just east of Brasov.

The site holds a building of approximately 20.000 square meters of warehousing and light industrial space and is fully let to 595 Solutions, a Germany based specialist in lightweight metals.

Further investments in this property are expected over the years to come.

The province of Western Flanders has approved final planning for a Jumbo grocery store in Middelkerke, next to the Euro Shop superstore and in the middle of the Sea Shopping Center. The town of Middelkerke had already approved the permit but a number of direct competitors of Jumbo had lodged an appeal against it.

Gross surface area will be 2300M2 and the opening is anticipated towards the middle of next year.

This will be the first Jumbo owned by Vabeld.

Vabeld bought 5 properties in 5 separate transactions in the northern part of Western Flanders.

In Ostend, 2 adjacent stores in the Vlaanderenstraat were purchased. We will seek to change the use of at least one unit to leisure ( horeca).

In Bruges, 2 smaller assets were purchased on or in the immediate vicinity of the Markt, one retail and one leisure.

Finally, in Knokke, an agreement was signed for the acquisition of a restaurant near the casino.

It shows that Vabeld is still actively expanding its holdings in high footfall locations that have potential both for retail and leisure.