Verdion secures Cologne site for €95 million urban logistics hub

Verdion has secured a former production site in northern Cologne to create a €95 million urban logistics hub for its Verdion European Logistics Fund 2 (VELF 2).

The investor, developer and asset manager will speculatively develop the vacant 6.2-ha brownfield facility in the Ossendorf area to provide a total of 37,859 sqm of new accommodation meeting EG-40 and DGNB Gold standards and powered only by renewable energy.

• The development will include a LiteHub, an urban business hub providing flexible solutions in smaller units with higher office content for a wide range of occupiers. Up to 13,695 sqm will be developed in Cologne, with five units ranging from 2,000 sqm to 3,500 sqm .
• Two additional, sub-dividable standard logistics units of around 10,000 sqm each are also planned, with mezzanine and offices taking the combined total floorspace to 24,164 sqm.

The site is located less than 10km from the centre of Cologne and around 4km from the A1 motorway, a key transport route connecting Hamburg and the Rhine-Ruhr region. More than three million people live within a 30-minute drive.

Moritz Heißenberg, Executive Director – Head of Germany, Verdion, said: “This has been a sought-after opportunity in the market and will now become a flagship development for our VELF 2 fund. Combining LiteHub with classic urban logistics space, our plans have been designed to cater for a wide range of occupational demand in one of Germany’s top markets.”

Simon Walter, Executive Director – Investment Management, at Verdion said: “We remain focused on new, value-add opportunities across Germany, Denmark and Sweden, with more acquisitions planned for the current quarter and further additions expected in the months ahead.  By combining in-house commercial and technical expertise with local knowledge we will continue to deliver new assets that maximise every opportunity to the full.”

Claudia Casaretto, Business Advisor at KölnBusiness Wirtschaftsförderungs-GmbH, said: “With the development of this site in Cologne-Ossendorf, we are giving a new future to a brownfield site. The area will now be sustainably developed and put back into productive economic use. When complete, this project will strengthen Cologne as a business location, create attractive space for local companies and at the same time increase its appeal to new businesses from outside the area. With Verdion as an experienced partner at our side, we are developing tailor-made solutions for urban challenges. The constructive and trusting cooperation between the City of Cologne and Verdion has proven to be an important factor for success. We look forward to continuing our collaboration.”

Verdion European Logistics Fund 2 (VELF 2) closed at the end of 2024 having raised more than €300 million of equity. It leverages Verdion’s vertically-integrated team and technical expertise to undertake refurbishment and development in key markets including Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden. Work on a major new facility for cosmetics distribution brand Sæther near the northern Danish port city of Helsingør will complete in H1 2026 and a DGNB Gold-certified distribution centre in Horsens within Denmark’s triangle region is already finished. In Germany, Verdion has secured a 32,000 sqm brownfield site in Rastatt on the German-French border south of Karlsruhe as part of its ongoing acquisition programme.

Following building permitting and demolition, construction will commence in early 2027 with completion planned for the end of the same year.

In Cologne, BNP advised the seller. GSK Stockmann (legal) and Mull und Partner (environmental) advised Verdion on the purchase.