Hamburg lifestyle hotel the niu Yen has become few months after handover to BVK special fund the brand's highest-turnover hotel - confirming success of the development by GBI Group and NORD PROJECT

EQS-Media / 11.05.2023 / 10:33 CET/CEST

Hamburg/Berlin/München, 11.05.2023.The new Hamburg hotel the niu Yen, which opened in the middle of last year, has established itself on the market and is developing into the highest-turnover of the 40 hotels of the niu brand. After the remarkably good start in the opening month of June 2022, in which the hotel directly recorded a good accommodation balance with almost 70 percent occupancy and an average room rate (ADR) of 84 euros, the important key figures continued to improve steadily. Among other things, the ADR rate in 2023 is already 114 Euros. The project developers GBI Group and NORD PROJECT had handed over the jointly planned and built accommodation property near Hamburg's city centre at Nordkanalstraße 46 to the special real estate fund of the Bavarian Pension Chamber (BVK) at the end of last year. The design lifestyle hotel, operated by NOVUM Hospitality, offers 347 rooms and a gross floor area of approximately 10,700 square metres. 83 underground parking spaces and 20 new outdoor parking spaces are available to guests.

The decision to invest the BVK Immobilienspezialfonds in the property in City Süd had already been made at the end of 2019, parallel to the start of construction. With around 107 billion Euros (market value) of capital investment volume under management for all facilities, BVK is one of the most important institutional investors in Germany. The sub-fund launched for the hotels investment segment by Universal-Investment is managed by GBI Capital GmbH. This company is responsible for the selection of operators and locations, the due diligence with all purchase and sales processes as well as the long-term management. "In some hotel market segments, we have already achieved values above the pre-pandemic level in terms of occupancy and earnings figures. Attractive investments are possible in the long term," says Simon Behr, Managing Director of GBI Capital GmbH. The special hotel fund invests in new buildings as well as in existing properties in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

"The fact that the niu Yen has developed so impressively into the hotel with the highest turnover of our the niu brand even exceeds our expectations. With this hotel, we are meeting the increased demand for hotel rooms in a convenient location in Hamburg. Thanks to our strong project partners - the BVK Hotelfonds as investor and the developers GBI and NORD PROJECT - this first-class hotel for up to 700 guests was possible," explains David Etmenan, Chief Executive Officer & Owner NOVUM Hospitality. "To see our young lifestyle brand the niu grow in our hometown with such a great hotel makes us very happy."

The addition of Yen to the hotel name honours Hamburg's role as a gateway to the world: with the port, trade, the way to the sea. The name Yen - translated from English as longing - is a reference to the willingness to travel that is intensely felt in Hamburg. The interior design is dominated by blue tones that reflect the sea, sky and longing. The interior is combined with an ambience and accessories from seafaring and the harbour.

The hotel property scores with its central location at Nordkanalstraße 46, from where guests can reach the Hammerbrook S-Bahn station in just a few minutes on foot. In addition to its proximity to Hamburg's main railway station, the hotel location also impresses with its convenient location at the Süderelbbridges in the so-called City Süd. The up-and-coming Hamburg office district shines with canals, canals and small green strips. In the rooms, guests can expect the newest technology in the form of flat-screen TVs with their own media library and Bluetooth soundbox.

The new hotel building is part of a mixed-use project. On a 4,780 square metre site, a combined residential and hotel complex with around 25,000 square metres of gross floor area above ground (approx. 30,000 square metres including underground parking and basement) was built, which houses another hotel (Premier Inn) and 54 high-quality city flats in addition to the niu Yen. "Such a combination of hotels and residential offers is a sustainable model with which to create attractive urban spaces," explains Jürgen Paul, Managing Director of NORD PROJECT Immobilien. Mixed use project developments are the speciality of GBI Group and NORD PROJECT, which cooperate closely in northern Germany. The architects of the mixed-use quarter are the Hamburg company pbp prasch buken partner architekten partG mbB and GBI Plan- und Baumanagement.

Press contacts:
GBI / NORD PROJECT ∙ Wolfgang Ludwig, Ludwig Medien & KommunikationTel.: +49 221 29219282 ∙ mail@ludwig-km.de

NOVUM Hospitality ∙ Elena M. Jacobs ∙ An der Alster 63 ∙ 20097 Hamburg
Tel: +49 40 600 808 191 ∙ presse@novum-hospitality.com ∙ www.novum-hospitality.com

Hotel contact:
the niu Yen ∙ Nordkanalstraße 46 ∙ 20097 Hamburg
Tel. +49 40 537 986 430 ∙ yen@the.niu.de ∙ https://the.niu.de/yen

ABOUT THE GBI Group:
GBI is a real estate developer focusing on subsidised and privately financed flats, hotels, serviced flats, student flats and assisted living concepts under the SMARTments brand. Since its founding in 2001, GBI has sold real estate projects in Germany and Austria with a volume of over 2.5 billion euros. GBI also operates serviced and student flats itself under the SMARTments brand. GBI Capital, which is part of the GBI Group, bundles the areas of investment management, fund and asset management and subsidy consulting. GBI's shareholder is the private real estate fund manager Henderson Park from Great Britain. http://www.gbi.ag

ABOUT NORD PROJECT REAL ESTATE:
NORD PROJECT Immobilien was founded in Hamburg in 2000 as a real estate company for operative real estate transactions, project developments and participations. The company covers the entire real estate cycle, from the purchase of land, through the planning and construction phase, to completion. The main business areas are the development of hotels, student and serviced flats, residential and retail. Since the beginning of 2019, a reorganisation has divided the activities into two areas: Through NORD PROJECT REAL ESTATE, newly founded by Jürgen Paul and Gerrit M. Ernst, residential projects are realised in Germany. Through the company NORD PROJECT GBI, project developments in the hotel sector as well as flat projects from the SMARTments family are carried out together with GBI. https://www.np-immobilien.de/

ABOUT THE NIU:
Sustainable, inspiring, urban - that's what the niu stands for. The brand comprises a novel midscale hotel concept that ties in with the lifestyle of today's society. The niu hotels all tell stories from motifs that only exist locally. Inspired by the location and shaped by art, zeitgeist and history. the niu hotels live! Guests are no longer only drawn to their rooms. The open Living Lobby with its innovative co-working area invites guests to work and linger. The social network is a living reality: the free space in the hotel is shared with each other and merges seamlessly. Smart and sensible room concepts with refined bathrooms take the guest on an exciting journey and offer a comfortable stay. NOVUM Hospitality already operates 40 the niu hotels and over 7,600 rooms of the brand, founded in 2017, in central locations. Over 15 the niu hotels with more than 4,500 rooms are currently in the planning stage across Europe. https://the.niu.de

ABOUT NOVUM HOSPITALITY:
With currently over 150 hotels (including secured pipeline) and more than 20,000 hotel rooms at over 60 locations in Europe, the owner-managed NOVUM Hospitality is one of the largest hotel groups in Germany. Founded in 1988 and steadily growing since 2004, NOVUM Hospitality presents itself as extraordinarily dynamic under the leadership of David Etmenan, Chief Executive Officer & Owner. The hotel portfolio comprises three- and four-star hotels in central locations, which are operated under the brands Novum Hotels, Select Hotels, the niu, Yggotel and acora Living the City. In addition, NOVUM Hospitality acts as a franchisee of the InterContinental Hotels Group, Accor and Hilton. The renowned TREUGAST Rating, which annually evaluates the most important hotel companies represented in Germany, rates NOVUM Hospitality with 'A'. https://www.novum-hospitality.com

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