RQI and Denkmalboutique establish JV for investments in residential cultural monuments

RQI Immobilien AG (“RQI”), the Wiesbaden-based real estate investor active across Germany in the residential and office asset classes, focusing on portfolio optimisation and development with a high degree of vertical integration, and Denkmalboutique GmbH from Mannheim, a company renowned for conceptualising and implementing refurbishments of listed buildings and making them accessible to the residential market via MABV individual sales, have founded a joint venture, RQI Denkmalboutique. Each party holds a fifty percent share in the joint venture.

RQI Denkmalboutique aims to refurbish residential properties, primarily old, listed buildings, and individual cultural monuments in major need of renovation, using customised solutions in close cooperation with the relevant authorities. Implemented as part of RQI's "monument-to-core" strategy, this approach aligns with RQI's broader methodology, integrating the ESG principles at the core level. This strategy integrates the tax benefits of the depreciation scheme for listed buildings into each project, as well as the subsidies receivable from the federal, state, and local authorities.

To this end, around EUR 50 million has been made available for the 2024/25 period. A minimum sales volume of EUR 5 million is envisaged for each property. The first acquisition, in Mannheim, has already taken place. Five further projects are planned by the end of this year.

Prof. Dr. Nico B. Rottke, CEO of RQI, on the reasons for the involvement: “As value creators, we have committed to making our contribution to a low-emission property portfolio in Germany. The RQI Denkmalboutique allows us to implement this, in a niche segment, at a time when there is heavy excess demand for housing, faced with a scarcity of funds for realising construction projects. We are confident of creating a product that will be accepted by the market. Most importantly, it will also be affordable for the end customer, thanks to the existing framework conditions such as KfW subsidised loans."

"In RQI, we have an innovative, financially strong and responsible partner who shares our vision of preserving cultural heritage, restoring and enhancing historical buildings. Taking advantage of the company's many years of experience, management expertise and its densely meshed network, the joint venture will enable us to expand our reach and increase the number of projects we undertake, thereby creating much more urgently needed residential space," adds Sebastian Khan, Member of the Management Board of Denkmalboutique GmbH.

The "monument-to-core" strategy focuses on properties in cities in south-west Germany, with populations of over 50,000 and positive demographic and economic trends.