Elite House

The Elite House, a challenging project initiated in 2013

Back in 2013, thanks to the impulsion of Cushman & Wakefield, Vastint Belgium SA External Link made the acquisition of the Sulmon House, a building located next to its iconic Elite House on the Porte de Namur. This was the start of a long story and a strong relationship between the owner and our different teams. 

Following a building permit delivered in 2014, the project aimed to demolish the existing obsolete buildings and reconstruct a state of the art and mixed-use asset, including 3,600 sq m of retail, 3,200 sq m of offices and some residential units. 

The construction works started in 2017 and the brand-new building was delivered early 2020 in a totally reshaped urban fabric thanks to the pedestrianisation of the Chaussée d’Ixelles and new cycle paths on the inner ring.

Benefiting from an excellent accessibility (2 metro lines on the Porte de Namur and two train stations in the immediate vicinity), the Elite House project has also to deal with important challenges:

 - The letting of 3,200 sq m of office spaces in a mixed-use building, with residential units on floors 2 and 3

- The letting of a unique 3,600 sq m of retail unit, spread over three different levels including the basement in an increasingly difficult retail market

Innovative solutions and a seamless collaboration as key differentiators

Thanks to a strong and long-term relationship between Vastint Belgium SA and the different teams of Cushman & Wakefield, innovative solutions were implemented to make this project a true success story. 

Following the “off market” transaction of the Sulmon House in 2013, our teams were present at every stage of the project. Firstly, our office agency experts convinced AXA Belgium External Link to let all the office spaces of the Elite House as a perfect complement to their new headquarter located on the other side of the inner ring on the Place de Trône. AXA Belgium is now enjoying brand new and flexible office spaces in a vibrant environment and in the direct vicinity of their headquarter. In a competitive office market, our experts made the difference thanks to our unrivalled market knowledge. 

Secondly, following the impossibility to find a unique retailer for the huge retail space in the lower part of the building due to difficult market conditions, our retail agency team proposed to Vastint to create a second entrance for the retail spaces on the place du Bastion and to split the area into two separate units. And this was the right solution as our retail agency experts succeeded to attract anchor tenants for this high visible retail scheme in one of the most visited retail areas of Brussels. Uniqlo External Link opened the door of its +/- 2,300 sq m (on the ground floor and in the basement) flagship store in Brussels early September. The brand will benefit from an exceptional visibility and more than 20,000 pedestrians on a daily basis. With its own entrance on the place du Bastion, Basic-Fit External Link will have a direct and secured access to its 1,300 sq m of fitness spaces, contributing to the comfort of their members.

The sale of the long leasehold rights to a new entrant on the Belgian investment market is the culmination of this long-term success story.

The Elite House was delivered in early 2020 and is fully let to anchor tenants. Our letting teams assisted in the leasing success of the property, advising the developer in every step of this journey since the very beginning in 2013. 

Our Capital Markets Office team was exclusively appointed by Vastint for the last milestone in the success story of the Elite House. Our market leading team just closed the sale of the long leasehold rights to Groupama Gan Reim, a highly reputable investor making their first investment in Belgium.

The COVID-19 pandemic has drastically changed the way we live, work and shop. However, in this challenging investment context, the Elite House perfectly matches core investors’ criteria: brand new and fully let asset, secured and diversified cash flows, mixed-use building in a Triple-A location and much more.

Our Capital Markets Office team has converted this file into a success thanks to unrivalled business intelligence tools, predictive market analyses and powerful marketing materials.

Reach out to our Capital Markets experts.