An Irish property giant has begun work on a €250 million commercial and residential development in the German city of Bamberg.
After it received planning permission European Property Investment (EPI ) began work on the multi-million euro development which will see the construction of 30,000 square metres of townhouses, apartments, student accommodation, and commercial units in the Bavarian city.
It is also hoped that the initial development will be followed by further development on a 55,000sq m site adjacent.
“Essentially, we took the bull by the horns and got the state government to make the decision to transform the site," EPI's Gerry Collopy told the press last week.
"It was a long process but all parties have profited from the deal.”
The Irish firm had to convince the city’s university to move to a new site.
“It was fairly simple really, we donated a site to the university, they are to build a 15,000sq m campus to house the music, computer, and business departments, and we provide the student accommodation and associated retail and office space," Mr Collopy added.
While the property market in Ireland struggles, Germany however is still good for Irish builders.
Andrew Sullivan of EPI added, "Germany is not unaffected by global trends.
“The German economy has expanded by 1.5 per cent in the first quarter of 2008 which is a mirror image of the Irish economy's 1.5 per cent contraction in the same period. Germany's vital signs are still very good and the property business is still steady with plenty of opportunities.”
