Panattoni Acquires Brownfield Site in Land-constrained, Last-Mile Location in Southeast Paris for €25 Million Speculatively Built Development
Panattoni, Europe’s largest developer and deployer of institutional capital in the industrial and logistics real estate sector, has acquired a 2.5- hectare brownfield site in the municipality of Moissy-Cramayel in the land-constrained Seine-et-Marne region to the south of Paris, to speculatively develop a 12,000 sqm state-of-the-art light industrial park. The development, involving a total investment volume estimated at €25 million, is part of the Southeast Paris industrial market, the largest in France, with total industrial stock exceeding one million sqm. This is Panattoni’s first industrial park development in France after it entered the country in 2021.
The plot, which Panattoni acquired for €6.7 million, is located in the Château d'Eau park in the heart of a major logistics and light industrial hub with tertiary zones, up-and-coming residential areas, and one of France’s largest shopping malls, Westfield Carré Sénart. The land, which was formerly used for a mobile concrete plant and as a depot for storing construction materials, will be replaced by four 3,000 sqm state-of-the-art industrial buildings with strong environmental credentials. Construction is due to begin in the summer of 2023 once the building permits are approved, with delivery scheduled for the summer of 2024.
Salvi Cals, Managing Director of Panattoni France, said: "This brownfield plot, located in an area where land acquisition opportunities are very scarce, is an excellent match with our responsible development strategy. It is extremely well located in the Grand Paris Sud industrial zone but was not being used by its previous owner. Because it lies in an existing industrial zone, the site was immediately available for development, and the total construction timeframe will therefore be much shorter than for a greenfield development. This project was also fast-tracked thanks to the determination of local elected officials and the Grand Paris Sud region to revitalize the area."
The site, which is located 35 km from the Paris ring road and 25 km from Paris Orly Airport, France’s second-largest airport, is easily accessible by road, public transport and bike, and
already meets the French government’s criteria for Zero Net Artificialisation (ZAN) of soils, or the target of not contributing to a net increase in the area of artificial surfaces. The building facades will be made of recycled materials, 60% of the rooftops of the industrial space will be fitted with photovoltaic panels and the office building roofs will be covered in vegetation. All four buildings will be BREEAM-certified and an initiative to preserve and improve biodiversity on the site is being conducted with the BiodiverCity association.
The French government’s ZAN legislation was introduced in 2021 to reduce artificialisation of soils, which degrades biodiversity, increases the risk of flooding, and contributes to global warming by releasing CO2 stored in the soil.
Low vacancy levels and a shortage of new developments, due to legislation preventing the rezoning of greenfield land outside existing industrial areas, have boosted rental levels for industrial space in the Moissy-Cramayel area to a high of €135 per sqm, while the average rent for good quality assets can reach €100 per sqm. Since 2018, rental rates have increased by 2.7% per annum. Less than 50,000 sqm of industrial space is available in the nine municipalities of the Sénart area, with new supply accounting for less than a fifth – or 8,300 sqm.
Panattoni now has six sites under development in France representing some 300,000 sqm in GLA.
Notary firm Allez et Associés, broker BNP Paribas Real Estate and law firms Norton Rose Fulbright and Reed Smith advised Panattoni on this transaction.
