One billion investment

IC plans to invest one billion in microapartments

Microliving offer combined with community concept proves robust during the pandemic

Spe­cia­li­sing in tem­po­ra­ry housing con­cepts for stu­dents and young pro­fes­sio­nals, Inter­na­tio­nal Cam­pus­GmbH (IC) plans to invest one bil­li­on euros over the next three years in addi­tio­nal micro­a­part­ments under the brands THE FIZZ and HNVS (“havens”).“Students in par­ti­cu­lar are despera­te­ly sear­ching for apart­ments ever­y­whe­re. The tre­men­dous shorta­ge of sup­p­ly in Ger­ma­ny can only be reme­di­ed if the Stu­den­ten­werk and the pri­va­te sec­tor work tog­e­ther. We are inte­res­ted in plots and exis­ting buil­dings in class A and B cities, in order to crea­te more living space for the 2.9 mil­li­on stu­dents across Ger­ma­ny”, sta­tes Rai­ner Non­nen­gäs­ser, Chief Exe­cu­ti­ve Offi­cer at IC. The manage­ment team thus has its sights set on pro­jects in major cities like Ham­burg and Ber­lin, smal­ler cities with popu­lar uni­ver­si­ties are also con­side­red for invest­ments. Apart from Ger­ma­ny, Aus­tria and the Net­her­lands are par­ti­cu­lar­ly attrac­ti­ve tar­get mar­kets, whe­re addi­tio­nal resi­den­ces with ful­ly fur­nis­hed micro­a­part­ments are plan­ned and alre­a­dy under con­s­truc­tion.

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“Coro­na-rela­ted tra­vel rest­ric­tions and online events at uni­ver­si­ties are curr­ent­ly lea­ving some stu­dent apart­ments vacant. None­thel­ess, occu­p­an­cy rates remain high and one thing is also cer­tain: the pan­de­mic will pass. As con­trol over the virus increa­ses, face-to-face cour­ses will also return. We are plan­ning for the long term and firm­ly belie­ve that the num­ber of natio­nal and inter­na­tio­nal stu­dents in Ger­ma­ny will con­ti­nue to rise”, says Non­nen­gäs­ser. Accor­ding to Statista,the num­ber of stu­dents increased by 63 per­cent in the last twen­ty years.

The com­pa­ny curr­ent­ly deve­lo­ps and ope­ra­tes thir­teen stu­dent resi­den­ces under the brand THE FIZZ in Ger­ma­ny, Aus­tria, the Net­her­lands and the Czech Repu­blic. Plans for the future include resi­den­ces for pro­fes­sio­nals under the new brand name HVNS. The company’s main share­hol­der is the glo­bal alter­na­ti­ve asset mana­ger Brook­field.

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Living alone – staying safe and connected throughout the pandemic

Iso­la­ti­on and loneli­ne­ss during the pan­de­mic? Not at THE FIZZ. Here, the con­cept includes more than just pri­va­te rooms with ful­ly equip­ped kit­chens and bath­rooms. The cen­tral­ly loca­ted resi­den­ces are geared towards com­mu­nal living and shared expe­ri­en­ces. They are cus­tom desi­gned and adapt­ed to the local con­di­ti­ons. Various com­mu­ni­ty are­as, such as lar­ge coo­king and dining are­as, stu­dy and music rooms, movie loun­ges, roof ter­races and — in some cases — gar­dens pro­vi­de amp­le space to socia­li­se. A house manage­ment team hand­les par­cel deli­veries and repairs, and a secu­ri­ty com­pa­ny is ent­rus­ted with the pro­tec­tion of the buil­ding and its resi­dents.

Sin­ce the coro­na­vi­rus out­break, hygie­ne and pro­tec­tion mea­su­res have been in place in all the buil­dings, mea­ning that the com­mon are­as are curr­ent­ly unavailable. None­thel­ess: no one is alo­ne at THE FIZZ. A ran­ge of online offers tem­po­r­a­ri­ly replaces face-to-face mee­tings. “We are hap­py to say that our safe­ty mea­su­res are effec­ti­ve and that the num­ber of qua­ran­ti­ne cases has remain­ed low so far”, explains Rai­ner Non­nen­gäs­ser. He belie­ves that stu­dio apart­ments offer many advan­ta­ges over tra­di­tio­nal stu­dent flat shares with regard to the risk of infec­tion.

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