{"id":2716,"date":"2026-06-14T18:35:47","date_gmt":"2026-06-14T18:35:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=2716"},"modified":"2026-06-14T18:35:47","modified_gmt":"2026-06-14T18:35:47","slug":"this-german-group-is-partnering-with-a-boston-firm-to-place-a-big-bet-on-local-real-estate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=2716","title":{"rendered":"This German group is partnering with a Boston firm to place a big bet on local real estate"},"content":{"rendered":"
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At a time when the looming question of rent control and worries about environmental building standards have many real estate investors shying away from the Bay State, one of Germany\u2019s largest real estate development firms is instead placing a big bet.<\/span><\/p>\n

Read more Brittney Sykes matches career high with 38 points, expansion Tempo outlast Sun in OT<\/a><\/p>\n

Hamburg-based Garbe, a real estate developer, operator, and investor with more than $17 billion in assets under management, has formed a joint venture partnership with Boston-based Berkeley Investments to create Berkeley Garbe LLC. Garbe has 21 offices in 14 countries, including Singapore and the United Arab Emirates, and the Berkeley joint venture represents the firm\u2019s entrance into the US.<\/span><\/p>\n

For Young Park, the deal is both a legacy moment and succession plan. Since Park founded Berkeley in 1991, the firm has developed more than 17 million square feet of space. That includes investing in a portfolio of brick-and-beam warehouses in Boston\u2019s Fort Point neighborhood, converting the former Waltham Watch Co. factory into 163 lofts, and creating a 350,000-square-foot life-science laboratory with ground-floor retail across the street from the Malden Center Orange Line station.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Garbe, meanwhile, manages some 85 million square feet across the globe, and has 600 workers to Berkeley\u2019s 18 local employees. Pairing Garbe\u2019s resources with Berkeley\u2019s local expertise, Park said, will serve as a potential \u201cspringboard to a much larger role in the real estate market in Boston.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOur competitive advantage will be high,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re very, very excited about the growth potential.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Park and Christopher Garbe, managing partner of Garbe, declined to specify financial terms, or say precisely how much money Garbe earmarks for investment here. The firms first began working together in the early 2000s, with Garbe and affiliates doing deals with Berkeley in excess of $1 billion \u2014 investing in ground-up development, repositioning existing properties, adaptive reuse projects, and more. <\/span><\/p>\n

In Park and Berkeley, Garbe found a working relationship that was trustworthy, fair, and reliable \u2014 all necessary components for a longtime partnership, he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cJoint ventures are structured on the basis that you want to do repeat business, because if it\u2019s only for one project, it\u2019s never going to work,\u201d Garbe said. \u201cThis relationship, and that joint venture, is quite the opposite of a false marriage.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

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The Boston venture will concentrate on industrial, multifamily, and renewable energy and decarbonization, a three-prong approach to real estate the company has dubbed \u201csheds, beds, and infrastructure.\u201d Garbe is a frequent development partner of e-commerce behemoth Amazon and has built apartment buildings in major cities throughout Europe. The firm\u2019s growing sustainability business line has focused on rooftop solar photovoltaic panels, and Garbe also developed a data center in its home country for Google.<\/span><\/p>\n

Berkeley has developed flexible light industrial space and multifamily housing, but has little experience with infrastructure and logistics work. The new venture will function as a real estate operating company \u2014 developing property, securing financing, locating sites, negotiating a purchase \u2014 and is on the lookout for opportunities across New England. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an LLC, and we will continue to manage the operation of all the legacy projects,\u201d Park said. \u201cThe idea is to really expand our footprint.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

While Garbe is \u201cfully aware\u201d of market pressures in Massachusetts and Boston, he likes the region\u2019s strong underlying real estate fundamentals. Garbe intends to stick around for the long term, he said, and would be open to opportunities in other US markets if the Boston deal goes according to plan. Beyond the decades-long working relationship, Garbe considers Berkeley and Park \u201cvery, very competent\u201d real estate operators with \u201cdeep market insights.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s all the recipe to work together, even in challenging and maybe disadvantageous markets,\u201d Garbe said. \u201cThe advantages outweigh the disadvantages by a mile. For us this is a really, really good test case to enter the US market.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Berkeley Garbe LLC will continue growing its Greater Boston and Massachusetts presence, Park said, looking to areas around Worcester for modern flex or warehouse space and to towns with favorable MBTA Communities plans for multifamily projects. It also considers southern New Hampshire a promising submarket, and could eventually branch out to Connecticut or as far as New Jersey.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFor Garbe, and for a number of German investors, they\u2019re saying: \u2018We\u2019re going to pinch our nose and live for the next couple of years, but we think that Boston is a really good bet for us,\u2019\u201d Park said. \u201cIt\u2019s really a testimonial to believing that, ultimately, education and the belief in a sustainable future, and in an economic climate that\u2019s based on rules are going to prevail. To them, they view Boston not with the same set of eyes as a lot of equity investors.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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Garbe, a German real estate investor and developer, is partnering with Boston-based Berkeley Investments for its entrance into the US market.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2715,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2716","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business"],"yoast_head":"\nThis German group is partnering with a Boston firm to place a big bet on local real estate - Boston Relocation Insider<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=2716\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"This German group is partnering with a Boston firm to place a big bet on local real estate - 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