Great Grey Investments

Sole Financial Adviser

Kempen & Co acted as Sole Financial Adviser to Great Grey Investments in securing development financing provided by Cheyne Capital Management to finance part of The Ensemble: an ambitious, c.85,000 GFA m² mixed-use development in Amsterdam Southeast with best-in-class amenities, scheduled to be completed in 2025.

Transaction highlights

Located on Karspeldreef 14-16 in Amsterdam Southeast, The Ensemble is a mixed-use development with two residential towers housing close to 600 apartments, c.3,200 m² of base plinth for amenities, six floors of office space (c.19,000 m²), as well as two large parking garages with ample space for (electric) cars and bicycles
The Ensemble is a highly sustainable, A++++ label, BREEAM-excellent building; praised by the municipality of Amsterdam as the most sustainable mixed-use high-rise building in Amsterdam and one of the most sustainable residential buildings in the Netherlands
Its high-rise design will comprise of two large, iconic towers (115m and 95m in height) characterized by their modern façade, interwoven base plinth, large outdoor spaces, and unique attention to multifunctional design
The residential towers, which have been sold to Greystar Real Estate Partners, will contain a total of 592 rental apartments focused on the affordable housing segment
The plinth will feature a ‘social’ component comprising a medical center with a pharmacy and a youth talent center with a theater
The Ensemble features the largest office floors in Amsterdam with 3,600 LFA m² each, specifically designed for flexibility, efficiency, cooperation and interaction
Kempen & Co acted as sole financial adviser to Great Grey Investments in arranging the development financing for the office of The Ensemble
Ewout Luykx of Great Grey Investments: “This development financing underscores the attractiveness of this high-quality, sustainable, social-inclusive, mixed-use development, in an area which has garnered both strong municipal support and interest from investors. Moreover, this transaction underpins that demand for prime commercial real estate in top-tier locations remains strong. Together with Kempen, we are happy to have selected Cheyne Capital Management as our funding partner for this project.”
Guus de Haan, Executive Director Debt Advisory at Kempen & Co: “We congratulate both Great Grey Investments and Cheyne Capital Management with this landmark transaction, which marks the first real estate transaction for Cheyne in the Dutch market. We are delighted to have advised Great Grey Investments on this exciting project and look forward to seeing the project come to full fruition.”

About Great Grey Investments

Great Grey Investments is a real estate developer and investor active in the Netherlands and Belgium since 2013. Great Grey Investments is delivering projects with an aggregated GAV of €1.5 billion, with a further pipeline of over 1,000,000 m² GFA. Its focus is on large-scale urban developments in and around key cities in the Netherlands and Belgium
The investment strategy centers around taking on positions at an early stage, where Great Grey Investments applies a macro-view with the aim to create value by optimizing the potential of a property
Great Grey Investments leverages its knowledge of different asset classes such as offices, residential and industrial properties and data centers to develop innovative and highly sustainable properties

Kempen & Co's Real Estate credentials

Kempen & Co has advised on more than €105bn real estate transactions across 15 different countries in Europe. Since 2020 to date, Kempen & Co advised on >110 transactions across different countries, representing a total deal value of >€30bn in a challenging and unprecedented pandemic environment
This transaction marks the fourth Debt Advisory transaction this summer in European Real Estate as we continue to support our clients active in the sector