The Goodman property group yesterday published its plans to invest 300 million euros in Turkish real estate for logistics in the next two to three years.

The first step in Goodman's plans in Turkey is a 140,000 square meter logistics center in İzmit. The 50 million euros project is expected to be complete by the end of 2009. Goodman currently has 23.1 billion euros of assets under management.

Danny Peeters, chief executive officer of Goodman, told the Turkish Daily News the firm made the decision to enter Turkey in early 2007 and opened its Istanbul office in July.

“We were getting regular requests by our clients to serve them in countries like Turkey. We analyzed the market and noticed there is limited stock of quality logistics products in Turkey. This motivated us to start investing here,” Peeters said.

It has been estimated that there is a two million square meters shortage of logistics space in Turkey at present.

Focus on Marmara region:

Construction of the İzmit warehouse will start in January 2008. The first phase of the project will be complete by mid-2008, and the whole project by the end of 2009. The warehouse will consist of 13 units, which Goodman will rent to one or several companies. The clients of Goodman abroad include international companies such as DHL, Sony and Amazon.

Goodman's next project in Turkey will also be located in the Marmara region, said Emrah Gültekin, managing director of Goodman in Turkey.

“We are already planning our next step and are looking at places like Hadımköy, Gebze and Bursa,” he said.

‘Turkish businesses are already part of Europe':

Among business people, the outcome of Turkey's process to join the European Union no longer plays an important role in investment decisions, Peeters said.

“By now it is clear for everyone that the scale of potential Turkey has to offer is much higher than in many other East European countries,” he said.

“Of course, there is still some debate if Turkey will or will not join the EU. But business circles are already ignoring it. The outcome of Turkey's EU process is not so important anymore as Turkey is already a part of the European business world."

Source - Turkish Daily News