To bring together VMRE's various companies, owned by the Van de Moortel entrepreneurial family, they had been looking for office space in Ghent for some time. Through contact with Philippe Meire, VMRE came to March. March was quickly able to propose the new office building “Pulse”, developed by project developer ION and investor Jonas Dhaenens, as a possibility. It was a new construction project on the Poortakkerstraat in the “The Loop” zone in Ghent. All parties were quickly brought around the table, after which an agreement was reached within a short time to sell the entire office building to VMRE.
Such an investment file, especially when it concerns a new building, requires highly professional transaction assistance. The March team, led by Michaël Despriet, was able to make the most of its experience with this. The file was fully completed over a period of 6 months.
VMRE itself occupied half of the office building, so it still had space left that could be rented out. VMRE therefore hired March to rent out the other two floors of office space. March Companion Arnaud De Dobbeleer and Navigators Sven De Pauw and Maxime Saelens set out to proactively approach companies with this great opportunity, using the AI tool that March has developed.
As a result, the office space could be quickly presented to the parties in Ghent that have the best match with the VMRE Business Center. After all, March's AI tool does not only allow you to match the searching parties in the March database with a property. Companies with whom March is not yet in contact also receive a score that determines how well they match with the property. This is how Arnaud and Maxime came into contact with Thea Pharma, among others.
“For our group, the move meant enormous added value. March's guidance ensured that we were able to switch quickly.” - Simon Van de Moortel, VMRE Group
Thea Pharma, originally a French company with 150 years of expertise in ophthalmology, quickly proved to be the right fit. The company had been based in Wetteren since 2005, but due to the strong growth that Thea Pharma Belgium has experienced in recent years, they needed a new branch. The accessibility, techniques and appearance of the building were very important to them, as it serves as a sign for Thea Pharma. After several visits, it quickly became clear that there was a perfect match between Thea Pharma and the VMRE Business Center. Based on clear and transparent communication, Arnaud was able to develop a balanced rental agreement that would allow both parties to commit to each other for a longer period of time.
