PARIS-A partnership between two funds has purchased a parking garage here in the Bastille area of central Paris from Credit Agricole Immobilier for the $155.7 million development of a office building. The European Property Investors Special Opportunities fund, co-managed by Tristan Capital Partners and AEW Europe, and the STAM REI III fund managed by STAM Europe, are the buyers.

Ric Lewis, CEO of Tristan, said in a statement that it is very difficult in debt-addled Europe to find good usable development space in central Paris. The garage will be converted into a 270,000-square-foot office building, with an additional 25,000 square feet of retail.

The Carre Breguet project will be the first energy efficient redevelopment in the center of Paris, where plans are to regenerate the northern Bastille area. Cameron Spry, head of investment at Tristan, said this project will help transform the neighborhood “into a more dynamic mixed-use commercial hub of offices and retail” from its current focus on the wholesale retail sector.”