Former Galeria space almost completely re-let
Together with ECE, Union Investment has restructured one of the largest contiguous vacant retail spaces in an inner-city shopping centre in Germany in a short period of time and almost fully let it again. After the termination of the insolvent anchor tenant Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof at the beginning of 2024, around 19,000 m² on four floors were vacant in the “Limbecker Platz” shopping center in Essen.
The owners, Union Investment through its open-ended real estate fund UniImmo: Europa and ECE / Familie Otto, jointly invested around EUR 30 million in the repositioning of the center. The large area was divided into five independent units and successfully placed on the market. After only 1.5 years, four out of five rental units have already been re-let. Around 50 percent of the total area has already reopened.
The company was able to attract high-footfall new anchor tenants at an early stage: P&C* Düsseldorf, for example, has leased around 6,400 m² on two floors and implemented its latest shopfitting concept there. The opening took place in April of this year. The sports specialist Intersport Voswinkel also secured around 2,000 m² on the first floor for ten years and opened in March. Most recently, the handovers were made to Netto as a frequency generator in the local supply segment and to the international fashion retailer Lager 157.
This means that the majority of the newly created rental space is leased on a long-term basis and sustainable income is secured for the fund. “For the remaining unit, we are already in advanced talks with potential tenants in the fashion and healthcare segment. Together with ECE, we have thus restructured around 19,000 m² of inner-city retail space and almost fully let it at a time when many market participants have declared brick-and-mortar retail to be dead,” says Norman Naehrig, Senior Asset Manager at Union Investment.
With more than 200 shops, Limbecker Platz Essen is one of the largest inner-city shopping centers in Germany. The architecturally unique shopping center was built according to a design by the famous Munich architect Gunter Henn and with its enveloping metal façade is based on a dress by Marilyn Monroe. This façade dress is trimmed with sequins that are illuminated at night and shimmer in a variety of colours. The center is operated and rented by ECE, which also developed the property.
* There are two independent companies Peek & Cloppenburg with headquarters in Düsseldorf and Hamburg. This information refers to Peek & Cloppenburg B.V. & Co. KG, Düsseldorf, whose house locations can be found under www.peek-cloppenburg.de/stores.
