Retail real estate developer, operator and manager, ECE Projektmanagement, is present in 16 countries across Europe. RLI speaks to Klaus Striebich, Managing Director of Leasing, about the company’s growing portfolio and what 2012 has in store
ECE is a renowned developer, operator and manager of retail real estate in 16 countries across Europe, with shopping centres in some of the continents most prominent downtown locations. Despite difficult trading times, ECE has continued to develop outstanding centres which attract shoppers throughout the year.
Klaus Striebich, Managing Director of Leasing with ECE Projektmanagement, said: “2010 and 2011 have seen the highest number of openings for ECE in many years. This year has been a very good year for us.”
The company has established an enviable reputation in more mature European markets such as Germany and Austria as well as in countries like Poland or Turkey – where the majority of their projects are currently taking shape.
New developments in Germany during 2011 include Schlosshöfe in Oldenburg, and Thier-Galerie in Dortmund. Thier-Galerie is a large project representing a substantial investment of €300 million. The three-level shopping mall has around 40,000 sqm GLA, 160 stores and opened in September this year.
Around 70 of the shops are retailers new to Dortmund, including Hollister, Primark, Adidas and G-Star.
ECE’s Arkad Szeged project in Hungary opened its doors to the public in October. The 40,000 sqm GLA shopping mall has a high number of tenants which brings a positive impact to the town.
Striebich said: “Both of these projects are 100 per cent leased, which documents the success of the developments. To achieve this in crisis times is a big achievement.”
Regarding other recent openings, Striebich said ECE completed Galeria Kaskada in Szczecin, Poland, at the end of September and Arkad Szeged in Hungary, which opened at the beginning of October.
Striebich said: “Arkad Szeged started design and construction during the crisis so we are one of the first developers to start building these deferred projects. I would say this gives us an advantage over our competitors who have not yet started construction.”
ECE is also working on a large-scale extension to Main-Taunus-Zentrum - the oldest shopping mall in Germany, which opened in 1964. The centre will be extended by a further 60 shops, which will be open by the end of November.
And in Austria, the developer is working on plans to remodel two railway stations into shopping centres.
Striebich said: “All of the projects are very unique. Each of them has a very long and special story, but our Dortmund project is outstanding because of its design and size and quality of location, and the remodeling of the Austrian railway stations in Vienna will be very individual”.
The developer has also completed a remodel and refurbishment at Hamburger Meile – the longest mall in ECE’s portfolio measuring 650m in length over two levels - and the transformation of Rheinpark in Dusseldorf which has changed from a big box store into a shopping mall.
Other ECE extensions include Altmarkt-Galerie in Dresden and Elbe-Einkaufszentrum in Hamburg. Although mature markets are more stable, they do not offer high numbers of potential developments, said Striebich.
“We are currently in 16 countries and we want to go deeper into these markets as part of our longer term strategy,” he said. “At ECE there will be three main ways to expand - a mix of organic growth to develop new projects, and management and investment takeovers.”
Looking forwards, Striebich added: “2012 will be a little bit calmer but we have projects we are opening in Germany like Forum Mittelrhein in Koblenz which is currently under construction, due to open in Autumn 2012. “Another big scheme is Marmara Park in Istanbul, Turkey, and a number of smaller extensions in existing malls. We aim to have three or four new openings a year. Each shopping mall has to be refreshed after a certain period of time so we always have a handful of shopping malls under refurbishment or extension.”
Speaking about future projects, he added: “I think our Frankfurt project, Skyline Plaza, and our Stuttgart project, Milaneo, will be outstanding because they are both mixed use and have a site of more than 40,000 sqm GLA and 160-200 shops which are very well linked to the heart of the cities.
“Skyline Plaza will have a big leisure park on the roof top totalling more than 9,000 sqm. This has already been bought by Allianz insurance company for more than €360 million.
www.ece.com
For the full article, please see the November 2011 issue.
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