Please activate JavaScript!
Please install Adobe Flash Player, click here for download
ePaper created 2015-05-08, 10:57:20 | version 1.38.0
35Deutsche EuroShopANNUAL REPORT 2014 CENTER SZERETÜNK STÍLUSOSAN ÉLNI Együtt az igaziwww.arkadpecs.hu Ruth Vierbuchen, Editor-in-Chief of the Handelsimmobilien Report (Retail Real Estate Report) Board and handed the reins over to Heinrich Kraft, an outside manager. In his capacity as Chairman of the Management Board, Kraft was in charge of pressing ahead with the company’s consolidation and repositioning efforts, also in the areas of office space and logistics properties. The enormity of Kraft’s role in ECE’s development to become one of Germany’s high-profile shopping-center and real-estate specialists is evident in the fact that he controlled the company’s fate for a whole 26 years. Kraft seized opportunities that arose dur- ing the oil crisis, such as in Frankfurt where office buildings were left vacant or still under construction. That was also how he landed the contract from DG Bank to fit out and lease the 41-storey City-Haus at Platz der Repub- lik square. Additionally, ECE developed, re- alised and leased out the “Bürohaus an der Alten Oper” (office building by the old op- era house) for DG Bank in the early 1980s. During this time, the company also served as general planner and project manager for the construction of the corporate headquarters of Otto Versand. In the 1980s, this Hamburg-based compa- ny began eyeing inner-city sites for shopping center development projects as evidenced by the Löhr-Center in Koblenz which opened in 1984, the Allee-Center in Remscheid and the Saarpark-Center in Neunkirchen, just to name a few. ECE has also made a contribution toward inner-city development by transform- ing former warehouses into shopping cent- ers such as the City-Points in Braunschweig and Bochum. Integrating the architecture of today’s shopping centers into their urban en- vironment is becoming increasingly impor- tant, a fact evidenced by the Potsdamer Platz Arkaden in Berlin, the restoration of Braun- schweig Palace, which now houses a shop- ping center, as well as the open design of the Milaneo in Stuttgart which infuses an entire shopping quarter with life. C With 83 shopping centers in its portfolio worth a total of €33.6 billion, the French- Dutch REIT Unibail Rodamco can undoubt- edly claim the title of being Europe’s largest listed real estate company. ECE, on the other hand, which focuses mainly on the provision of services, can rightly claim its position as leader in terms of the absolute number of shopping centers under its management, namely 196 (with assets under management of €27 bil- lion). With France’s shopping center special- ist Klépierre planning to take over Dutch-based Corio, this means that the market will soon have yet another heavyweight. ECE’s beginnings 50 years ago, on the other hand, seem pretty modest in compari- son. Werner Otto, who had already found- ed the mail order company Otto Versand in 1949, built up the “Einkaufs-Center-Ent- wicklungsgesellschaft” (which translates to Shopping Center Development Company) in January 1965 with a dozen employees. His inspiration came from shopping centers in the USA and Canada. While the Franken- Center in Nuremberg-Langwasser, which opened in October 1969, might not have been Germany’s first mall (the Main-Taunus- Center and Ruhr Park opened in 1964), it was ECE whose operations were most enduring and which allowed the company to advance and become Germany’s market leader. Between 1970 and 1973, Werner Otto and his team launched the Alstertal Einkaufs- zentrum in Hamburg, the Hessen-Center in Frankfurt, the Rhein-Center in Cologne, the Roland-Center in Bremen, the Leo-Center in Leonberg and the Allee-Center in Essen in quick succession. Suburban locations were preferred. In light of the 1974/75 oil crisis, ECE’s decision to stop its expansion in au- tumn 1973 in order to consolidate its op- erations while also securing and optimising the existing centers proved to be a smart one. As a result, the company entered the crisis without undeveloped sites or half-complet- ed properties and thus avoided the difficul- ties that would have arisen had this not been the case. In 1974, at the age of 65, Werner Otto stepped down from the ECE Management » Taking stock after 50 years: All in all, ECE is active in 16 countries and manages 196 shopping centers. Book recommendations Shopping Center Future Prof. Dr. Bernd Falk/Momme T. Falk, Ph.D. 95 years of international shopping center history and 50 years of German shopping center his- tory. The industry is facing radical changes. A tangible shift in consumer behaviour, challenges presented by e-commerce, a changed economic environment and the increasing importance of sustainability are all characteristics of this development. In this book, 54 proven shopping center experts including Thomas Binder (Sierra Develop- ments Germany), Manuel Jahn (GfK GeoMarketing), Dr Christof Glatzel (mfi), Helmut Koprian (KOPRIAN iQ), Alexander Otto (ECE) and R. Roger Weiss (mfi), take a look at the future of shopping centers. Some of the topics and issues addressed by this forward-looking publication include: • Shopping centers in the digital world – what now? • Center types – winners and losers? • What do innovative shopping centers of the future look like? • Refurbishment – potential and limitations? • Sustainability – already passé or state of the art? • Anchor tenants of the future! 500 pages, bound ISBN: 978-3-00-041102-1 Store price: €125.00