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Altmarkt-Galerie Case Studywww.uli.org/casestudies 1

QUICK FACTSLocationDresden, Germany

Project typeMixed use—three or more uses

Site size26,150 square metres (281,476 sq ft)

Land usesRetail, office, hotel

Keywords/special featuresUrban regeneration, historic building renovation, urban integration, natural air ventilation, regional and international tenant mix, daylight simulation, urban perforation/high number of entrances, central city development, pedestrian-friendly design, transit-oriented development

Websitewww.altmarkt-galerie-dresden.de

Project address Webergasse 1 01067 DresdenGermany

Owner Deutsche EuroShop AG Heegbarg 3622391 HamburgGermanywww.deutsche-euroshop.de

DeveloperECE Projektmanagement GmbH & Co. KGHeegbarg 3022391 HamburgGermanywww.ece.com

Initial investors Deutsche EuroShop AG Heegbarg 3622391 HamburgGermany

TLG Treuhand Liegenschaftsgesellschaft mbH Hausvogteiplatz 10117 BerlinGermany

ECE/Otto FamilyHeegbarg 3022391 HamburgGermany

Altmarkt-Galerie is a mixed-use shopping centre in the heart of Dresden with a retail GLA of 64,400 square metres (693,200 sq ft), 200 shops, a 5,300-square-metre (57,049 sq ft) hotel, and 7,300 square metres (78,577 sq ft) of offices. The project has been significant

for Dresden in many respects, as it represents a key piece of the city’s urban regeneration. Conceived soon after the reunification of East Germany with West Germany in 1990, Altmarkt-Galerie has helped Dresden find a new centre as well as a new architectural identity. Owing

Altmarkt-Galerie

PROJECT SUMMARY

Altmarkt-Galerie is a mixed-use retail development in the centre of Dresden, Germany, that features a shopping centre containing 64,400 square metres (693,200 sq ft) of gross leasable area (GLA) that was originally opened in 2002 and later expanded in 2009–2011. The project also includes a 5,300-square-metre (57,049 sq ft) hotel and 7,300 square metres (78,577 sq ft) of office space. The first phase of the project includes three modern blocks, arranged north to south in a courtyard—surrounded on three sides by existing four- to six-storey residential apartment buildings. The modern blocks are connected by glass-covered pedestrian walkways. An extension, which opened in 2011, added 19,200 square metres (206,700 sq ft) across a T bar–shaped block at the north of the original site. During the expansion, an existing 1960s office block was demolished and replaced with a modern building, while a listed building was renovated. The expansion added 93 retail shops on three floors, with offices and a hotel above.

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Altmarkt-Galerie comprises both historic and modern structures. The second-phase extension of the project opened up Altmarkt-Galerie to Dresden’s city centre for the first time. The first phase was contained within a courtyard of residential buildings.

May 2015

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to the scheme’s strategic importance in the urban landscape, the local government has long supported Altmarkt-Galerie.

The shopping centre and mixed-use scheme have provided the city with a new heart, which was not previously obvious in the city. Dresden’s lack of identity is a legacy of heavy World War II bombing as well as the socialist urban planning that favoured wide, spacious boulevards, concrete office towers, and large residential blocks, ignoring to a large extent the historical town layout.

The Site and the Development TeamLocated south of the historic core of the city, Altmarkt-Galerie is adjacent to Altmarkt Square, once a thriving public square for market traders. The site links two previously distinct parts of the city. The centre is sited between Dresden’s historic district—which includes Zwinger Palace, the Semper Opera House, and the famed church known as Frauenkirche—and Prager Strasse, the city’s main shopping street. This means the location is well positioned as both a meeting place and point of attraction for residents and tourists alike.

One of the most unusual aspects of the roughly 26,000-square-metre (281,500 sq ft)

site is that it was surrounded on all four sides by existing buildings, with no direct street frontage on any of the sides. This presented an interesting design challenge. The site had previously been occupied by retail uses, so there was a history of retail operating on the site.

The development and long-term manage-ment of Altmarkt-Galerie have been directed by ECE, which was also the general planner and leasing agent for the project. The initial investors included ECE/Otto Family, Deutsche EuroShop, and TLG Treuhand Liegenschaftsgesellschaft. Altmarkt-Galerie has been owned by Deutsche EuroShop AG since 2013.

Dresden’s city council has maintained a high-profile role in bringing both the first and second phases of Altmarkt-Galerie to fruition. Although the city had three different mayors before ECE finally got approval, this did not halt ECE’s project progress, as Burkhard Hoffmann, ECE Development’s managing director, explains: “All three mayors strongly believed in that location; they believed in ECE and strongly supported the project. Over those years, it was clear that the vast majority of politicians in the city’s parliament wanted to see a big shopping centre in Dresden in this almost-derelict area,

which was a densely populated urban area before the World War II bombing.”

To guide the development, ECE used a steering committee, whose members included city council officers and ECE executives, a body Hoffmann sees as key to the success of the development. “We had outstanding cooperation from officials, and full support from the local government and politicians,” he says.

Development BackgroundECE first visited the city in 1990, prompted by its interest in investing in the former East Germany, newly reunified with West Germany. While Dresden was struggling with its transition from a centrally planned economy to a market economy, the developer believed it was only a matter of time before the city would see an increase in prosperity. Retail supply in the central city was lacking, and ECE felt that a big opportunity existed to bring new stores, formats, store sizes, and retailers to the city’s heart.

At the same time, Dresden’s city council was looking for a way to revitalise the town. Fundamentally, Dresden needed a project that would create a lively neighborhood in the city. The city needed retail that would attract footfall

Atlmarkt-Galerie is adjacent to Altmarkt Square, a thriving public square in the heart of Dresden.

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within the city, away from the shopping outlets on the city’s periphery.

This led to a partnership between the developer and the city council. In 1993, ECE, the city government, and state-owned Treuhand, the main plot owner, cofinanced an urban design competition to find farsighted ideas that would offer an identifiable urban centre. “No one knew where the heart of the city would be. We had around five inner-city locations that we could have used for a huge shopping centre,” says Hoffmann.

Visually, the city reflected its difficult history. The legacy of large-scale bombing in February 1945, which destroyed 647 hectares (1,600 ac) of Dresden’s city centre, was evident. Impersonal socialist architecture sat alongside baroque, Renaissance, and classical structures that had survived the Allied bombings. Huge open spaces and wide streets—characteristic of socialist urban planning—meant the city did not have a human scale.

Development Concept and Site Acquisition In 1993, when the design competition was organised, the Altmarkt-Galerie plot was mainly in the hands of the state-owned company Treuhand, established to privatise all state-owned companies and assets of the former East Germany. “It wasn’t clear at this point that we would be future owners of the site,” explains Hoffmann.

Architects Manfred Schomers and Rainer Schürmann won the urban design competition. The first concept that was prepared was not ideally laid out for shopping centre use with all its functionalities. It showed three blocks of buildings that were not connected to each other, but were separated by open (i.e., not covered by any kind of roof) streets. These buildings were, in turn, surrounded by long blocks of residential buildings on three sides that created a visual barrier.

The centre is sited between Dresden’s historic district—which includes Zwinger Palace, the Semper Opera House, and the church known as Frauenkirche—and Prager Strasse, the city’s main shopping street.

Altmarkt-Galerie includes 64,400 square metres (693,200 sq ft) of retail space, 200 shops, a 5,300-square-metre (57,049 sq ft) hotel, and 7,300 square metres (78,577 sq ft) of offices. The project is surrounded on three sides by residential blocks. The development represented a key piece of the city’s urban regeneration.

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An intensive discussion among the architects, the municipality, and the developer started to create a more detailed and work-able layout, which was adapted to meet the requirements of a shopping centre—at the same time taking the original block structure from the urban design competition into consideration. The revised plan provided covered connections between the three blocks and also included closer links between the shopping centre and the surrounding historic streets and Prager Strasse, incorporating pedestrian streets within the development that would allow people to flow through the site.

These included prominent entrances located at portals on the exterior of the residential buildings.

After the investors bought the plot in 1997, construction began in 1998 and the first phase was finished in 2002.

Development Strategy and Plan As noted, when the investors bought the plot for the initial investment, it consisted of an almost complete outer ring of residential buildings, up to six storeys high. The inner courtyard of the area was used for a smaller retail scheme called “Einkaufscentrum Webergasse,” which opened

in 1962. These retail buildings were demolished in order to make room for Altmarkt-Galerie. The residential blocks still remain.

First phase. The first phase of the develop-ment consisted of three new three- to four-storey buildings in a large courtyard within the ring of residential buildings. Retail space is accommodated on the first and second levels of each building as well as in the basement level, creating three retail levels. Each new building was topped with a large glass rotunda to allow for interior daylighting.

The buildings are linked by glass-covered walkways to each other and to the surrounding

Entrances to Altmarkt-Galerie

Entrances to Of�ces

Entrance to Hotel ibis budget Dresden City

Postplatz

DVB-Service Center

Altmarkt

The site plan. Housing surrounds the project on three sides.


streets, following preexisting street patterns, providing sheltered customer access into Altmarkt-Galerie. “The scheme was conceived around smaller, tighter spaces and a sequence of alleys and squares contained, emulating the kind of shopping districts you’d see in a European city,” says Schomers.

Care was taken to link the scheme into existing streets, such as the historic alley Webergasse; this was one of the key design principles of Altmarkt-Galerie. Connected walkways between buildings were used to enable visitors to experience the first phase of the complex as a single entity, despite the fact that it is made up of three separate structures.

Large glass-topped rotundas in each of the three buildings, bright piazzas on the preexisting street crossings, and glass-covered walkways are distinguishing architectural features of the project.

Office space is located on the upper levels of the buildings and seven separate entrances to the office space are offered around the exterior of the first phase. An underground car park for visitors provides 500 spaces.

Extension. In 2008, ECE announced that it would extend Altmarkt-Galerie to Postplatz and Wilsdruffer Strasse. The expansion was undertaken to strengthen Altmarkt-Galerie’s market position as the dominant shopping centre in Dresden’s city centre, following the opening of Centrum Galerie—a 52,000-square-metre (560,000 sq ft) shopping centre in

the Altstadt area of the city centre—and competition from retail on the city’s periphery. But it also represented the final piece of the project, bringing the centre out of the courtyard and connecting it to transit along Wilsdruffer Strasse, the historical old town centre, and the Prager Strasse shopping mile.

Dresden’s city council also had a strong interest in the extension. It wanted to keep purchasing power within the city and to continue

to protect historical buildings and integrate shopping into the historical centre. Dresden’s deputy mayor, Dirk Hilbert, opened the extension in March 2011.

To accomplish this expansion, the investors purchased the buildings at the north end of the existing centre, allowing the expansion to reshape Altmarkt-Galerie into the shape of a T when viewed from above. The extension gave the shopping centre a “face” toward the historic district. Until then, the three retail blocks were hidden behind residential buildings. The investors bought the plot for the extension in 2008 and construction began in 2009, following the completion of a new zoning plan. Among the buildings that were acquired was the listed Intecta building, from Augsburg, Germany–based Patrizia Group, for an undisclosed amount. It was extensively refurbished and incorporated into the concept, and now houses retail and office space and serves as an important landmark feature for the project.

The investors also purchased the Linde building, a derelict structure from the 1960s that was demolished to make room for a new, modern building. This new structure houses retail space, offices, and a 5,300-square-metre (57,049 sq ft) hotel on the upper floors. The offices have a flexible floor plan, allowing for units of around 100 square metres (1,076 sq

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The project lies adjacent to tram lines, and public transport is the primary way visitors get to Altmarkt-Galerie.

Internal courtyards and connecting walkways were integrated into the plan.


ft). Doctors’ and solicitors’ practices occupy the new offices. The hotel—the IBIS Budget City Hotel—includes 203 rooms and faces onto Wilsdruffer Strasse.

The interior of the extension is brightly lit and dominated by high-quality materials: light natural stone combined with dark wood and stainless steel. Schomers says of the new wing’s design: “Important for us was the integration. In the design, we wanted to reflect the images that are characteristic of the city of Dresden, and thus find acceptance among the general public. So we wanted to have high-value materials. This is why the entire structure is clad with Mediterranean natural stone.”

The extension added 93 shops and a further 19,200 square metres (206,700 sq ft) of sales area across three floors. The shops were mostly 200-square-metre (2,153 sq ft) units. Only three stores were larger than 1,000 square metres (10,800 sq ft). Four new entrances to the retail space at the local transport interchange were added at Postplatz, at Altmarkt, on Wilsdruffer Strasse, and on Tuchmachergasse. Three new entrances were also added to the office space. The entrance to the hotel is located on Wilsdruffer Strasse.

The developer had not been able to develop on this piece of the site initially—then a 1960s office block—because it was occupied. But ECE had made provision for the extension project during construction of the first phase in 2000–2002, having instructed contractors to create predetermined breaking points along the northern facades on each level, marking where to break through if an extension was possible in the future.

Development FinancingECE has teamed up with project partners for both phases of the construction process. The partners for the first investment included Deutsche EuroShop, TLG Treuhand Liegenschaftsgesellschaft, and ECE/Otto Family. By the second phase, ECE/Otto Family had already sold its shares in the first phase. Equity in the first phase of Altmarkt-Galerie amounted to around 40 percent of the cost of the shopping centre.

During the second phase, Deutsche EuroShop and TLG Treuhand Liegenschaftsgesellschaft funded the project.

The loan terms required preleasing of 40 percent of the shopping centre during the first phase. For the extension, preleasing of 50 percent was required. There were no key loan-to-value and debt-coverage ratios for either phase, nor any special programmes, loan guarantees, mezzanine financing, or special financing techniques or structures.

Design and Historic ConservationSeveral design issues were of particular importance as the project was planned, including historic preservation, visibility, and public access.

Historic site issues. Altmarkt-Galerie was built on a protected and archaeologically valuable site. ECE was very aware of this special responsibility and tried its best to reconcile its business needs with the strict regulations of building conservation. Listed buildings that surrounded the site, built on centuries-old historic ground, presented ECE with several archaeological challenges.

One challenge was the basement under Altmarkt-Galerie, which was set to be the site of an underground car park. Here, ECE discovered remnants of around 60 former merchant and tradesman premises sited along historic roads. “We didn’t think this would cause a problem as

the buildings were already gone. But it could not be guaranteed that we would not have had to protect any cellars that could have been found in the course of the excavation works for the car park. That is why we decided, together with city administration, that we would need to work on a solution enabling us to build a car park and not destroy any valuable historic archaeological remains,” says Hoffmann.

The developer found a good solution, which involved researching the archives for each plot to understand the history of the site over the centuries. During this process, it was confirmed that only one area in the basement needed in situ protection, as it dated from the 14th century. ECE implemented a wine cellar in this historic basement, which is specially illuminated.

Visibility. The six-storey residential blocks, which surrounded the plot on three sides, also were a concern to the project team before construction of the first phase. “It affected what people thought of the concept internally because you can’t see the centre from a long distance away. But in the end, ECE was convinced that the clear concept, strong tenant mix, and anchor tenants meant this visual issue wouldn’t be a problem.”

Strong entrance features and integration with existing buildings and the cityscape were important aspects of the design of Altmarkt-Galerie. Dresden features baroque, Renaissance, and classical structures that survived the bombing of World War II.

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Secondly, the outer ring of buildings meant that Altmarkt-Galerie had no clear line of visibility to Prager Strasse. ECE worked with the authorities for about a year to obtain permission to use part of the listed building for a new entrance, which now leads shoppers directly to retail on Prager Strasse.

Public access and circulation. A third challenge was how best to deal with the public streets that led through the centre. “The idea of a city is it is open 24 hours, seven days a week. But having two streets crossing a shopping centre and keeping them open is not so easy. We said it must be possible to close one street after closing hours, and keep the other open to see how it works,” says Hoffmann.

Today, people can cut through Altmarkt-Galerie via two “gateway” streets, the Weber-gasse and the Tuchmachergasse, both of which are open 24 hours. Glass walls separate them from the retail part of the centre one hour after the stores close (at 22.00 h, or 10 p.m.), so

that the centre itself cannot be accessed after 22.00 h.

Marketing, Leasing, and ManagementToday, with 1,352,000 visitors each month and with 2,176,200 visitors at peak times, the shopping centre has successfully established itself in the city and wider region. Sixteen months after its 2011 extension was complete, the average daily footfall increased from 35,000 to 52,000—benefitting new tenants in the extension building as well as those retailers in the preexisting centre.

Marketing and promotion. Altmarkt-Galerie has a wide catchment area of around 2.1 million people. It is within five minutes’ journey time of 51,500 people, five to 15 minutes’ journey time of 330,300 people, and 15 to 45 minutes’ journey time of more than 1.02 million people. It is also close to major regional cities—150 kilometres (93 mi) from Prague in the Czech Republic, 192 kilometres (119 mi) from Berlin, and 112 kilometres (70 mi) from Leipzig, Germany.

Both tourists and customers of the catch-ment area make up the bulk of the centre’s customer base. Tourists represent 30 percent of the shopping centre’s customers, with particularly high numbers coming from the

Czech Republic and Russia. The average age of the visitor to the shopping centre is about 42.

Public transport is the primary way to arrive at the centre. Most visitors (42 percent) travel to the centre by tram, while 24 percent arrive by car, 17 percent arrive on foot, and 6 percent arrive by bus.

Following the opening of the extension, ECE worked to communicate its plans with the inhabitants of Dresden and beyond in several ways, including public meetings, press conferences, a countdown campaign in newspapers, radio advertising across the region and in the Czech Republic, public displays of the plans, and exhibitions of architectural finds from excavation work.

The management team undertakes market-ing campaigns both inside and outside Altmarkt-Galerie. The campaigns are targeted to the catchment area but also to tourists.

Altmarkt-Galerie has its own centre gazette and runs advertising campaigns on public trams, on the radio, and online. Because tourists are an important visitor group to the shopping centre, the management team promotes Altmarkt-Galerie through tourist information offices, hotels, and operators of guided tours.

Tenant strategy. From the very beginning, ECE wanted to attract tenants that had not been

Public streets lead through the centre. Two “gateway” streets are open 24 hours a day. Glass walls separate these pedestrian streets from the retail part of the centre one hour after the shops close.

Large glass-topped rotundas are in each building of the first phase. Bright piazzas and glass-covered walkways are distinguishing features of the shopping centre.

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at other locations in Dresden or in the eastern states of Germany. One important aspect that affected the leasing strategy of Altmarkt-Galerie was existing competitors on the perimeter of Dresden. There, shoppers could find a mix of various retail types and brands—consumer electronics stores, a supermarket, sports gear vendors, and a variety of stores selling clothing, shoes, jewellery, and cosmetics.

The centre’s format is unique and offers an interesting mix of tenant types and sizes. When it opened in 2002, Altmarkt-Galerie offered shoppers a mix of small-sized retail outlets and anchor tenants that previously were not available. It also hosts retailers that are not found anywhere else in the city, nor anywhere else in Saxony, such as electronic products giant Apple.

Apart from a mix of international and regional retailers, ECE wanted well-known fashion brands in the new centre, as well as new concepts. It also wanted retailers in the mid-to-high-end price range. “We wanted to set ourselves apart quality-wise from our competitors,” explains Hans-Dieter Bogutzki, senior leasing manager with ECE.

The leasing team met with retailers at regional and international industry events, and focussed on building relationships with international brands to convince them to come to Dresden.

Bogutzki says the team’s big advantage during the leasing phase of the extension was that it could cite the success of the existing centre. “We were able to present the success of our existing tenants to new ones. That was a big advantage for us,” he explains. “We opened our extension with a lot of new shops as we

were able to attract a lot of new tenants. We could draw upon the fact that we had successful concepts that had generated a lot of turnover in the past.”

Leasing and tenant mix. Leasing has been a success story throughout. Both the existing centre and the extension were fully leased before the actual opening, as retailers took advantage of the new retail format offered in the city for the first time.

Fashion retailers represent the largest segment of tenants in the shopping centre (44 percent), whilst hard-goods stores account for the next biggest retail group at 20 percent. The remainder of the tenants is made up of food retailers (9 percent), shoe and leather retailers (8.79 percent), sports stores (6.98 percent), health stores (4.89 percent), restaurants (4.84 percent), and services (1.41 percent).

In Altmarkt-Galerie, one sees a specific clustering of uses, with a general mix of retailers across the three floors. Youth-oriented fashion, food, and everyday goods are located on the basement floor. High-quality products, like jewellery, cosmetics, and a wide mix of fashions, are on the ground floor. The top floor is family oriented, where customers can get a special variety of goods in the middle-range price segment. In the new extension, retailers facing the street include, for example, Hugo Boss, Hollister, and Gant.

The 26 food and beverage outlets, which together account for 6 percent of the floor space in the shopping centre, are designed to complement—not compete with—the restaurants in the surrounding area. Food outlets in the basement are mainly fast food.

But on the top floor, the food providers offer visitors the chance to dwell longer. Here, international food such as Spanish, Greek, Asian, and American caters to every taste.

Regional concepts. A key aspect of the leasing strategy is regional concepts. “We like to have shops that provide the flavour for our shopping centre. This is interesting for visitors but also [for] tourists who are unfamiliar with these products. This way, we can offer products not offered anywhere else,” notes Bogutzki.

One example of this is a small shop located in the basement called Dr. Quendt Backwaren, a Dresden-based company that produces all kinds of local sweets as well as Germany’s famous stollen. Another shop, called Ratags Kunsthandwerk, sells traditional products from the Ore Mountains that are used as decorative objects at Christmastime. Viba, a confectioner from the state of Thüringen, offers visitors the chance to make nougat right in the store.

Extension tenant demand. A high degree of retail demand existed for the new shop spaces in Altmarkt-Galerie, which was fully let on its opening day. More than half of the 100 new specialist stores were new to Dresden, including computer brand Apple, with its first store in eastern Germany, as well as the U.S. fashion label Hollister. Like many other tenants, Apple was enticed by the mall’s central location and its proximity to neighbouring countries like Poland and the Czech Republic, as well as Dresden’s large student population.

International retailers such as Boss, Gant, Marc Cain, Tommy Hilfiger, Guess, We Fashion, Promod, O’Neill, One Green Elephant, Eterna, Olymp, and Austria’s Högl shoes, as well as

Each month, Altmarkt-Galerie has more than 1.3 million visitors and over 2.1 million at peak times. Tourists account for 30 percent of visitors.

Altmarkt-Galerie hosts many retailers that are not found anywhere else in the city, nor anywhere else in Saxony, such as electronic products giant Apple.

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London’s handmade-shoe retailer John Baker & Son, also leased space.

Alongside international brands, ECE believed it was important to include a wide range of regional retailers in Altmarkt-Galerie, such as perfumery Thiemann and chocolate company Halloren. Café Kreutzkamm, which is styled as a 1920s confectionary café, also moved into the ground floor of the former Intecta building, which is a listed building.

Another key point of attraction in the extended space was the new 800-square-metre (8,600 sq ft) delicatessen zone with a wide selection of fresh food.

Place making, the web, and social media. ECE is constantly refining Altmarkt-Galerie so that it is “perfectly configured” to the challenges of the online age. This is greatly aided by the shopping centre’s strong central location. “Staying alive offline means having a meeting point where people can see each other, feel, taste, smell, and try on and take things. And the nearer you are to the city centre, the better. If you’re able to combine those two things, it is easy to attract people and encourage them to come to and stay in the mall,” Hoffmann says. ECE has included food and beverage options to complement the city’s existing offerings, thereby facilitating the shopping experience.

That said, use of the web and social media is a key strategy in the promotion and events of Altmarkt-Galerie—one that is increasingly being used by the shopping centre’s management team. Launched in spring 2014, a newsletter is now sent to 5,000 subscribers a month. Through this effort, the centre management team monitors “click-throughs” to the shopping

centre’s home page—observing which pages are the most popular and where the newsletter readers are based geographically.

“Besides German- and English-speaking visitors, we see that Russian and Czech visitors are very frequent visitors to our home page,” says Nadine Strauss, centre manager of Altmarkt-Galerie. Because of this, and because of the high number of visitors from these countries at present, the most important content on the centre’s home page will be translated into Russian and Czech this year. An English version went online in 2014.

Altmarkt-Galerie also has a style blog, which promotes seasonal styles as well as offers from tenants. The blog has been running for one year and has had 50,000 visitors so far. “This allows us to demonstrate our competence in fashion, that we are trendsetters,” says Strauss. “This is the emphasis of our centre.”

Online promotion is supported across several channels. Visitors can pick up free concert tickets from the shopping centre’s Facebook page, and find outfits and style ideas for those attending the concert in the centre’s style blog.

An Altmarkt-Galerie app called “Love to Shop” contains hundreds of offers from the shopping centre’s tenants and targets customers whilst they are in the centre. The management team employs “scouts” from agencies that work with tenants to design offers to help them be more target-focussed. These are then promoted through the “Love to Shop” app or the style blog.

A Facebook page posts all centre-related news and provides information from tenants and event notices. Altmarkt-Galerie has 30,000 fans on Facebook, but the management team’s

goal for next year is to increase this number to 50,000. The team posts news on behalf of tenants, which like to use this form of social media to publicise their offers.

Foursquare, Instagram, Google+, and YouTube also are part of the management team’s communication channels. “We will probably shift our focus onto these in 2015,” says Strauss.

In addition, visitors to the shopping centre get two hours of free wi-fi access per day.

Management. An active centre management team at Altmarkt-Galerie supports a constant flow of new events in and around the centre, attracting a high number of visitors. The centre management team is also responsible for public relations work.

The 15-strong on-site management team is the first point of contact for tenants and visitors, either directly or online. It also supports ECE’s asset management team in its cooperation with investors, and it is the first point of contact for city authorities or other institutions.

The management team commissions ongoing intensive market research and “competitor” analyses of nearby shopping centres. It also conducts customer surveys up to four times a year in the centre, and arranges focus groups to find out where visitors come from, their response to advertising, and their feedback on Altmarkt-Galerie. In addition, it regularly analyses data gathered through its online communication tools.

Events. Altmarkt-Galerie puts on fashion shows, mostly to promote the pre-Christmas and pre-Easter shopping seasons. Often, these are accompanied by competitions. Altmarkt-

The listed Intecta building was extensively refurbished and incorporated into the extension, which added 93 shops, offices, and a hotel. An adjacent 1960s office block was demolished and replaced with a modern facade as part of the extension.

The acquisition of the historic Intecta building as part of the expansion added a landmark building to the project while also creating an important new entrance feature at a prominent corner location.

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Galerie once hosted a living reptiles show. It also hosted a Russian Christmas in the centre—staffed by Russian-speaking salespeople—as the city is a key destination for Russians during their Christmas shopping season.

Resource efficiency and resilience. Altmarkt-Galerie is subject to ECE’s overall strategy regarding environmental efficiencies and sustainability in its developments.

Controlled roof openings in the mall allow for natural ventilation and save energy, whilst large amounts of light-emitting diode (LED) lighting is operated by a computerised, daylight-dependent light control. This has led to energy savings over time. Energy consumption was reduced by a third with the use of new technology in the extension.

In addition, Altmarkt-Galerie is close to the Elbe River, which presents a flood risk to the shopping centre. The management team is responsible for flood risk strategies and contingency management. The opening in 2002 went ahead on time during one of the worst floods the city had ever experienced.

Since then, provision has been made for flood risk. Measuring equipment in the basement allows the team to measure the water levels and react in case of danger. A watertight concrete wall surrounds around the entire structure.

Long-term development value. On top of the day-to-day management of environmental outputs, ECE considers Altmarkt-Galerie to be a sustainable concept in all respects.

“The development phase was very long. We started talking about it in 1990, and we had a long-lasting concept in our mind,” says Hoffmann. “Our idea of what is sustainable is perfectly shown in the Altmarkt-Galerie.

“Everything we do has to be sustainable. If it isn’t, we are not interested in engaging in the development. To embark on project development, the long-term investment idea has to be sustainable, including rents and turnovers. That includes making sure that the tenants don’t leave after two years because they feel they are paying too much rent,” says Hoffmann.

Altmarkt-Galerie has received numerous awards, including a 2013 ULI Award for Excellence. Pictured with the award is Nadine Strauss, the centre manager (left), and Helma Orosz, the mayor of Dresden.

Observations and Lessons LearnedAltmarkt-Galerie has ignited and revitalised Dresden’s city centre, thanks to close collaboration between developers and local government, a great central location, a strong leasing operation, and a compelling plan and design.

According to ECE, one of the main reasons for the project’s success is a cooperative working relationship with Dresden’s city council, with which it established a steering committee. The committee, which had a municipal coordinator for the coordination of all city offices, was in place from the very beginning so that politicians and all other stakeholders of the city were committed to the project and promoted it.

“This committee was one of the key elements, as well as its members who were decision makers. We had regular meetings and steered the project efficiently. So there wasn’t back-and-forth over a long period,” Hoffmann says. “We did have a lot of moments where our colleagues went home a bit frustrated. But at the end, when you see the result, after perennial and intensive struggles, especially with the town planning and historic monuments authority, over the best concept, it is worth having the long-lasting approach.”

Dresden’s current mayor, Helma Orosz, continues to support the investment. She says, “We are proud of Altmarkt-Galerie. It is a true asset for the city of Dresden. From an urban planning perspective, Altmarkt-Galerie is the link between the historic city and Prager Strasse. It increases the attractiveness of the city centre, for the inhabitants and guests of Dresden alike. Altmarkt-Galerie also strengthens trade and commerce, setting the stage for further successful years.”

With total footfall exceeding 1.3 million each month, Altmarkt-Galerie has delivered on its goal to concentrate purchasing power in the city centre. What is more, this has all been achieved with an intelligent, resourceful approach to development on an extremely narrow, historically important site.

Altmarkt-Galerie also illustrates how a prime central location and creative urban design

solutions can elevate a project and allow it to overcome other challenges. The fact that the first phase of the project was surrounded on three sides by multistorey housing blocks, and had no frontage on a heavily travelled fourth side, did not deter the developers nor hinder the performance of the shopping centre.

The central location, a strong leasing operation, and the design made the project work. By creating numerous, highly visible entrances into the courtyard and the shopping centre, and by designing compelling courtyard and interior spaces within the centre, the developers were able to shape a highly successful retail centre that attracted both retailers and customers and that was eventually expanded to embrace the surrounding historic areas and retail streets. The developers’ strong track record in developing, leasing, and operating retail centres was key to this success as well.

The project received a ULI Award for Excellence in 2013; and in presenting the award, the Urban Land Institute stated that Altmarkt-Galerie “is a model for implementation of a project on a historically protected and archaeologically valuable site and shows that successful business can be reconciled with strict building conservation regulations.” The centre effectively blends old and new buildings and traditional and modern retail and office formats to shape a compelling user and visitor experience.

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PROJECT INFORMATION General plannersECE Projektmanagement GmbH & Co. KGHeegbarg 3022391 HamburgGermany

as2architekturManfred Schomers and Rainer SchürmannKonsul-Smidt-Strasse 828217 Bremen Germany

Structural engineerIDN Ingenieurbüro DOMKE Nachf.Mannesmannstrasse 16147259 DuisburgGermany

General contractorPhase I:StrabagHoch- und Ingenieurbau AGHauptniederlassung BerlinBessemerstrasse 42b12103 BerlinGermany

Phase II:Ed. Züblin AG Albstadtweg 3 70567 StuttgartGermany

Leasing brokerECE Projektmanagement GmbH & Co. KGHeegbarg 3022391 HamburgGermany

Video http://uli.org/featured-videos

IntervieweesBurkhard Hoffmann, managing director, ECE Development & Consulting GmbH & Co. KGManfred Schomers, architect, as2architekturHans-Dieter Bogutzki, senior leasing manager, ECE Projektmanagement GmbH & Co. KGNadine Strauss, centre manager, Altmarkt- Galerie, ECE Projektmanagement GmbH &

Co. KG

Development timeline

Planning started 1990

Urban design competition 1993

Site purchased 1997

Construction started 1998

Phase I completed September 2002

Phase II site purchased 2008–2009

Phase II construction started 2009

Phase II completed March 2011

Gross leasable area

Use GLA

Office 7,300 sq m (78,577 sq ft)

Retail 64,400 sq m (693,200 sq ft)

Hotel 5,300 sq m (57,049 sq ft)

Parking* —

Total GLA 77,000 sq m (828,821 sq ft)

*500 underground spaces.

Land use plan

Use Site area Percentage of site

Buildings approx. 80

Landscaping/open space approx. 20

Total 26,150 sq m (281,500 sq ft) 100

Retail information

Retail net rentable area 64,400 sq m (693,200 sq ft)

Number of shops 200

Retail GLA occupied 100%

Key retail tenants Retail type

Apple Consumer electronics

Hollister Clothing

Saturn Consumer electronics

H & M Clothing

SinnLeffers Clothing

continued


PROJECT INFORMATION

Key retail tenants Retail type

SportScheck Sports

Zara Clothing

New Yorker Clothing

Rewe Groceries

Hugo Boss Clothing

Gant Clothing

Marc Cain Clothing

Tommy Hilfiger Clothing

Guess Clothing

Deichmann Shoes

Hugendubel Books

Aldi Food

Kreutzkamm Gastronomy

Viba Food

Halloren Food

Hotel information

Name ibis budget Dresden City

Number of rooms 203

Office information

Office net rentable area 7,300 sq m (78,577 sq ft)

Number of tenants 16

Major office tenants

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Humanplasma

Heinle, Wischer und Partner

Investment volumes

First phase approx. €190 million (US$201.9 million)

Second phase approx. €165 million (US$175.3 million)

Equity financing sources

Deutsche EuroShop

TLG Treuhand Liegenschaftsgesellschaft

ECE/Otto Family


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