Gropius Passagen successfully modernised

From now on, Berlin’s biggest shopping center attracts visitors with urban flair, open design and an even stronger focus on fashion and lifestyle. Since autumn 2014 the owners TH Real Estate and Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield invested around 125 million Euro into the modernization of Gropius Passagen. Now it is finished: on 22 November 2018, Berlin’s biggest shopping center celebrates the successful completion of the third and last renovation phase. With a high quality of stay and an attractive mix of national and international top brands as well as new, creative food concepts, the center positions itself as urban meeting place in the south of Berlin. Correspondingly, Gropius Passagen presents itself with a new brand identity, including a new logo.

With around 150 shops on circa 90,000 square metres, 2,000 jobs in the center and about 10 million visitors annually, Gropius Passagen is one of the biggest shopping centers in Germany. In October 2018, one of the most modern Karstadt stores of Germany opened in the center. Other anchor tenants are Peek & Cloppenburg, Media Markt, C&A, H&M, Aldi Nord, Kaufland, Rossmann and Müller. Since October 2017 for instance Hugendubel, Snipes, Foot Locker and Accessorize opened new stores. In the first two phases of the modernization, the Fashion Mall has already been expanded and a new sales area with 30 tenants in the northern part of the center has been opened. With 2,000 parking spaces as well as a highly frequented connection to the public transport, Gropius Passagen are optimally embedded in the Berlin infrastructure.

“We are very happy that with the revitalization, we once more raised Gropius Passagen to a new level in terms of attractiveness and quality of stay. With this, we are going to expand the center’s successful market position in the Berlin city area even more”, says Andreas Hohlmann, Managing Director Germany at Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield.

Innovative design and creative food plaza
The overall goal of the final modernization phase was to align Gropius Passagen even stronger with the areas fasion and lifestyle, beyond the center’s role as local supplier. The main focus was on the areas design, marketing and tenant mix.

With its innovative interior design, the center has now an open, urban flair and invites its visitors to even longer stays. One highlight is the newly designed atrium with a stimulating light concept. Furthermore, visitors can also look forward to a finely tuned mix of numerous local gastronomy concepts as well as national and international food vendors in the modernized food plaza on the first floor. Right in time for the opening, Gropius Passagen additionally celebrate the premiere of the new logo that accompanies the center’s overall revised brand presence.

Stephan Austrup, Head of Retail, Germany, at TH Real Estate is equally convinced of the future positioning: “With the comprehensive modernization we have set the course of Gropius Passagen for a successful future. In this way, we have also taken into account the changing demands of our customers and tenants.”

New shopping highlights: Primark is opening in 2019
The new positioning of Gropius Passagen is also reflected in the gradually refined tenant mix. Visitors can expect the next highlight in 2019: another international top brand is opening in the center – Primark, offering something for everyone with a wide selection of clothing, footwear and accessories across womenswear, menswear and childrenswear. Primark has also grown its offer on fashion for the home, beauty and skincare, and its range of gifts, all of which will be available over three floors.

“We are very happy to welcome Primark to Gropius Passagen – another exciting tenant that will noticeably extend the center’s variety even more”, says Andreas Hohlmann, Managing Director Germany of Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield. “With the substantial orientation towards the areas lifestyle and fashion, we directly address the urban and experience-oriented public. The first Primark store in the southeast of Berlin fits perfectly to our long-term strategic concept for Gropius Passagen.”

In the course of next year, further innovations will follow and raise the attractiveness of Gropius Passagen as shopping and leisure destination. Thus, in summer 2019, Decathlon will open a new store on around 1,600 square metres in the southern part of the mall.

UCI multiplex cinema remodels foyer and cinema halls
The profile as entertainment and leisure destination also will be sharpened by the modernization of the multiplex cinema. Operator UCI already started with the construction works and plans to finish them by the beginning of 2019. The cinemagoers will then find a remodeled foyer as well as a revised design in the cinema halls.

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