Kronenberg Center – a striking example of modern urban architecture

The newly-built Kronenberg Center in the Essen district Altendorf celebrates its opening after an only 17-month construction period. In the Center,
which is one of only few new constructions in the retail park sector, Germany's most modern Real hypermarket is opening its doors. Other tenants are denn’s Biomarkt, dm-drogerie markt, Ernsting’s family, Jeans Fritz, Takko, Deichmann, MyShoes, the renovation specialty store Tedox, the garden center Seibert, as well as many service providers and restaurants.
Owner of the about 30,000 m² sized retail property is the Fachmarktzentrum Essen GmbH & Co. KG, a company of the LHI Group from Pullach, near Munich. Project development and construction management was done by METRO PROPERTIES; the MEC METRO-ECE Centermanagement GmbH &
Co. KG was responsible for the leasing and center management. The participants have invested 60 million euros in the new location in Essen and have created over 300 jobs.

Revitalising urban area in harmony with the environment
Looking like a big wave, the Kronenberg Center covers the premises of a former industry sector. The big green roof serves the climatisation and provides natural insulation, which also helps keep heating costs low. "While planning, we were focused on revitalising urban area with environmentally friendly construction trends and with modern architecture“, says Dr Michael Hartung, Regional Director Germany of METRO PROPERTIES. The specialty stores in the Kronenberg Center have separate exterior entrances. "Customers appreciate shorter distances and spending less time while shopping for supplies", explains Christian Schröder, COO of MEC METRO-ECE Centermanagement GmbH.

Most modern Real hypermarket in Germany
At the centre of the opening, it is not only the curiosity of what the interior of the "white wave" is like, but even more so what the about 9,000 m² sized Real hypermarket looks like. The hypermarket, which replaces the present location on the Husmannshofstraße, is the new flagship of the Real hypermarkets in Germany. The market in Essen therefore serves as a model for the future development of the Real concept. Real is presenting both unique opening offers and a brand new market concept, which is specifically tailored to the requirements of customers in the surrounding area. The main focus is on large product variety, especially with being connected to the region with fresh produce from local and regional suppliers.

Big opening ceremony with offers and competitions
The Kronenberg Center will be appropriately celebrated between 24-27 October. Some tenants are offering up to 20% price reduction on their entire stock. Children can put on face paint, have a balloon animal made, or try the sweet candyfloss. The many competitions offer lucky winners an E-Bike, a washing machine, a 42" Smart TV, as well as many shopping vouchers, as prizes.

Rarity in Germany: Newly-built retail parks
Newly-built retail parks have become rare in the saturated German market. When the ThyssenKrupp AG offered the 63,000 m² sized property in the area of the so-called Krupp Belt for sale in 2011, property experts METRO PROPERTIES were successful in the bidding process, with their concept of a modern local supply center. "The construction of the new district quarter on the premises of the former Krupp Cast Steel Factory, the good infrastructure and the proximity to the new ThyssenKrupp headquarters were ideal conditions for a new local supply center“, says Robert Soethe from Fachmarktzentrum Essen GmbH. After extensive preparations - amongst other things an old WW2 bunker was removed - a modern retail park was constructed between May 2012 and October 2013. Covering an area of approximately five football pitches, 11,000 m³ concrete, 1,600 t steel and roughly 70 km pipes and power lines were laid, which corresponds to a distance reaching from Essen to Cologne. The Essen architects KZA Koschany + Zimmer implemented the futuristic draft from METRO PROPERTIES.