One-stop-shopping instead of one-shop-stopping

• FMZ Report 2021 "About tommorow - retail parks in the city of the future"

• City districts and the surrounding area are gaining in importance / the more rural areas can also benefit

The importance of retail parks will increase in urban districts of large cities, in medium-sized and especially in small towns, predicts the market research GfK in the current FMZ Report 2021 "About tommorow - retail parks in the city of the future", which the MEC , Market leader for the management of retail parks in Germany, together with their partners Nuveen Real Estate, Savills Germany, Dr. Lademann & Partner as well as WISAG are issuing today in the 9th edition.

The authors agree: Sustainable overall strategies across all asset classes are required in order to develop urban and rural areas in a future-proof manner.

One consequence of the pandemic will perpetuate: the supply of important everyday products is increasingly taking place close to home due to the increasing merging of living and working. In the meantime, fewer and fewer people are commuting to (big) cities. As a result, the city district and the surrounding area are becoming increasingly important. The more rural areas can also benefit from this. An example: 700,000 residents turned their backs on London during the pandemic.

"Outside of the densely populated urban quarters, however, the car remains indispensable for local supply," says Maria Grubmüller, Senior Associate Real Estate at Nuveen Real Estate, describing the development. For this reason, locations with generous parking spaces are preferred, which should be located not far from the city limits and, for example, enable shopping on the way to and from work. “In future, consumers will appreciate sustainable one-stop shopping even more,” says Grubmüller.

Specialist market-oriented retail locations with a strong local supply character are much stronger, more crisis-proof and better anchored in the market than just a few years ago. Nevertheless, owners and operators should not only concentrate their strategies on the property, but increasingly focus on the specific needs of the local location, predicts Christian Schröder, COO of MEC. “Today, traditional commercial functions are increasingly being expanded to include social functions and create important meeting places for people. Retail locations are an ideal platform for this.” In addition, consumers wanted to enjoy sustainable consumption. In return, they expected dealers and properties to promote the topic of sustainability and make it tangible, says Schröder.

Jörg Krechky, Head of Retail Investment Germany at Savills Deutschland, supports this statement: “Specialist retail centers are popular with investors. Almost a quarter of the total transaction volume with retail properties in Germany was recently accounted for bySpecialist retail centers. ”For it to stay that way, they have to be open to change and change. Jörg Krechky: "We expect specialist market centers that can no longer be completely filled with retail space, but which, if the quality of the location is appropriate, have repositioning opportunities in the direction of mixed use with retail, logistics and commercial space."

Effective cooperation between all actors is crucial for the success of change. In addition to real estate investors and the operators of retail parks, this team includes, above all, politics and public administration, says Uwe Seidel, managing director of the management consultancy Dr. Lademann und Partner, sure: "Only a clear streamlining of the regulations and laws in German building planning law as well as an acceleration program for public procedures will help to convert the retail parks in a way that is appropriate for the consumer and location and make them future-proof."

Future-proof retail parks - a prerequisite for this is that the properties are operated in a climate-neutral manner. And it's not just the environment that benefits. “In retail parks with a holistic concept for climate neutrality, the attractiveness of the existing buildings can be maintained and their value increased. Because: Sustainability is the new currency on the real estate and financial market, ”says Joaquin Jimenez Zabala. Head of Sales & Strategy Retail Real Estate / Retail Real Estate at facility service provider WISAG, on "ÜberMorgen - Retail parks in the city of the future ”., Head of Sales & Strategy Retail Real Estate/Handelsimmobilien beim Facility-Service-Dienstleister WISAG, auf „ÜberMorgen – Fachmarktzentren in der Stadt der Zukunft“.

The current edition can be downloaded free of charge from www.mec-cm.com zum kostenlosen Download bereit.