Office and logistics concepts are giving old shopping centers a new lease of life in Germany

The old single-purpose shopping center is fast becoming a mixed-use property in Germany, according to Maximilian Ludwig head of asset management retail & hotel at Real I.S.

A study by the EHI Retail Institute has shown that almost every second (46 percent) shopping center is now also an office location.

Why? Well, according to another EHI study, 43 percent of German shopping centers have experienced a decline in visitor numbers over the past two years. Another quarter reported only moderate growth of between 0 percent to 1.9 percent.

Nowhere is safe from this trend. Forum Steglitz, in the south of Berlin, is one of the oldest in Germany, having opened in 1970. It too has to fight for its visitors, since online retailing has put traditional retailing under pressure and left the center with very high space availability. In response, office space is now being built on the upper floors at Forum Steglitz, which will eventually mean that 11,200 of the location’