Shopping centers as an investment
We create places of experience with investment value
Would you like to invest in shopping centers or further develop your retail property and leverage previously hidden potential? Then you've come to the right place! As an operator and investor, we have been creating places of experience with growth potential for more than 60 years.
Stability
Professionally managed shopping centers offer stable long-term yield opportunities as investment properties.
Cash flow
We create permanently attractive places of experience with a sustainable cash flow.
Security
Securing values, increasing values: We steer the properties entrusted to us into a secure future.
Performance in operation and further development
Operational excellence on site
We offer efficient management, strong leasing and clear processes from a single source - ensuring the optimal operation and further development of shopping centers.
Rental of store and restaurant space
We implement a location-specific leasing concept for each center. In addition, our experts advise on the technical expansion of store or catering areas.
Creative Design
Our architecture and design experts transform ideas into contemporary, effective concepts. From master planning to award-winning interior design: we solve every design task.
Project management & technical development
We implement complex projects holistically and with innovative technical solutions - efficiently, sustainably and on schedule.
ESG product catalog
We develop a customized ESG strategy with tailored measures for each asset. We offer a wide range of ESG products for this purpose.
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Facility Management & Technical ESG
We ensure smooth processes - from cleaning and security to transparent reporting.
Intelligent energy purchasing management ensures optimum costs and sustainable efficiency.
Research & Marketing
We are consistently developing our digital consumer ecosystem, creating the basis for data-based marketing and well-founded research approaches
sound research approaches.
Parking & Mobility
We take on the customer-oriented overall management of parking garage properties and implement innovative solutions in the areas of parking and mobility.
Insurance solutions
We offer tailor-made, legally compliant protection for every type of property.
Strong conditions and full support in the event of a claim included.
Debt Advisory
We support owners with sound advice and tailor-made financing solutions.
Thanks to our international network, we provide financing for every asset class.
3 questions for Alexander Otto, CEO ECE Group and investor
What makes shopping centers interesting?
What makes shopping centers interesting for investors?
We are currently operating at a historically low valuation level. This opens up great opportunities. This is because shopping centers offer extremely well diversified cash flows and therefore stable distribution yields due to their diverse tenant and sector structure.
What potential for value appreciation does shopping center real estate offer?
Compared to other real estate classes, shopping centers offer more opportunities for active value appreciation. For example, through the tenant mix, the cost structures or the flexibility within the property, which makes it possible to expand or reduce the space as required.
How do shopping centers perform in times of crisis?
In the times of crisis in recent years, shopping centers have once again proven to be very resilient. As an asset class, they offer triple protection against inflation - firstly through the property, i.e. the tangible asset of land. Secondly, via the indexed tenancy agreements and thirdly, via the turnover rents. This means that the assets remain stable in value even in the event of high inflation.
200 shopping centers in the portfolio
More than 18,000 rental partners
7 million m² rentable space
Assets worth € 30 billion under management
Successful shopping partnerships
The feedback from our investors shows this: We successfully develop shopping centers together and act with great trust and respect.
"As a company based in Frankfurt, we are particularly pleased that we saw the potential of the entire Palais Quartier complex, including the MyZeil shopping center, when we acquired it in 2014 and have now realized it together with ECE. This is what modern, experience-oriented shopping centers look like."
Markus Wickenträger, Managing Director DWS
"Union Investment and ECE can look back on more than 15 years of partnership in the management of shopping centers. ECE currently manages a portfolio of seven assets with a volume of around €1.5 billion for Union Investment. Even in challenging times, the partnership with ECE has proven to be reliable and solid. A good basis for future cooperation."
Norman Naehrig, Senior Asset Manager Union Investment Real Estate
"Since our appointment as Center Manager for the Königsbau-Passagen in Stuttgart in 2011, we have built up an excellent and long-term relationship with ECE. Together, we have successfully developed and implemented a comprehensive strategy to significantly increase annual rents and achieve full occupancy. In particular, ECE has succeeded in attracting a large number of national and international premium tenants, enabling us to turn the center into one of the top shopping addresses in Baden-Württemberg."
Nick Halpin, Director, Head of Finance EvansRandall Investor
"Customers' expectations of shopping centers are increasing. At the same time, however, it is particularly difficult for existing malls to implement and keep up with complex conversions, technical innovations and the digitalization trend. At the pep shopping center in Munich-Neuperlach, we took the opportunity together with ECE to expand the center with a new building - and it paid off: on average, footfall and length of stay are now 20% higher than before the repositioning and sales have also increased by almost 10%. I have always experienced the cooperation with ECE as a partnership and on an equal footing, and the on-site support was excellent."
Niklas Baldauf, Portfolio Manager Nuveen Real Estate
Value add
We find the right solution for every center
We don't just manage your property - we develop it further. We use our expertise to help you leverage hidden potential. From realigning the letting and targeted rebranding to refurbishments - we will work with you to find the right solution for your shopping center.
Gastro hotspot with the best prospects
Main-Taunus-Center
Food garden instead of department store: In place of the demolished Karstadt building, the Main-Taunus-Zentrum in Sulzbach near Frankfurt am Main, one of the largest and highest-turnover shopping centers in Germany, has gained another attraction. With the new Food Garden, a new, lively and urban center with a high-quality, varied gastronomy and food offer has been created in the middle of the open-air center, which was designed on top, covering around 7,000 m².
Shopping & Entertainment
Rhein-Neckar-Zentrum Viernheim
With the Food & Fun Park @ RNZ, a versatile leisure and gastronomy location has been created at Rhein-Neckar-Zentrum Viernheim, which appeals to a wide audience with strong concepts such as indoor skydiving, L'Osteria, JUMP House and soon Gate 99. Complemented by B.O.C. and the neighboring Kinopolis, the area forms an attractive mix of entertainment, sport and enjoyment. The close cooperation with Deutsche EuroShop AG has created a location that attracts new target groups, increases the length of stay and strengthens the entire center in the long term.
Shopping & Living
Non-retail in the Zwickau Arcades
Creating new reasons to visit, tapping into new target groups and thus achieving a win-win situation for investors, new and existing tenants alike - this is the goal ECE is pursuing with the establishment of location-appropriate non-retail offerings. In the Zwickau-Arkaden, ECE has created serviced apartments with limehome, the leading provider of digitalized design apartments in Europe, in former office space on the second and third floors of an adjacent building.
Subsequent occupancy of large retail spaces
Re-occupancy of Galeria Karstadt in the Rathaus-Center Dessau
The former Karstadt space in the Rathaus-Center in Dessau has been occupied by new tenants: MediaMarkt and the successful Swedish concept Rusta. With the successful re-letting of almost 6,000 m², the interdisciplinary team of the ECE Group, consisting of the center team on site, colleagues from Asset Management and Leasing as well as experts from Architecture & Construction, has reached a significant milestone in the revitalization of the former Karstadt space.
Have we aroused your interest?