Owners of the shopping center Limbecker Platz in Essen, Germany have almost completely re-leased approximately 19,000 sq m of space vacated by the insolvent department store chain Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof in early 2024.
The repositioning was carried out by Union Investment and ECE Marketplaces, which jointly invested around €30 million to restructure the space. Rather than seeking a single replacement tenant, the former department store area was divided into five independent retail units.
Just 18 months later, four of the five newly created units have already been leased, with around half of the total space already reopened.
Evolution of the Department Store Concept
Among the new tenants is Peek & Cloppenburg Düsseldorf, which opened a 6,400 sq m store across two floors using its latest store concept. Sporting goods retailer Intersport Voswinkel secured approximately 2,000 sq m under a ten-year lease, while discount grocer Netto Marken-Discount and Swedish fashion retailer Lager 157 have also moved into the former Galeria space.
According to Union Investment, discussions are already underway for the remaining unit, with potential tenants from the fashion and healthcare sectors.
Norman Naehrig, Senior Asset Manager at Union Investment, emphasized the significance of the project:
“Together with ECE, we have thus restructured and almost fully leased approximately 19,000 m² of inner-city retail space at a time when many market participants have declared brick-and-mortar retail dead.”
The case highlights a broader trend emerging across Europe following the decline of large department stores. Rather than replacing a single anchor tenant, owners are increasingly subdividing former department store space into multiple units that combine fashion, convenience retail, services, and leisure uses.
With more than 200 stores, Limbecker Platz remains one of Germany’s largest city-center shopping centers and provides a notable example of how former department store vacancies can be transformed into a more diversified and potentially more resilient retail mix.
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