Claude Dion (Senior Vice President, Europe, Ivanhoe Cambridge), Hans-Dietrich Gröhler (2nd Major of the district of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf), Matthias Böning (Executive Vice President, Project Management & CEO, mfi AG) and Heiner Hutmacher (Manager, Wilmersdorfer Arcaden).
Berlin, Germany – Wilmersdorfer Arcaden, a Berlin shopping centre co-owned by Ivanhoe Cambridge (92.5%) and German-based Management für Immobilien AG (mfi AG), celebrated its grand opening yesterday. Together, the co-owners have invested nearly 200 million Euros in this regional shopping centre, for which mfi AG has acted as the developer and manager on behalf of the joint venture.
“Wilmersdorfer Arcaden is a prime property that enhances and broadens our portfolio of shopping centres in Europe. In keeping with our commitment to geographic diversification as outlined in our strategic plan, we are stepping up our presence in Germany, a country with a thriving real estate market,” said René Tremblay, President and Chief Executive Officer of Ivanhoe Cambridge. “We are currently exploring more opportunities.”
During the grand opening festivities, Claude Dion, Senior Vice President, Europe, Ivanhoe Cambridge, thanked mfi AG and the professionals involved in the centre’s construction as well as municipal authorities for their contribution to this large-scale undertaking. Mr. Dion also expressed his gratitude to Ivanhoe Cambridge’s teams in Europe, who shared their expertise and know-how with their mfi AG counterparts to ensure the success of the Company’s first investment in Berlin.
Modern facilities and an appealing retail mix
Strategically located along Berlin’s leading pedestrian thoroughfare in a historic part of the city, Wilmersdorfer Arcaden has a GLA of 441,330 square feet (41,000 m2)over five levels and is home to some 120 retailers. Amongst its anchors, the centre houses H&M, Kaiser’s, New Yorker, MediMax, Plus Warenhandels, Spiele Max and Sportpoint. Its innovative, modern architectural design and elegance make it a distinctive shopping and entertainment venue.
The centre’s diverse retail mix includes a number of small and medium-sized stores, a hypermarket, a grocery store, several electronics and sporting goods stores and a wide range of fashion retailers, which is sure to please Berlin’s fashion-conscious and trend-savvy shoppers. The centre offers an upper-level parkade for nearly 300 vehicles, along with office space, fitness facilities, medical offices and apartments.
Ivanhoe Cambridge’s other holdings in Germany include majority interests in Leipzig’s Paunsdorf Center Arcaden (the largest shopping centre in Germany), Zwickau’s Zwickau Arcaden and Düsseldorf Arcaden, a project currently under development in Düsseldorf. In all three cases, mfi AG is the property developer and manager on behalf of the joint venture.
About Ivanhoe Cambridge
Ivanhoe Cambridge is a pre-eminent Canadian-based global property owner, manager, developer and investor, focusing on high-quality shopping centres located in urban areas. Beyond its strong Canada-wide presence, the Company is also active in the United States, Brazil and Europe, where it owns a number of properties either by itself or through joint ventures with prominent real estate partners. Abroad, Ivanhoe Cambridge also holds an interest in several shopping centre development and management companies and maintains offices in Europe and Asia.Its real estate portfolio consists of almost 46 million square feet of retail space and includes some 70 regional and super-regional shopping centres. As at December 31, 2006, the market value of Ivanhoe Cambridge’s assets reached CAD $12.2 billion.
Headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, Ivanhoe Cambridge is a principal real estate subsidiary of the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, one of the largest institutional fund managers in Canada. Amongst its shareholders, the Company also counts four prominent Canadian pension funds.
About Management für Immobilien AG
Management für Immobilien AG, Essen, has made a name for itself both nationally and internationally as a developer and manager of downtown shopping arcades. It offers a full range of real estate project development services, including general planning, realization, leasing and centre management and, most recently, asset management.
mfi AG is the co-owner of all the shopping centres it has developed and it manages them to ensure that the properties maintain and increase their value. Since it was founded in 1987, mfi has developed and managed roughly 1.5 million square metres of commercial and retail space. An additional 450,000 square metres is currently in the planning or construction stage. The project volume of the properties launched on the market and managed in the long term by mfi amounts to more than 3 billion Euros.