With last week’s opening of the Astor Film Lounge, ECE and DWS have completed the modernisation of MyZeil shopping centre in Frankfurt.
The opening of this premium cinema is the last step in the transformation of the shopping centre’s fourth floor into the FOODTOPIA food and entertainment floor
With an extensive refurbishment and an investment totaling more than €100 million, MyZeil has been redesigned over the past 18 months as a modern shopping, lifestyle and entertainment complex. As a result, it has been repositioned for the future.
A significant element of this repositioning is the now completed transformation of the fourth floor into the FOODTOPIA food and entertainment floor, where initial operators have already been open since April 11, 2019.
The FOODTOPIA concept, which was developed and implemented by shopping centre specialist ECE, offers a mix of contemporary food options, comprehensive entertainment offerings, including a new premium cinema and large event space, as well as a unique architectural ambiance, with the ‘lively atmosphere of a market hall’ and exterior terraces offering views of the skyline.
“The repositioned MyZeil is a true highlight for Frankfurt and a successful example of how to combine shopping, entertainment, and dining offerings,” said Joanna Fisher, ECE Managing Director for Centre Management on the occasion of the opening. “With this project we are showing what the shopping experience of the future can look like.”
“As a company based in Frankfurt, we are especially pleased that we saw the potential of the entire Palais Quartier complex, including MyZeil shopping centre, when we acquired it in 2014, and that, working together, we have now realized this potential,” saif Markus Wickenträger, Managing Director and Head of Institutional Real Estate Funds at DWS. “This is what a modern, experience-oriented shopping centre looks like.”
RPA Perspective The premium ASTOR Film Lounge represents another highlight of FOODTOPIA, one that will provide more foot traffic as well as further entertainment options. The ASTOR Film Lounge at MyZeil has five theatres with a total of more than 400 seats and offers a select cinema program with high-quality service and special extras like in-seat service, coat check and comfortable leather chairs.
“We are pleased that the ASTOR Film Lounge is part of the exciting overall FOODTOPIA concept. This is the first time we have opened a premium cinema in a shopping centre. We are confident that our audience will appreciate the overall experience presented by the combination of shopping, dining options and entertainment,” said Hans-Joachim Flebbe, owner and Managing Director of the ASTOR Film Lounge.
The concept has been a success since the partial opening of FOODTOPIA in April with foot traffic on the fourth floor increasing substantially in the first few months since the opening. Around a third of the nearly 50,000 people who come to MyZeil every day pay a visit to the shopping centre’s upper level, which was previously rarely busy. The additional foot traffic on the upper floors was one of the main goals of the renovation and the implementation of the FOODTOPIA concept.
For the second phase of the modernisation project ECE carried out an extensive redesign of the shopping levels, improved the service offerings in the centre and added more attractive brands to the tenant mix, including new Abercrombie & Fitch, Daniel Wellington, Mister Spex and North Face shops. Furthermore, many tenants (such as Gant, Hollister, Pandora, etc) have responded to the new market conditions and adapted their concepts in line with experience- and event-focused shopping.
Anchor tenant Saturn has expanded as part of the renovation of the third floor in order to increase its product range and offer an improved shopping experience.
MyZeil is one of the premium properties managed by ECE and is part of the DWS fund portfolio. With its approximately 100 shops and retail space of around 44,000 sq m the urban shopping centre attracts about 15 million visitors each year.
Its curved glass roof and the longest interior escalator in Europe measuring 42 metres are the shopping centre’s architectural highlights. ECE rents out and operates MyZeil, most of which is held through DWS funds for institutional investors. In addition to MyZeil shopping centre, the building complex also includes the Nextower office tower, the Hotel Jumeirah, the Palais Thurn and Taxis and an underground parking garage with about 1,400 spaces.
