View of the „Elster Forum” in GeraPhoto: ARCADIA Investment Group

The ARCADIA Investment Group, which acquired the “Elster Forum” inner-city shopping centre with a rental area of more than 14,400 m² at Museumsplatz 2 in Gera and the associated multi-storey car park with approx. 376 parking spaces back in March 2018, together with the Ostthüringer Zeitung (OTZ) are launching a naming competition for the shopping centre.

The inner-city shopping centre, which is now a little outdated, is to be redesigned from next year and, following renovations and reopening, will once again accommodate attractive tenants, thus fully satisfying the requirements for a top location between Markt, Sorge and the Gera Arcades in future.

In addition to the comprehensive overhaul of the property, the Leipzig project developer plans repositioning the centre and building the image of the centre further. In doing so, the first step is to rename the centre to ensure the highest possible level of recognition amongst the local population.

“What could be more personal,” says Alexander Folz – Managing Partner of ARCADIA Investment GmbH, “than to let the citizens of the city rename the centre? Mayoress Dr. Viola Hahn and the Gera Municipality also support this idea of a public competition.

Interested citizens of the city are invited to think about a new name for the “Elster Forum”. These will be collected and reviewed and evaluated by a jury including the investors and the Gera Municipality. This jury will jointly select and name the winner in the last weeks of June.

The “Elster Forum” was built in 2002 and 2003 following the requirements of the retail trade at the time and is situated on a property of more than 6,250 m² in an exceptional A1 location in the inner city of Gera. It has its own car park on an adjacent property of around 2,350 m² with approx. 376 parking spaces.

Well-known tenants of the “Elster Forum” include Rossmann, Blume 2000, the shoe store Antilope, Pfennigpfeiffer and Galeria Kaufhof, which can be seen as an anchor tenant with an area of approx. 8,710 m². However, Galeria Kaufhof is leaving the center in September this year. According to Alexander Folz, this allows for a unique opportunity to rearrange and optimise the space in several areas of the centre, which as a whole will contribute to greater attractiveness for visitors.

The plans of the ARCADIA Investment Group have also been approved by Mayoress Dr. Viola Hahn who believes the commitment of the Leipzig project developer will be a further boost to the city: “I expect a positive impact and an increase in attractiveness for the city centre. The investor for the Elster Forum opens up new future prospects. Business will continue, even if Galeria Kaufhof does not extend their lease.”

ARCADIA Investment Group

ARCADIA Investment Group has focused its specialisation on the development of property used for retail and residential properties as well as car parks and underground car parks throughout the entire Germany. In addition to activities relating to its own portfolio, it has also implemented a host of projects in the framework of joint ventures – amongst others in close collaboration with numerous national and international companies. One of the company’s core business functions is also the optimisation, maintenance and expansion of the property portfolio of family businesses with the utmost care and confidentiality. ARCADIA Investment GmbH as the holding company for the group currently employs 20 people and is developing areas with a magnitude of more than 200,000 square meters. The accompanying project volume amounts to round 165 million euro.

For enquiries please contact Ralf Bettges, Press and Public Office at 0172 – 233 73 90 Further information about ARCADIA Investment Group can be found at www.arcadia-invest.de.

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