Crisis offers chance for renaissance of inner cities, says ECE

Shopping malls can support the renaissance of urban city centres, according to Alexander Otto, CEO of German retail developer ECE. Speaking at the annual conference of the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) in Barcelona, Otto said the financial crisis has put the uncontrolled expansion of non-integrated greenfield shopping centres on hold for the time being while many speculative construction projects in European cities have collapsed.

'The crisis is a chance for cities and developers,' he said. 'It gives the industry time to develop sustainable concepts for prime inner-city locations that also bring the greatest benefit to the cities themselves. With land prices falling, attractive city centre sites will once again become available for modern retail projects in many countries.'

Pointing to Germany as an example of how projects of this type have already been successful, Otto said there were still many opportunities in the Central and Eastern European markets. 'Integrated shopping centres in top inner-city locations can support the current renaissance of the city centres and in return profit from this trend. In this way, we as centre developers and operators can do justice to our responsibility both vis-à-vis society and towards our stakeholders. I strongly believe that long term success for shopping centres is only possible in an equally successful urban environment.'