ECE's EUR 300m Thier-Galerie opens its doors

ECE's Thier-Galerie shopping centre in Dortmund, Germany, is opening its doors on Thursday after two years of construction work.

The four-storey scheme - representing an investment of EUR 300 mln - includes around 160 specialist stores, restaurants, cafés, and service businesses over a retail area of 33,000 m2, in addition to 5,000 m² of offices accommodation, a fitness centre and 730 parking spaces.

The German retail specialist funded construction with a EUR 180 mln loan provided by DG Hyp/Dortmunder Volksbank as joint mandated lead arrangers as well as by Sparkasse Dortmund and Bochum. Equity partners are Hamburg Trust, which holds a majority share (56%), ECE/Otto Group (25%) as well as various private investors (19%). ECE is retaining the long-term management of the mall.

Hamburg Trust Grundvermögen und Anlage is a specialist for real estate investments and offers closed real estate funds for investors. Hamburg Trust invested in Thier-Galerie through the launch of two closed real estate funds 'shopping edition 2' and 'shopping edition 2.2'. More than 3,400 investors have acquired an interest in the mall via these two funds.