Sonae Sierra, the international shopping and leisure center specialist, and its partner, Foncière Euris, just announced the tenants for Loop5, a shopping and leisure center currently under development in Weiterstadt. The center - an investment of 265 million - is expected to open in autumn 2009.
With 56,500 m² of gross lettable area (GLA) and 177 shops Loop5 has already reserved shops in the area of fashion & textiles: both Peek & Cloppenburg, with approximately 4,500 m², C&A, with around 3,500 m², as well as H&M with 2.400 m². Further well-known fashion-sector tenants include ZAPATA with a multi-brand concept (980 m²), Esprit, s. Oliver, New Yorker and Bestseller. The footwear specialist Dielmann from Darmstadt (1,400 m²) will be providing a diverse and attractive selection of shoe fashions along with DEICHMANN and ROLAND. In the electronics Saturn will be offering a wide assortment with a store covering around 4,500 m².
Loop5 has also been able to secure ALDI SÜD as a tenant in the groceries sector.
A dm-drogerie markt drugstore will be opening with a total space of more than 600 m², and INTERSPORT, with around 1,400 m², will be supplying specialist sports goods.
The new center will also be offering a 2,000 m², Thalia bookstore along with a Douglas perfumery (440 m²). Further high-end chains include Tommy Hilfiger, Marc O'Polo, GERRY WEBER, BiBA, G-STAR, Swarovski, Fossil and GUESS.
With around 17 restaurants and coffee-shops, the Food Court will be providing visitors to the center with a wide array of food, including fish specialist NORDSEE, a HOTALO Asia Fast Food restaurant, the Italian full-service restaurants Leonardo and Pizza Point. Hikari will present a new teppanyaki concept as well as Coa, a high-end Asian cuisine restaurant from Frankfurt.
Furthermore, Loop5 will also be offering space for many local and regional retailers, such as the jewellers Techel from Darmstadt, the children's and toy store Faix & Söhne from Darmstadt, the bakery Bormuth and the butcher Hamm from Griesheim. The Vereinigte Volksbank Weiterstadt will operate a finance center (app. 300 m²) offering the whole range of financial services. Currently, intensive discussions are still being held with numerous other regional potential tenants.
"We are very satisfied with the excellent number of tenants who have reserved shops one year before we even open," stated Carolina Veith, Sonae Sierra's Letting Manager in Germany. "Many more retailers are inquiring about Loop5 - which shows that we can already view the center as a success. It is particularly important that we find the perfect mix of tenants that fulfils all the demands for a comprehensive range of quality goods and services. For this reason, we are being extremely careful in our selection".
Dirk Nadig, the Loop5 Development Manager at Sonae Sierra, explained: "Loop5 will be the central shopping and leisure destination for more than 1 million inhabitants within the catchment area. The center's central motto is aviation, which is reflected in the design and architecture where visitors are guided through the "contemporary aviation" and "flight pioneers" areas, which are interlinked by a "jet age" mall creating a unique ambience combining shopping, relaxation and entertainment".
Loop5 is located directly off the A5 Autobahn between Frankfurt, Darmstadt and Wiesbaden and has more than 3,000 parking spaces directly linked to the center.
A Green Shopping Center
As in the case of all Sonae Sierra shopping centers, Loop5 is being constructed in line with the Environmental Management System guidelines and will be certified in accordance with the ISO 14001 environmental standard even during the construction phase. The object of the Green Center concept is to minimise the environmental impact of building and operating new shopping centers. As part of its corporate responsibility, Sonae Sierra focuses on the economic development taking in to account its environmental and social responsibilities to secure sustainable company growth. In October 2008, Son
