The big day has arrived for the new city center attraction in Koblenz: at 8 a.m. on Wednesday (September 26, 2012), the new Forum Mittelrhein on the Zentralplatz square with around 80 shops, restaurants, cafés and service outlets on three sales levels will open its doors after a construction phase lasting over two years.
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The architectural concept for the Forum Mittelrhein is inspired by regional themes.
The shopping center houses a sales area of around 20,000 m² as well as parking space for some 750 cars. The partners in this 145 million project are ECE, STRABAG Real Estate and RREEF Investment GmbH.
The long-term management of the center, which will provide new jobs for around 600 people, is in the hands of ECE. The Forum Mittelrhein has already been awarded the 'golden preliminary certificate' of the German Sustainable Building Association (DGNB) in recognition of its ecological and energy-efficient overall concept.
A civic cultural building is being built next to the shopping center on the Zentralplatz square: the "Forum Confluentes" with a floor area of approx. 12,000 m² which will house, among other things, the Middle Rhine Museum, the civic library and a tourist center for the Middle Rhine Valley world heritage site. The Forum Confluentes is scheduled to open in the spring of 2013. The new complex of tw buildings is rounded off by a piazza measuring around 6,000 m² between the shopping center and the cultural building.
The plans for the Forum Mittelrhein were drawn up by Benthem Crouwel Architects (Amsterdam/Aachen), who won an architectural competition for the project in 2008. Responsibility for construction work was entrusted to Ed. Züblin AG acting as general contractor.
Koblenz Lord Mayor Prof. Dr. Joachim Hofmann-Göttig is really looking forward to the opening of the Forum Mittelrhein: "In particular the interplay of culture, education, tourism and retailing creates wide-ranging benefits for the people of Koblenz as well as for the entire region. All the shops and civic facilities stand to profit from rising customer footfall and visitor numbers."
ECE CEO Alexander Otto: "The Forum Mittelrhein sets new urban planning and architectural benchmarks, and visitors can look forward to a new and extremely appealing focal point at the heart of Koblenz city center."
Dr. Georg Allendorf, Head of RREEF Germany: "The Forum Mittelrhein is an ideal addition to the portfolio of the grundbesitz europa open-end real estate fund."
Dr. Thomas Birtel, member of the Management Board of STRABAG SE: "We are proud of what we have achieved with all those involved in the project and we are firmly convinced that this new landmark in the city centre will also be popular with the people of Koblenz."
The architectural concept for the Forum Mittelrhein is inspired by regional themes such as wine-growing and volcanism. The outer facade of the upper levels of the Forum Mittelrhein features a stylized vine leaf design made up of 2,864 aluminum panels of different three shades of green. This design is a one-of-a-kind worldwide and was developed and pr
