Sonae Sierra and Foncière Euris, the owners and developers of Alexa, presented to the public their concept as well as the first tenants for the shopping and leisure centre on the Alexanderplatz in Berlin. Alexa, a themed shopping and leisure centre, has a Gross lettable Area (GLA) of 54,000 m², of which 43,000 m² will be retail, 2,000 m² food and beverages, and 9,000 m² leisure and entertainment. The project is planned to have 180 shop units including 17 restaurants, and 1,600 parking spaces.
With the opening scheduled for spring 2007 the centre will create 1,000 jobs. The first national and international companies have already committed themselves to participate. They include Media-Saturn-Holding, Rossmann, Edeka - Reichelt, Douglas Holding with Douglas and Thalia.de, Zara and Intersport.
We are pleased that Alexa will help to reinvigorate the area around the Alexanderplatz, said Álvaro Portela, CEO of Sonae Sierra. Alexa will act as an urban anchor of the Alexanderplatz supporting all the developments growth that are planned for this area, said Pierre Féraud, Chairman of the executive board of Foncière Euris. The centre concept and design is a tribute to the metropolis Berlin and the Alexanderplatz with is reminiscent of the Art Deco style and harks back to the so-called Golden Years, when Berlin was considered to be the European cultural metropolis on a par with Paris and London. It was a boom time for coffee shops, variety shows, cabarets and cinemas. Alexa incorporates these
leisure elements, dedicating each of them its own area: Metropolis, Dance, Music, Light, Food Court. The centre harnesses these elements to revive the tradition of the Alexanderplatz and the life-style of yesteryear and reinterpret them in a contemporary form: Our design offers an exceptional setting for a personal leisure experience - unique, international,cosmopolitan, said Sonae Sierra director and architect, José Quintela.
Sonae Sierra will be responsible for managing the completed shopping and retail centre, with its excellent transport links. Alexa is directly connected to Grunerstrasse, one of Berlins main arterial roads and only a few minutes away from Alexanderplatz, Berlins busiest city centre commuter railway station as well as the underground and rapid-transit railway station Jannowitzbrücke.
Investing in accessibility, safety and environmental quality
As in all the shopping and leisure centres run by Sonae Sierra, Alexa will fully comply with the strictest and most demanding quality standards that the Company implements in all its enterprises, especially with regard to comfort, security and environmental protection.
Therefore, the new centre will be equipped with the most advanced
systems in areas such as sorting and treatment of waste, and monitoring of the water and air quality.
Source: Sonae Sierra
