Real estate through the ages

Before any new development, we should ask ourselves how we can treat existing structures. Especially when dealing with resources, we have to think anew. The question of the continued use of existing resources should always come first; in the best case, even a historic structure is preserved. Increasingly, retail tenants on the second floor and above are unable to pay the rents required to achieve the corresponding expected return on the entire property. As a result - and not just since COVID-19 - rental space on upper floors is becoming increasingly unpopular with retailers. Inner-city existing buildings are therefore increasingly being converted, and vacant retail space on the upper floors is being converted into office space, such as the WBRE office space in Hamburg and Berlin, or even into hotel rooms, as with the new Motel One in Vienna. For new buildings within the centers, it is important to create flexible structures with foresight in order to be able to react more easily to future changes in users.