Alexa (shopping mall)
| Alexa | |
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| Basic data | |
| Location: | Berlin , Alexanderplatz |
| Opening: | September 12, 2007 |
| Sales area : | 43,000 m² |
| Shops: | 180 |
| Owner : |
Sonae Sierra (9%), Union Investment (91%) |
| Transport links | |
| Railway station: | Berlin Alexanderplatz train station |
| S-Bahn : |
   
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| Subway : |
  
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| Omnibus : | 248, 300 |
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| Parking spaces : | 1600 |
| Technical specifications | |
| Construction time : | 2004-2007 |
| Architect : | Oliver Roser |
| Architectural style : | Art deco |
| Building material : | concrete |
| Building-costs: | € 290 million |
Alexa is a shopping center on Berlin's Alexanderplatz . With a rental area of 56,200 m² , at the time of its opening it was the second largest shopping center in Berlin after Gropius Passagen , and according to the number of shops it is the largest. It is visited by more than one million visitors per month (1.1 million on average in the first quarter of 2009).
location
The shopping center, which takes up around 2.5 hectares , is located southeast of Alexanderplatz between Alexanderstrasse and Dircksenstrasse and the parallel tram to Voltairestrasse on the site of the former Berlin police headquarters . To the south-east of the Alexa is the luxury building Grandaire , which was built in the early 2020s .
Buildings and shops
The Alexa is a five-storey building with an underground, multi-storey underground car park with 1,600 parking spaces. In colloquial terms , the designation "banana" has become common in the urban planning phase due to the curved floor plan, and the terms "pink bunker" and "pharaoh's grave" were added because of the controversial color scheme and the few window areas.
The building complex presents itself to the outside with a largely windowless pink to red-colored facade made of colored concrete. The decor shapes are said to be reminiscent of Art Déco and include, among other things, round arches running into each other at the entrance areas and curved, gold-colored canopies. According to the planning, the color scheme should deliberately stand out from the bright colors of Alexanderplatz.
The Alexa has around 180 shops and a food court with 17 dining options. The total area comprises 43,000 m² of retail space, 2,000 m² of restaurants and 9,000 m² of leisure and entertainment space.
The tenants are the mix of smaller specialty shops known from other shopping centers and the branches of retail chains that are typical for shopping centers, especially from the clothing sector. As an ideal mix of industries, the investor envisages around half of the space for fashion and accessories stores and around a quarter for electronics and books. The Media-Saturn-Holding operates one of its largest MediaMarkt branches on 8,000 m² as anchor tenant at the north-western end of the building on four floors .
Until August 2017, Alexa housed Loxx Miniature Worlds, one of the largest model railways in the world. Striking parts of Berlin were reproduced on a scale of 1:87 on 760 m² .
Planning, construction and development
Alexa is part of the redesign and restructuring of Alexanderplatz and its surroundings on the basis of the inner city plan . The groundbreaking ceremony took place on October 29, 2004. The wide traffic aisle of Alexanderstraße was dismantled in favor of the Alexa property. At the same time, extensive laying and renovation of all types of lines were required, which extended the construction period. On the sand masses of the excavation the site was founded in 2009 in Kreuzberg with the BeachPark61 one of the largest beach volleyball opened plants in Berlin.
The Portuguese investor Sonae Sierra , a specialist in shopping centers, and the French investor Foncière Euris invested around 290 million euros in the building. The property previously belonged to Degewo AG in Berlin to obtain building rights. The design planning was provided by RTKL Associates, Baltimore / USA and Ortner & Ortner , Berlin, which won the architectural competition. However, the appearance was ultimately determined by the builder's Portuguese house architect, José Manuel Quintela da Fonseca.
In addition to the new building, the investors have rented the 18 S-Bahn arches to the west between Gruner- and Voltairestrasse from the railway line on a long-term basis. These are to be used in the future for small shops and restaurants to upgrade the Alexa environment.
The shopping center was officially opened on September 12, 2007.
In February 2010 Sonae Sierra and Foncière Euris sold 91% of the shopping center's shares to Union Investment for around EUR 316 million . The remaining 9% remains owned by Sonae Sierra , which retains management.
criticism
Injured at the opening
On September 11, 2007, MediaMarkt opened shortly before midnight. Due to spectacular special offers, over 5,000 people turned up and there was tumult. 15 people were injured in the crowd, glass doors, windows and escalator railings were damaged or in some cases even completely destroyed, and some anti-theft devices were also demolished. The Berlin police were on site with over 100 emergency services. The property damage amounted to 10,000 euros. The market had to close again at 1:20 a.m. due to the chaos.
Inadequate bike racks
Although the Berlin building code requires 188 bicycle racks for a building of this size, not a single one was available when it opened. On December 4, 2007, 146 stands were retrofitted. The greater part of it, however, was installed at the less-used side entrance to the Jannowitz Bridge.
outer appearance
The architecture and the external appearance of the shopping center received intense criticism in the press before it was completed and after it opened. The then governing mayor Klaus Wowereit criticized the windowless facade of the building complex several times as "ugly". Even Alexa architect Oliver Roser had admitted at the opening: "The first drafts for the Alexa were simpler, not that screaming long-distance effect."
Even in historical allusions, the building earned harsh ridicule. On the grounds of Alexa stood the former police headquarters and later headquarters of the Gestapo with the popular name “ the Red Zwingburg ”, which also corresponds to Alexa in both senses of the word .
See also
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Countdown for Alexa shopping center. In: Welt Online , August 27, 2007
- ↑ Alexa shopping and leisure center . In: Welt Online , 18. April 2008
- ↑ ALEXA: More visitors and higher sales compared to the previous year.
- ↑ First look into the new shopping center . ( Memento of 7 October 2007 at the Internet Archive ) When: Berlin Online
- ↑ a b Ulf Meyer: This Alexa is ugly as the night. In: Welt.de. September 11, 2007, accessed August 11, 2017 .
- ↑ Union Investment buys Alexa . In: Der Handel , February 17, 2010
- ↑ Der Tagesspiegel : Alexa opening, mirror of society
- ↑ Injured when the department store opened . In: Der Spiegel
- ↑ ADFC press release ( Memento of October 17, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Page no longer available , search in web archives: Alexa with new bicycle brackets
- ↑ Wowereit: Never again Alexa. In: the daily newspaper , August 15, 2008.
- ↑ Shopping Mall Alexa: Berlin's Graus-Haus. In: Der Spiegel , September 12, 2007.
Coordinates: 52 ° 31 ′ 9 ″ N , 13 ° 24 ′ 56 ″ E