Hudson’s Bay Co., Signa Group Unveil Plans for Retail Project in Berlin

BERLIN — One of Europe’s largest department store chains has revealed plans to build a 450 million-euro retail development in central Berlin. The Karstadt-Kaufhaus Galeria chain is Germany’s largest and Europe’s third-largest after a merger late last year of the German assets of Hudson’s Bay Co. and the Austria-headquartered Signa Group. This week, it was revealed that star architect David Chipperfield had been commissioned to design a replacement for what is currently a thriving but somewhat shabby Karstadt in the increasingly trendy neighborhood of Neuköelln. The old store, built post-war, will be demolished and in its place there will be a 1.35 million-square-foot building that will include a rooftop terrace, hotel and office space as well as community amenities like child care, a gym and a library. The design, with two towers and Art Deco styling, harks back to the original seven-story department store built here in the Twenties that was destroyed during the Second World War. Only 183,000 to 125,000 square feet will be devoted to retail. Department stores in general are having a hard time in Germany and further afield, said Markus Preissner, the head of research at Cologne-based market and retail research institute IFH. But Signa is doing the

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