New opening in the city center Life returns to the former Karstadt building in Bonn

Bonn · After some back and forth, the opening date for Peek&Cloppenburg in the former Karstadt building in Bonn has now been set. There is also news about the Aldi and dm stores, which have been closed since December, as has the underground parking garage.

 Peek &Cloppenburg plans to open its new store in Bonn in the former Karstadt building this summer.

Peek &Cloppenburg plans to open its new store in Bonn in the former Karstadt building this summer.

Foto: Benjamin Westhoff

Now the opening date has finally been set: The textile retailer Peek &Cloppenburg (P&C) plans to open its new store in Bonn in the former Karstadt building on Thursday, June 29. The company, which is headquartered in Düsseldorf, shared the opening date with the GA upon inquiry. The opening had to be postponed several times so far for various reasons. Most recently, the store was scheduled to open on April 13, but water damage in December interfered with those plans.

P&C will use the ground floor and the first and second floor of the department store building. They have been extensively remodeled for this purpose. As to the question of how the opening ceremony will be staged, P&C said: "We will be in touch soon with more detailed information on the opening days and the planned promotions for our customers.”

The lower level of the building has an Aldi and drugstore chain dm with a total of around 12,500 square meters of retail space. They moved in back in September 2018, even before Karstadt finally had to close its doors in 2020. However, the Aldi and dm stores have been closed since incurring water damage in December 2022.

Former Karstadt building in Bonn: Two more tenants wanted

The owner of the building is Aachener Grundvermögen Kapitalverwaltungsgesellschaft mbH. The Karstadt building (formerly a Hertie department store) was built on city-owned land under a leasehold. In 2021, the city council had approved an extension of the ground lease contract with Aachener Grund until the end of May 2042. Originally, the contract had been concluded with the then Hertie Waren- und Kaufhaus GmbH in 1962.

As reported, Aachener Grund has now also found a tenant for the fifth floor of the building: The organizer BonnLive is planning an arts & music and event location there. The opening is scheduled for two years from now.

It has not yet been decided who will use the third and fourth floors. Among those under discussion is the university, which is looking for interim quarters nearby because of the major renovation of the main building. It has already rented the building opposite, where AppelrathCüpper used to sell fashion apparel before moving to Remigiusstrasse.

Underground car park under former Karstadt reopens

The underground car park of the former department store is also still closed. Like the rest of the building, the underground car park was affected by water damage, according to Sonja Nees, spokeswoman for Aachener Grund. However, like Aldi and dm, it is to resume its operations on the day of the opening of P&C, as there will be commercial business in the building again so there will also be a need for the parking garage.

Regarding the question of future users of the still vacant floors, Nees explained, "We are still in talks regarding a lease of the third and also the fourth floor. We will be happy to let you know when a result is ready to be announced." In a recent interview with the GA, the spokeswoman pointed out that the only possible use for the fourth floor of the Karstadt building would be for a use with as little public traffic as possible. For fire safety reasons, a certain number of people may not be exceeded in the entire building at the same time.

(Orig. text: Lisa Inhoffen / Translation: Carol Kloeppel)

Meistgelesen
Neueste Artikel
Zum Thema
Aus dem Ressort