Schloss-Arkaden Braunschweig

Schloss-Arkaden Braunschweig opened in September 2007 at the reconstructed Braunschweig Palace in the city centre, with approximately 27,000 sqm of gross leasable area integrated into the rebuilt historic palace facade as the commercial centrepiece of one of Germany’s most discussed urban heritage reconstruction projects. The centre is owned by CBRE Investment Management.

The Braunschweig Palace (Braunschweigisches Residenzschloss) was the ducal residence of the Guelph dynasty and a significant piece of 18th-century baroque architecture that was damaged in World War II and demolished in 1960 — a decision subsequently controversial in German historic preservation debates. The 2007 reconstruction of the palace exterior created a neo-historical palace facade behind which the Schloss-Arkaden provides contemporary retail in a historic shell, a commercial and heritage decision that generated substantial public discussion about the relationship between commercial development and historic reconstruction in German city centres. The palace’s former gallery wing now houses mainstream fashion and lifestyle retail with H&M anchor. The reconstructed palace directly faces the Burgplatz, Braunschweig’s historic market square with the famous Löwenmonument (the Brunswick Lion).

Braunschweig’s population of approximately 250,000 provides the immediate base. The eastern Lower Saxony catchment from Wolfenbüttel and the Harz foothills extends the regional draw. The A2 motorway provides east-west road access. Braunschweig Hauptbahnhof provides regional rail connections to Hannover and Magdeburg.

CBRE IM manages Schloss-Arkaden within a historic reconstruction that makes it one of Germany’s most architecturally distinctive retail developments — a shopping centre whose commercial identity is inseparable from the decades-long civic debate about the Braunschweig Palace’s demolition and reconstruction, giving the centre a public significance that purely commercial retail buildings do not carry.