The place to be
In the centre of Hamburg
The Elbtower is being built in the heart of Hamburg. This central location guarantees that it meets all the requirements of future tenants for a high-quality space with the best transport connections and a balanced mix of uses for flexible and collaborative working.
One misconception during the pandemic was to believe that city centres were slowly dying out. Doesn’t everything work online now, remotely and from home offices? In the cities, however, it is proving that the centre is far from obsolete. Companies, administrations, trade, production and residents – all those who make up the city and urban coexistence are pushing towards the centre.
The market for office properties in Hamburg demonstrates this quite clearly. “The trend towards the centre has increased significantly,” says Katharina Sekunde, head of office leasing at Signa. The demand for high-quality properties in the city centre remains high. Certainly, there were considerations during the pandemic to reduce the importance of offices and the presence of employees. Satellite offices on the periphery of major cities, for example for employees living nearby, also existed in Hamburg’s peripheral locations. “But all these new forms haven’t caught on,” says Katharina Sekunde. “Companies need offices – and they need them in prime locations.”
The Real Estate Market Report Hamburg 2022 shows that in Hamburg’s central locations, the average rent has remained stable and the vacancy rate low. “The City and HafenCity are the best performing locations in Hamburg,” says Katharina Sekunde. And this is where the Elbtower is now being built with a total of 79,000 square metres of office space.
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The building as a high-quality location strengthens the tenants’ corporate identity because the office as a meeting place becomes a distinguishing criterion. “By being located in a special property, I score points in the competition,” explains the real estate expert.
In addition, the central location has several very practical advantages for the companies and their employees. The excellent transport connections are at the top of the list. Car-friendly planning alone has long been passé. “The idea of changes in mobility is already deeply anchored in Hamburg,” Sekunde has found in conversations with clients. Certainly, the established arrival by car is quite possible given the central location at the Elbbrücken. Parking spaces are available in the basement underneath the base level – and they can all be equipped with an e-charging function.
However, the Elbtower is also located directly by the Elbbrücke suburban railway and underground stations. Jungfernstieg is only seven minutes away, the main railway station just four minutes. “More access is hardly possible in Hamburg,” says Katharina Sekunde. Anyone getting off public transport there pretty much finds themselves in the foyer of the building.
The Elbtower is also part of new sharing mobility concepts in HafenCity: networked cars, mopeds and scooters are no longer stored in car parks but are available to users at many different access points. And finally, the Elbe cycle path passes by the foot of the building: those who cycle to the office in the morning simply roll into the building’s own bike garage at ground level.
Public services on the base level
The central location also means that various services are accessible, which are available in the Elbtower’s publicly accessible base level. There you will find a wide range of gastronomy outfits as well as a shop for local supplies, a fitness studio, a basketball court and cultural facilities. “A well-balanced mix of gastronomy, local supply and leisure is indispensable for many companies. It’s essential for employees in their overall enjoyment of their workplace. They find different and affordable places to have lunch on site and save themselves long detours if they needed to buy something for home and want to do sports after office hours or during their lunch break,” says Sekunde.
Flexible workspaces also have their place here: in addition to co-working opportunities on the lower floors, a business centre further up in the tower offers the possibility to relocate offices as needed or to use them flexibly.
A central location with a future
The decision for the central location in the Elbtower was in its essence a decision for a special future perspective, says Katharina Sekunde. Because Hamburg will not stop expanding and growing into the surrounding area in the future. This has consequences: the centre of Hamburg is shifting further towards the south-east because there is space for future projects here. The Elbbrückenquartier, the eastern HafenCity, the Grasbrook are such future locations. “Today, the Elbtower is the gateway to HafenCity and the city centre. In perspective, however, it is moving more and more into the centre,” says Sekunde. If you want to work in the centre of Hamburg in the future, you can’t avoid the Elbtower.
