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Becken modernizes historic residential and commercial building in Westerland (Sylt) and wins Rossmann as a tenant

• Renovation and modernization of the historic main building and construction of an extension
• Long-term commercial tenancy agreement with Rossmann
• Completion of construction planned for the third quarter of 2021
• Special process conserves groundwater during excavation work

Hamburg, 13 August 2020: The real estate company Becken, a specialist in the development, realization and long-term asset and investment management of commercial and residential properties, has secured the drugstore chain Rossmann as the future tenant of the 720 square meters of commercial space for its Wilhelm project development in Westerland. The existing historic residential and commercial building at Wilhelmstrasse 2 in Westerland (Sylt) will be extensively renovated by October 2021 and an extension will be added. In addition to the commercial space on the first floor, 23 apartments covering a total of 992 square meters will be made available throughout the ensemble.

Jens Hogekamp, Managing Director of Becken Asset Management GmbH, says: "We have succeeded in binding Rossmann to the property with a long-term lease of 10 years. This means that we have already taken an important step in repositioning the existing property." Rossmann will take over the space on October 1, 2021. The historic main building will be renovated, modernized and its façade will be restored in a representative manner based on the original façade design. The property will be extended by a new two-storey building facing the pedestrian street on Wilhelmstrasse. The result is an overall ensemble that fits in with the scale of the surrounding buildings.

Marc Holzhausen, member of the management board of Becken Development GmbH, says: "The particular challenge in constructing the excavation pit is the high groundwater level. As the groundwater on Sylt is also needed for drinking water production and is therefore very precious, we decided to use a groundwater-conserving method. With conventional methods, large quantities of potential drinking water would be lost by lowering the groundwater level." To conserve this resource, Becken will construct the excavation pit using a cost-intensive watertight excavation pit enclosure including a watertight excavation pit base. This method eliminates the need to pump out the groundwater.

Becken acquired the property from HypoVereinsbank back in March 2019. The building plot of around 1,237 square meters is located in the immediate center of Westerland and borders the pedestrian zone in Wilhelmstrasse to the north and Maybachstrasse to the west.