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Becken lays foundation stone for office tower in prime Hamburg city center location

• Ceremony with Finance Senator Dr. Andreas Dressel and District Head Falko Droßmann
• Construction progress on ConneXion Office project on schedule
• Ten-storey new building with around 17,000 square meters of floor space
• Completion of the Klostertor quarter by 2022

Hamburg, September 10, 2020. The Hamburg-based real estate company Becken is constructing the ten-storey ConneXion Office building at Klostertor 1 with a project volume of 114 million euros. The foundation stone was ceremoniously laid for the prestigious office building, built to the latest standards, in a prime city center location just 200 meters from the main train station. Dr. Andreas Dressel, Hamburg Senator and President of the Ministry of Finance, and Falko Droßmann, District Head of Hamburg-Mitte, celebrated the ceremony on the construction site together with the client Dieter Becken, Managing Partner of Becken Holding GmbH.

The city of Hamburg sold the 3,500 square meter, triangular-shaped building plot to Becken at the end of 2019 as one of the last available city sites. This was preceded by a concept tender, in which Becken impressed with its forward-looking usage concept for the completion of the Klostertor quarter and was awarded the contract. Finance Senator Dr. Andreas Dressel emphasized in his greeting to the investor: "On the day the foundation stone is laid, this inner-city building site is also a symbol of the city's economic development. Our goal of keeping jobs in Hamburg is being successfully implemented here at Klostertor. The new ConneXion Office will provide space for more than 1,000 jobs and at the same time open up a new space for urban life."

Falko Droßmann, head of the district authority, emphasized the urban development prospects of the office project: "Now the time has come - with the new building between the main railway station and the Kunstmeile, the Münzviertel district will also find a fitting conclusion in the west after many years. Modern, bright and prestigious, the ConneXion Office complements the ensemble of new buildings on Klosterwall and will soon be one of the new 'faces' of Hammerbrook. With around one thousand central workplaces, it is a real gain for Hamburg's economy. I particularly like the fact that restaurants will also be moving into the first floor, creating a kind of campus character that will not only revitalize the building itself, but also offer a new meeting place in the heart of the city for all Hamburg residents."

The ConneXion Office fits into the quarter like a final, triangular piece of the puzzle, attracting prospective tenants with its inner-city location and versatile transport links. Dieter Becken was already able to announce a pre-letting rate of 50 percent for the approximately 17,000 square meters of usable space at a very early stage of the project: "Further talks are currently underway with several prospective tenants. Demand has been very good right from the start. Thanks to its flexibility, the building is suitable for a wide range of companies. The targeted gold certification from the German Sustainable Building Council and the modern, high-quality office space in a prime city center location are important arguments for letting."

The project name ConneXion Office was coined by the client and is based on the word "connection". Thanks to its central location in Hamburg and its special features, the building is designed to connect people and bring them into contact. For example, the building guarantees its tenants a high level of internet connectivity, as evidenced by a Wired Score certificate. At the same time, the completion of the quarter will create a campus for meetings and exchanges.

The building plot is one of the last major development sites available near the main railway station and had been waiting around 70 years for its new purpose. Construction of the ConneXion Office is progressing quickly and on schedule. The shell of the building will be completed by mid-2021. It will be ready for occupancy in the second quarter of 2022. "We are constructing a pioneering building with outstanding architecture in Hamburg," says Dominik Tenhumberg, Managing Director of Becken Development GmbH. "Users and visitors to the ConneXion Office will particularly enjoy the unique floor plans and the impressive views towards the city center and Speicherstadt."