Overview

• Owner Commerz Real and GALERIA signed a joint deal to extend the usage agreement, avoiding an earlier end-of-February cutoff.
• About 350 employees gain short-term job security as the department store continues operating at the high-traffic Alexanderplatz site.
• Both parties say they aim to evolve the property into a “living center of trade and culture,” keeping retail in place during planning.
• A possible future role for the Zentral- und Landesbibliothek is explicitly on the table, though Economy Senator Franziska Giffey has flagged the absence of a viable financing plan.
• Talks had nearly collapsed over an extra roughly €4 million remediation demand, which Commerz Real withdrew after discussions with the Senate.