Opened on 2 of March 2005, and completed in just 17 months, Köln Arcaden is Cologne’s first shopping centre east of the River Rhine, attracting visitors not only from the district of Kalk but from the entire surrounding region. The magnet effect has made the area more attractive to other investors.
Köln Arcaden features some 130 stores across three floors, and a main pedestrian thoroughfare flooded with light. Throught a sales area of 27,000 m² visitors will find a variety of small and mid-sized specialist stores, cafés and restaurants, as well as nationwide chain stores, occupying 27,000 square metres of retail space. A key focus for the shopping centre is fashion, particularly young fashion. Brans such as C&A, H&M, Intersport, Beneton, Deichman, Esprit, H&M, s.Oliver are presented in the mall.
Situated on the corner of Kalker Hauptstraße and Vietorstraße, with underground, bus and suburban rail connections on the doorstep, Köln Arcaden benefits from excellent links to public transport and the city centre.
Glass and stainless steel, plus natural stone flooring, were incorporated throughout the centre.
Some of Köln Arcaden’s most eye-catching features are the sculptures by Dutch artist Fré Ilgen, specially commissioned by the developer - “Let’s Dance”, a mobile above the main entrance, is 3.75 metres in diameter and weighs more than 350 kilos.
The listed water tower rises up out of the horizontal structures, visible for miles around, reminiscent – along with the skeletal brickwork of the façade - of the former industrial site on which it stands.
The shopping center is composed of two wings that stand on Hauptstrasse and Vietorstrasse and is has around 130 units on three storeys. The shops are linked and connected to the central dome by an attractive, light-flooded boulevard that is 625 metres long.
