Lidl and Aldi turn stores into apartment blocks. A new idea to fill the hole in the real estate market
A way to avoid mixing? Lidl and Aldi came up with an unusual idea. Discount chains have decided to convert some of their outlets located in city centers into residential buildings.
The German real estate market is struggling with a large housing shortage. It is estimated that around one million are missing. An additional factor is very high rents. This problem was noticed by the owners of the Aldi and Lidl discount chains. Already last fall, the owners of both companies announced that they intended to close their stores, which are located in attractive locations in German cities. In their place, four-story apartment buildings will be built. In each of them, there will be a discount store on the ground floor, and the upper floors will be used for apartments.
Shops in city centers
Aldi has over 2,400 stores in Germany. Some of them are located in very city centers and other attractive locations. Thanks to the planned changes, over 2,000 new apartments are to be built in Berlin alone. According to estimates, by 2030 only in the capital of Germany, over 200,000 will be needed. new apartments.
Work on the first projects is already advanced. The first complex was to be built in Frankfurt am Main. It was announced that two new blocks of flats with 110 apartments would be built in place of Lidl in the Gallus district. Lidl also planned further investments, among others, in Berlin, Munich and Hamburg.
Half a year after the first announcements, we learned more details about the projects. New apartments prepared by discount stores are to be ready in spring 2020. Contrary to previous announcements, the first blocks will be put into operation in Berlin and Potsdam. Work on other Aldi projects is at various stages of planning.
2 thousand apartments
Aldi Nord will build a total of approximately 2,000. apartments. One third of this pool is to be allocated to social housing. The rental price is to be between 10 and 12 euros per square meter, and in the case of social housing, the owners assume a price of 6.5 euros per square meter. As the investor emphasizes, these are very competitive prices when it comes to the German real estate market.
