The company headquarters of the department store group Galeria leaves food on September 1st and goes to Düsseldorf.
A company spokeswoman confirmed a corresponding report by the “Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung” (WAZ). “The entire service center with all 690 employees is moving to the new location,” she reported.
This is the “RWI 4” property built in 1974 in Düsseldorf-Unterbilk near the media port. The new owners had already announced a move to Düsseldorf last year in the course of the latest bankruptcy. It was open for a long time before the move will be completed. “The Service Center is so located that we as a trading company are close to what defines us – the branches in the best city center location,” Galeria had announced in February.
Düsseldorf architect designed the complex for Karstadt Group
The previous company headquarters had been built from 1967 to 1969 as a major headquarters of the department store group Karstadt in the Essen district of Schuir. Karstadt was one of the predecessors of today’s Galeria Group. The architect came from Düsseldorf: Walter Brune. He had previously designed several department store buildings for Karstadt.
Initially, the complex consisted of three buildings, a few years later a fourth was added. “Around 3,000 people worked in the Karstadt center at weddings,” reported the WAZ. In 2017, the original building was made. “It is important for the history of man, the history of the city of Essen and the Ruhr area as well as for the development of working and production relationships,” says an expert opinion from the Rhineland Landscape Association.
Stop “Karstadt Central Administration” will remain first
A few years ago, the North Rhine-Westphalian state police rented areas in the complex. According to WAZ, the property recently belonged to the insolvent Signa Group of the former real estate mogul René Benko. What is now becoming the vacant surfaces is not known.
Even after the move of the Galeria administration, there will be a clear indication of the history of the office complex: the bus stop before it continues to be called “Karstadt headquarters”. According to the Ruhrbahn, a renaming is currently not planned.