Culinary relaunch at the Main-Taunus-Zentrum - "Food Garden" opens
from FFM Aktuell

With today's opening of the "Food Garden" in the Main-Taunus-Zentrum (MTZ), one of Germany's highest-turnover shopping centres is setting new standards in the field of urban gastronomy. On the site of a former department stores' in Sulzbach near Frankfurt, a spacious, architecturally sophisticated catering area has been created that offers culinary diversity with a total of eight new restaurants on an area of around 9,000 square metres.000 square metres of culinary diversity.

These restaurants have moved into the new Food Garden:

The opening of the "Food Garden" marks a further milestone in the continuous development of the shopping centre, which opened in 1964 and is now one of the most important shopping centres in Germany with over 170 shops and a sales area of more than 90,000 square metres.000 square metres, it is now one of the most important shopping destinations in the Rhine-Main region.

"I am delighted that the construction work has now been completed and that we can open this special place today," said centre manager Daniel Quaas at the inauguration. "The Food Garden is not only a successful example of the sensible reutilisation of former retail space, but also a clear commitment to sustainable construction and modern architecture."

In fact, the project is also a first in ecological terms. The five free-standing restaurant buildings were constructed entirely using modular timber construction - a pioneering project of this size in the German retail sector. Kai Laumann is responsible for the realisation of the project, which uses cross-laminated timber (CLT), a particularly CO₂-efficient building material. In total, around 1,300 cubic metres of spruce wood were used, which corresponds to a saving of around 1,300 tonnes of CO₂ - as much as an average car would consume in 162 trips around the world.

In addition to the architecture, the new area also impresses with its open design: covered and open terraces as well as attractively landscaped outdoor areas invite you to linger and create a relaxed atmosphere in the otherwise bustling surroundings of the open-air shopping centre.

The investment sum for the ambitious project amounts to around 28 million euros. The owner is a closed-end property fund with the participation of Deutsche EuroShop AG. Planning, implementation and operation are the responsibility of ECE Marketplaces, which is also responsible for the entire centre management.

With the "Food Garden", the MTZ is not only making a statement in terms of urban development, but is also strengthening its position as a sustainable shopping and leisure centre. The successful symbiosis of sustainable construction, architectural quality and high-quality gastronomy should open up new visitor groups for the location - and is also a model for the further development of classic shopping centres in the digital age.