In many cases, structural vacancy in commercial properties cannot be resolved through rent reductions or intensified marketing activities. Instead, viable usage concepts are required that take into account the specific requirements of the location as well as the structural and economic conditions of the existing building stock. Industry experts and students reached this conclusion at the specialist symposium 'From Vacant to Vibrant', hosted jointly by CoreNet Global Central Europe and Fresenius University of Applied Sciences in Heidelberg.
Prof. Dr Thomas Glatte, Professor of Real Estate Economics at Fresenius University of Applied Sciences Heidelberg and board member at CoreNet Global, emphasised during the event that vacancy is primarily an expression of a fundamental shift in demand. When social and operational requirements change, existing spaces must be rethought. For corporate real estate managers, the focus will increasingly shift from merely managing existing portfolios under efficiency and cost considerations towards systematically analysing their long-term transformation potential.
Limits of conventional marketing approaches
Annik Englert, Managing Director of ReFacto GmbH, explained in her keynote address why conventional marketing methods reach their limits when occupier behaviour changes. Megatrends such as e-commerce, new mobility concepts, and transformed working environments sometimes strip existing buildings of their original function, even though the building fabric remains fully usable. Englert formulated five propositions on this issue:
- —The market alone does not resolve structural vacancy without conceptual impetus.
- —Real demand cannot be derived exclusively from statistical surveys.
- —A wait-and-see approach by owners exacerbates existing losses in value.
- —Structural parameters set limits on any change of use, whilst economic viability must strictly be preserved.
She noted that the early involvement of local stakeholders, municipalities, and prospective occupiers is crucial to accurately capture local needs and develop structurally feasible concepts.
Practical examples of successful repositioning
Using completed projects, Englert demonstrated that conversions secure economic value and create municipal benefits. In the Ingolstadt area, an office building with around 10,000 square metres of space previously occupied by a single tenant was transformed into an educational campus. The concept includes an incubator centre, training rooms, a canteen, and 45 residential units for apprentices. In Bad Mergentheim, a restaurant that had stood empty for over ten years was turned into apprentice accommodation with 24 places, supported by subsidies of around one million euros. In Würzburg-Heidingsfeld, a bank branch of around 800 square metres that had been disused for two years was converted into a combination of public library and residential space, with the lease agreement concluded within three months.
In the concluding panel discussion, Aljoscha Scholl, Managing Director of Scholl Real Estate Solutions GmbH, and Lucas Falter, lecturer at Fresenius University of Applied Sciences and Managing Director of Falter Consulting, discussed the requirements for functional repositioning alongside Englert and Glatte. Successful transformations require close interaction between market knowledge, building fabric, and municipal cooperation in order to keep existing properties usable for decades to come.
