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Hamburg-based shopping centre specialist ECE and Danish pension fund ATP have opened a new 10,000 m2 retail area at Rosengårdcentret, the second-largest mall in Denmark.

The additional space, located on the newly created 'Purple Street', features 20 stores, including the third Danish shop for Spanish fashion retailer Zara.

Other new arrivals at Rosengårdcentret in the city of Odense are Kings&Queens, Only, Sketchers, Tommy Hilfiger, Vibholm, Gant, Trollbeads and Pandora. In the coming months, the centre will also be expanded for electronics retailer Expert which is increasing its retail space.

ECE European Prime Shopping Centre Fund and ATP Real Estate are investing more than €21.5 mln to refurbish Rosengårdcentret, which was first opened in 1971 and has undergone several makeovers since then.

All renovations are scheduled to be completed by autumn this year. Rosengårdcentret will then have 180 shops on about 100,000 m2 of leasable space. More than 7.5 million people visit the centre on the island of Fünen in Odense each year.

ECE drew on regional influences for the design of the new Rosengårdcentret. Many design elements are reminiscent of the history and the tradition of Odense and bring to mind the tale of Hans Christian Andersen, who lived in the city.

Volker Kraft, managing partner of ECE Real Estate Partners, said: 'Together with our co-investor ATP Real Estate we are happy to present today the optimised concept of Rosengårdcentret with the new anchor tenant Zara. This represents a further contribution to our value enhancement strategy for the shopping centre.'

ECE's shopping centre fund entered Scandinavia in March 2013 by acquiring the Rosengårdcentret mall for around €400 mln. ATP Real Estate acquired a 25% stake in the centre from the fund eight months later. At the time the centre featured 160 retail units.