City management & district development

City management in Duisburg: Active against vacancies 

The HUB City Management and Retail at DBI is primarily concerned with supporting retailers and restaurants in their search for locations and marketing and brokering vacant stores in the city center and Duisburg's districts. To this end, the team uses measures such as funds for subsidized rentals and a digital tool for active vacancy management in order to promote the revitalization of the city centre and the established centers in the city districts. The main target groups are tradespeople and property owners. You can also reach DBI's city management team in the store at Poststr. 14 directly in the city center. Together we develop Duisburg! 

 

What we do: 

  • Vacancy management: We promote the revitalization of the city center and the city districts by brokering and marketing vacant stores. 
  • Support for tradespeople: We support retailers, tradespeople and gastronomers in their search for a location. 
  • Support for property owners: We help property owners to find new users / tenants. 
  • Cooperation structures: We build networks with stakeholders from retail, politics and administration to enable overall neighborhood development. 
  • Funding programs: We provide information and advice on funding programs, such as the rental funds for inner cities and districts. 

 

What you get out of it:  

  • Reduced vacancy: less vacancy means a more liveable city with higher frequency and a lively atmosphere. To achieve this, we network ourselves and the stakeholders involved. 
  • Optimal choice of location: We help you to find and develop the perfect location for your business. To do this, we use the “LeAn” web solution for vacancy and relocation management. 
  • Financial support: Benefit from subsidized rentals and support programs to implement innovative concepts. In addition to the state's rental fund to strengthen city centers, the city's rental fund in the districts also comes into play here. 

 

Current and upcoming projects:  

  • Own store in the city center: With the opening of its own store at the Kuhtor, the city management is even closer to the action and even easier to approach. The address: Poststr. 14 (at Kuhtor), open Mondays to Thursdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Fridays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.  
  • Promoting new concepts: In order to discover new concepts and bring them to Duisburg, the team maintains its contacts in the network with comparable institutions and attends trade fairs and events. 
  • Rental disposal fund: Support for rentals in the city center and districts with financial resources, advice and mediation. 

 

Previous projects:  

  • Immediate inner city programme: Measures to revitalize the inner city through subsidized rentals. 

 

Immediate program city center

Now also available for city districts!

The Anmietungsfond has now been extended to the districts of Ruhrort, Homberg and Rheinhausen.

The concentration areas in which the Anmietungsfonds can be applied are available when you download the application form

The initial situation

Our city centers are of particular importance for urban development. In order to strengthen the survival and preservation of our traditional city centers during and after the Corona crisis, the state government of North Rhine-Westphalia has launched the Immediate City Center Program.

The structural change in the stationary retail trade, which has been the focus of attention for some time and which has been intensified by the Corona pandemic, urgently needs help! The increasing number of chain stores, the shift of shopping to online business and now also the pandemic are leading to more and more vacancies. The attractiveness of the centers is dwindling and a downward spiral may be set in motion.

The idea

The Downtown Immediate Action Program now gives new concepts the opportunity to settle in locations that were previously unaffordable for start-ups. In the direct city center!

Through a subsidized rent of up to 80% of the old rent, exciting retail concepts, pop-up stores, start-ups and restaurateurs or service providers can now rent in the vacancies. The eligible size of the retail space is limited to 300 m². The term of the project is limited until December 31, 2023.

The goal

We want to enable new and young concepts to try out locations that are otherwise unaffordable. The goal is to enable success and to be able to keep the entrepreneurs at the location even after the end of the Downtown Immediate Action Program. Another important goal is to reduce vacancies.

Application procedure & requirements

The application procedure

Applications can be submitted immediately. A jury decides who will move into the available stores and with which concept. It is also possible to combine several concepts - the eligible size of the store is limited to 300 m².

 

The requirements

  • It must not be a relocation of a business already located in the city center.
  • Only companies/individuals registered as businesses will be considered.
  • Preference will be given to concepts that increase foot traffic
  • Allowed are concepts

from the retail sector (also StartUps or PopUp-Stores)

Gastronomy concepts

Service concepts with public traffic

Farm stores (for the sale of regional agricultural products)

Showrooms (also for online concepts)

Cultural uses with public traffic (e.g. studios)

Concepts that promote civic and/or neighborhood involvement (e.g. RepairCafes)

Further future-oriented concepts