MEHR! Entertainment Will Build New Theatre in Hamburg, Summer 2013

Germany's number one musical metropolis will boast another theatre, and one of the most astonishing kind at that! The contracts have been signed: Grossmarkt Hamburg, represented by Government Agency for Economy Transport and Innovation / State Office Grossmarkt and Mehr! Entertainment have agreed on building a theatre in a part of the listed halls within Hamburg's Grossmarkt.

This will open the Grossmarkt, which is a typical site of traditional Hamburg and has so far been reserved for trade only, to a far broader public due to this one-off new place of cultural interest. The new theatre will be built on roughly 10 percent of the entire Grossmarkt area. The Grossmarkt has an excellent infrastructure and is situated in the middle of the cultural belt around Hamburg's city centre.

Senator for Economy, Frank Horch, looks forward to the new gain for Hamburg. "Next to London and New York, Hamburg is the third largest musical site in the world. The new theatre will enhance this and it will be a further tourist attraction, especially given the most unusual location as Hamburg's Grossmarkt".

Mehr! Entertainment, which currently runs seven venues throughout Germany, will expand its portfolio by a further and most prominent site.

"We are extremely proud to run one of our largest theatres in Hamburg in the future. Planning a new theatre on the grounds of the listed Grossmarkt halls is a vast challenge. Together with our team of architects, we have designed an attractive solution to integrate the theatre in a section of the existing industrial building as well as to create a venue which fully meets our demands for high-end live entertainment," states Maik Klokow, General Manager and Producer at Mehr! Entertainment.

With this, Mehr! Entertainment further strengthens its position for activities in the very important location of Hamburg.The ticket-selling business, Deutsche Eintrittskarten TKS GmbH, which also belongs to the Mehr! Entertainment Group already moved its headquarters to Hamburg in January of this year.

Hamburg's Grossmarkt halls were completed in 1962 under the direction of architect Bernhard Hermkes. It is a static work of art and, as one of the last examples of reinforced concrete buildings, it is listed.

The vast ceiling height and open view of the 8 cm thick reinforced concrete frame are most impressive. The audience will be able to experience this height throughout the theatre – the highest point measuring 20 meters above the theatre seat.

The new theatre will be fully integrated in the existing Grossmarkt halls. Overall, it will have the size of 8.000 square meters, which will be divided among three storeys. The stage will be on ground level and a stage tower with a height of 19,20 meters will be below the wavy roof dome. The auditorium will seat appr. 2.000 people.

Torsten Berens, General Manager of the Grossmarkt remarks: "Hamburg's Grossmarkt is a centre of freshness in the North of Germany and it is its largest market place for fruit and vegetables. 400 companies alone and roughly 2.4000 employees enable a yearly stock turnover of 1.5 mio tons – a remarkable economic factor. The Grossmarkt was designed during the Fifties to meet the demands for shifting of goods in the fruit and vegetable market of that time. Its 40.000 square meters make it the largest trading area of its kind throughout Germany. Taking today's actual demands into account, it will suffice to have a base area of 35.000 square meters. This makes it possible to include the new theatre as an enrichment for the Grossmarkt area, especially as opening hours of the Grossmarkt and play times in the theatre do not coincide."

Construction work will start in summer 2013 – and it is expected to be completed by late 2014 / early 2015. One year before opening, it will be announced which production will be the first to play in this exciting new theatre.

The Mehr! Entertainment Group headquarters is based in Duesseldorf and it is an active player in the field of entertainment in Germany. Activities of Mehr! Entertainment Group cover various different fields: Development and implementation of new shows and innovative entertainment concepts, production of internationally renowned musicals, organization and accomplishment of top-class events, music events and exhibitions, as well as the realization of large tours and their respective sales and marketing requirements.

Mehr! Entertainment Group currently runs seven venues in Germany:

Capitol Theater Duesseldorf, Musical Dome Cologne, The CATS Theatre Tent, Admiralspalast Berlin, Musical Theatre Bremen, Starlight-Express Theatre Bochum all present successful and globally renowned musicals and shows.

In April 2012, Mehr! Entertainment opened its first ongoing exhibition in Oberhausen, TOP SECRET – the secret world of espionage. The ticketing business Deutsche Eintrittskarten TKS GmbH and its online ticketing site www.eintrittskarten.de are also part of the Mehr! Entertainment Group.  www.mehr-entertainment.de