Ruby Hotels is planning a new 150-room hotel and 1,700 m2 co-working space in central Stuttgart’s Gerber shopping centre.
The Munich-based hotel brand which it calls ‘lean luxury’ will launch its first Stuttgart property in the Spring of 2023.
Combining a hotel and ‘Ruby works’ co-working space in the city’s central Gerber shopping centre, the new hotel will be Ruby’s 10th project in Germany as it aims for a total of 17 properties by 2023, increasing from its present eight including a new addition in London which opened at the end of 2019.
The new hotel and co-working space with approximately 190 workstations will be on the top floor of the city shopping mall and have an industrial style with high, open ceilings and exposed concrete.
Guest rooms will range in size from ‘Nest’ rooms (14-15 m²) to ‘Loft’ rooms (21-23 m²), with the property also housing a 24-hour bar and a library. All guest rooms will have soundproofing, blackout curtains, high-quality linen and extra-long and wide custom mattresses.
It is the second time a Ruby Hotel has been integrated into a shopping mall. The first was the Ruby Coco in Dusseldorf, which opened in 2018, and is based on top of the famous “KÖ-Galerie“, directly on one of the most famous shopping streets in Germany, the Königsallee.
and the first time actual retail space has been converted for this purpose. The conversion work of the 8,000m² space is scheduled to start in the autumn of 2021 in collaboration with the Stuttgart architecture firm, BWK Architekten.
“As a conversion of former retail space right in the heart of the city, the Gerber project represents a ground-breaking milestone for us. We have created completely new room types for this project, adapted to the challenging floor layouts. The excellent location, high ceilings and unusual style of the building are a perfect match for our lean luxury philosophy and the project therefore represents an attractive new addition to the Stuttgart hotel market,” commented Michael Struck, CEO and founder of Ruby Group.
The Gerber shopping mall is owned by the life and pension assurance company, Württembergische Lebensversicherung AG. Klaus Betz, Head of real estate at the company said: “We are delighted that the Gerber shopping mall is increasingly turning into a mixed-use development and indeed is being perceived as such. This is where an attractive building offering local amenities such as retail units and restaurants focusing on quality and sustainability, also accommodates office space and a hotel development. The fact that we were able to acquire Ruby is an important milestone in Gerber’s strategic development and a sensible addition to our overall concept. This project means that we are combining more than six types of use in one development which complies with “The City of Short Distances” concept.”
