Making it available. Making it usable. Making it possible.
Cities need new answers to today’s major challenges. It is time for a new understanding of project development.
Three shifts, one answer
Real estate development faces significant challenges today. The rules of development are changing on multiple fronts. EHRET+CIE responds with tailored solutions and strategies.
Development and follow-up financing are among the biggest hurdles today, and traditional development and financing models are reaching their limits, especially in affordable housing. New partnerships, usage models, and financing structures are required.
At the same time, the expected time horizon is shifting. A "New Normal" with stable rather than low interest rates pushes the investment horizon to ten years and beyond. What matters now is the willingness to view a project across its entire lifecycle—rather than optimizing it for the next exit.
Rigid asset classes like hotel, office, or residential are giving way to more nuanced concepts. What will secure investors in the future are flexible, resilient properties that can adapt as demand shifts.
EHRET+CIE responds to all three shifts as a waymaker, aligning economic viability with social impact right from the start. We don't reinvent—we make things possible. This approach is designed for owners, investors, and family offices seeking a personally accountable, entrepreneurial development partner.
Why we do what we do
We believe cities need new answers. That’s why we break them down into specific, individual projects and cultivate cultures within them: experimental, bold, and adaptive. For us, value creation means more than just financial returns. A project is only successful if it works equally well for users, the city, and investors—for decades to come.
Five principles. One approach.
CONSTRUCTIVE REBELLION
We approach urban development by focusing on what’s possible, challenging conventions wherever they stand in the way of better solutions.
HUMAN PROOF
A project is only a success when it proves its worth to the people who live, work, or invest in it. Human Proof is the benchmark for every development.
THINKING IN LOOPS
Instead of strictly following the nine HOAI service phases sequentially, EHRET+CIE intertwines them in loops. What works is pursued; what doesn't is corrected early on.
THINKING LONG-TERM
A project succeeds when it is designed for its entire lifecycle—not optimized for the next exit.
CULTURAL FORESIGHT
To develop cities, you have to look beyond your own industry—towards other disciplines, other countries, and other ways of thinking.
Urban Development with a Stance
Michael Ehret is one of the defining figures in urban development across Germany and Europe. As a civil engineer, he focuses on feasibility; as an entrepreneur, on the market; and as a real estate economist, on value creation. Bringing these three perspectives together profitably has been the foundation of his professional approach for almost 30 years.
Michael teaches at the universities of Karlsruhe and Biberach, is involved in the development of Munich's station district via the Central Quartier initiative, and connects internationally with science, politics, and practice. What he teaches today, he has previously implemented, developed, and built himself.
With EHRET+CIE, he has founded a partnership for project development: legally a GmbH, but in spirit a circle of entrepreneurial partners and specialized teams who contribute their expertise and share responsibility for success. In doing so, the company is taking a path in project development that remains rare in this country.
"I want to work close with the asset — close to the district, to the people, to the product."