The girls and boys arrive at the “Kinderhouse” shortly after eleven o’clock. 24 students from the primary schools on Alfonsstrasse and Blutenburgstrasse attend the bilingual after-school care center in Neuhausen at Nymphenburger Strasse 86. Still. Because the days of the facility at this location are numbered: at the end of December 2024, the German/English-speaking parent-child initiative, which has existed for more than 20 years, will have to move out of its premises. And there is no new place to stay in sight.
“If we don’t get an alternative in the next two months, then that will be it,” says Normann Goodwin soberly. The father of four children, two of whom go to the “Kinderhouse”, is in the “real estate team” of the sponsoring association. It has been combing through advertisements on real estate platforms and writing to landlords for nine months.
Wanted posters have not been successful so far, and the hoard has not yet found a new home.
(Photo: Stephan Rumpf)
Other parents repeatedly wander through Neuhausen’s streets and look for things being cleared out or company signs that have been taken down. Your experience: There are a number of empty office spaces in the district. “Still, we can’t get our foot in the door,” says Goodwin. “Because obviously nobody wants daycare centers. Apparently it seems to be more lucrative to leave the rooms empty than to rent them to us.”
The after-school care center is still located on the former site of the Bruckmann publishing house. In 2014, the Rock Capital Group acquired the 11,000 square meter property at Nymphenburger Strasse 84 and 86 and Lothstrasse 3 and 5 in order to redesign it. What is to be built on the partially listed area is not known in detail; we are still in coordination with the city and therefore “cannot make any concrete statements,” says Peter G. Neumann. The managing partner only speaks of the goal of “repositioning and further developing the location”. The preparatory measures are planned for the beginning of 2025.
According to a spokesman for the planning department, preliminary approval applications for the construction of a new office and commercial building and a residential complex, each with an underground car park, have already been approved. The authorities have not yet received a building application.
The parents show understanding for the investor’s interests. “The collaboration with Rock Capital was always good,” emphasizes Michael Haal from the board of the sponsoring association. The termination was given some time ago – in time to look for a new solution. The company has also repeatedly extended the use of after-school care. “We also received a positive tenant recommendation from Rock Capital.”
However, the good reputation has so far been of little use. Until recently, the parents still hoped to find accommodation in a property on Blutenburgstrasse. “When the agent presented the rooms to us at the end of November, we were thrilled,” says Goodwin. 190 square meters on the ground floor in an ideal location not far from the schools and optimally designed for after-school use – “a dream”. According to the broker, the “Kinderhouse” would have been the only prospective tenant. But then the administrator rejected it a few days ago. “With very flimsy arguments,” says Goodwin.
One of the reasons given was possible investment costs that the owner could not cover because educational institutions are not subject to sales tax. “Such theoretical costs could be regulated via the rent, which is an absolutely standard procedure,” says Goodwin. Another reason: possible costs for renovations. “We showed the property to an appraiser who said that nothing on the outside needed to be changed,” explains the father. And for changes to the interior, such as converting the sanitary rooms, there would be city funding and also the rental cost option – this is also common practice in the industry. The SZ wanted to question the administrator about this, but he did not comment.
From the parents’ point of view, it is clear: the after-school care center is not wanted. But giving up is not an option; we are still looking for rental properties of around 200 square meters. At the same time, the club’s management is hoping for further accommodation from the Rock Capital Group. An extension at the current location is definitely out of the question, says Neumann, simply because traffic safety cannot be sufficiently guaranteed. However, Rock Capital would be “happy” to use its market contacts “and support the children’s house in finding a new location.”
The children can relax in the after-school care center after lessons.
(Photo: Stephan Rumpf)
Or a round of romping after sitting for a long time at school and doing homework.
(Photo: Stephan Rumpf)
Two further examples from the district show how difficult the situation is at the moment. Due to planned renovation measures, the Parents’ Initiative Neuhausen eV and the Grissinis eV have to leave their familiar home in the Munich orphanage after almost 30 years. The landlord here is the city, which announced the termination for summer 2025 in 2019. The kindergartens have not yet been offered replacement premises due to a lack of capacity, but the education department is supporting the two initiatives “to the best of its ability” in finding a location, says spokeswoman Inga Heins. As with the “Kinderhouse” after-school care center, the independent, months-long search for suitable alternatives has so far been unsuccessful.