The big plans to build a modern office campus on a large scale in the Dornach commercial area in the municipality of Aschheim will not come to fruition for the time being. The investor, the project developer Development Partner from Düsseldorf, has now withdrawn its building application after years of preparatory work, as confirmed by the town hall. Because of its scale, the construction project has been the subject of much debate in the local council.
The Düsseldorf project developer Development Partner, a subsidiary of Gateway Real Estate AG, had planned to build what it called a “future-oriented office environment” for up to 3,400 employees in the Aschheim-Dornach industrial park. Under the name “Campus Park Munich”, five office buildings are to be built according to modern construction standards by 2025, grouped around a green area with a small lake and a large multi-storey car park. In 2019, an undeveloped area of almost 39,000 square meters was acquired for this purpose not far from the Riem S-Bahn station.
Because of the pandemic, demand has changed significantly
With the planned 57,000 square meters of floor space for offices, supplemented by childcare facilities and restaurants, the investor saw a worthwhile opportunity in the then booming market for office properties in Munich. But the demand situation has changed significantly in recent months, among other things with the corona pandemic, says company spokesman Matthias Euler-Rolle. You don’t want to set up offices that then stand empty. So everything is put to the test. The project did not die, says Euler-Rolle, but only stopped.
The project was controversial in Aschheim. Due to the dimensions, the parliamentary group of the Free Voters and the Green Sabine Maier had spoken out against the office campus. The transport connection was always a topic of discussion. There are already problems with parked cars in the commercial area. It was also said that the construction project would not bring any added value to the community, since companies would rent that have their headquarters elsewhere and would therefore not bring the community any trade tax income.
However, the municipality complied with the investor’s concerns with a narrow majority and created the legal building conditions for the project. These remain valid. But the project is on hold for now.