City of Hamburg secures buyback option for Elbtower

After the Signa bankruptcy, there are several interested parties for the Elbtower shell. Hamburg’s urban development senator Karen Pein (SPD) and Hafencity boss Andreas Kleinau announced this on Tuesday. The city is also becoming more involved in events.

Accordingly, the city registered its right of repurchase to the insolvency administrator of the Signa Group on May 1st. This means: You now have nine months to exercise this option – this is the contractually agreed deadline.

Pain: Necessary step

As Urban Development Senator Pein said in the citizens’ budget committee, this step was necessary because the city has no say in the current sales process. She doesn’t even know who applied to the insolvency administrator to continue building the Elbtower.

Two scenarios emerge

If the insolvency administrator ultimately prefers an investor who is not an option for the city, the only option would be to buy back the property – they would then get the shell of the building for free. This threatens a situation that the city always wanted to avoid. Then it would actually be the new builder of the billion-dollar project. Either there is an investor the city can live with by the end of January next year, or it has to buy before the end of the nine months if it wants to remain in control of the process. A decision will be made when the time comes, said Pein.

Authority: City prefers private investor

A spokesman for the authorities confirmed on Wednesday that the city’s preferred solution was still for a private investor to take over and complete the shell of the building. The marketing process got off to a good start, said the spokesman. Only the insolvency administrator can say how many bidders there are.

Construction work has been on hold for over six months

Construction work on the Elbtower has been on hold since the end of October last year. The contracted construction company had stopped the work because the Signa Group of the Austrian real estate entrepreneur René Benko had not paid bills. Elbtower Immobilien GmbH & Co. KG filed for bankruptcy in January of this year. It is an indirect subsidiary of Signa Prime Selection AG, which is also already insolvent.

The Elbtower is intended to form the end of Hamburg’s Hafencity in the east. According to the original plans, the high-rise near the Elbe Bridges would be 245 meters high, making it the third tallest building in Germany. Offices, shops, galleries, restaurants and an observation deck on the 55th floor are planned. The costs have so far been put at 950 million euros.

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NDR 90.3 | NDR 90.3 Current | May 15, 2024 | 06:00 am