The planned new concert arena at the airport has cleared an important hurdle. The investors can now officially acquire the property provided for this purpose – although Munich has resisted it until the end. But at the meeting of the airport shareholders, the city was unable to assert itself against the majority shareholder, the Free State of Bavaria. The majority of the owners of the airport have “approved the sale of a property to SWMunich Real Estate GmbH in connection with the planned construction of an event arena,” confirmed a spokesman.
Private investors want to build a modern arena for more than 20,000 visitors on the property that previously belonged to the airport. The hall is supposed to attract the big stars with the highest standards, it will cost a total of 250 million euros. The city politicians are very concerned that the Olympiahalle, as the most important venue for major concerts in southern Germany to date, could become a tough competitor.
Olympiapark boss Marion Schöne also sees it this way: “Many artists and organizers will first have a look at the new hall. It will be a huge turning point.” Schöne compares the importance of a new concert hall for the Parkgesellschaft with the move out of Bundesliga football from the Olympic Stadium. But even then they managed to continue the company successfully. She now wants to fight for that in the hall. “The Olympic Park is not going to be a museum. That has always been my ambition.”
The city wants to counter this – and is considering building a multifunctional hall
In return for the project in Freising, the city wants to push ahead with plans to build a multifunctional hall itself on the Olympic site. For this purpose, the relevant departments should work together with the Olympiapark München Gesellschaft (OMG). Economic advisor Clemens Baumgärtner (CSU) should start or continue talks with potential investors. So the city council had already decided on Thursday as a precaution. The area on which the ailing ice sports center is now located is intended as a possible location. The Olympiapark has already completed extensive studies for a new hall, although it should be smaller so far with 6000 seats. Park boss Schöne can now imagine thinking in a different order of magnitude.
Lord Mayor Dieter Reiter (SPD) is also going in this direction. “We will examine viable concepts for a multifunctional hall in the Olympic Park with possible investors and the OMG.” But he also criticized the state of Bavaria for selling the property. “The city is not convinced of the plans at the airport,” he said after the shareholders’ meeting. The Greens went even further, attacking the Free State and the CSU head-on. “This is, to put it diplomatically, an unfriendly act by the state government against the state capital, with which it also embarrassed its party friends in Munich to the bone,” said parliamentary group leader Anna Hanusch. The Munich CSU chairman and justice minister Georg Eisenreich apparently had no hearing from the responsible finance minister, Albert Füracker, added the Green city chief Joel Keilhauer. “It shows once again: The Munich CSU likes to spit big tones, but no one in its own party listens to it.”
The Greens also cited ecological concerns about the project at the airport. “A large event hall at this location is obviously intended to attract guests who come to a concert by car or even by plane. This is a mockery of all the goals of traffic avoidance and climate protection that the Bavarian Prime Minister likes to talk about in Sunday speeches,” said the parliamentary group leader Hanusch. CSU economic advisor Baumgärtner doesn’t even believe that the airport is doing itself a financial favor by selling the property. “I fear that the proceeds will quickly be eaten up by the costs incurred for the necessary infrastructure.”
Baumgärtner had spoken out early on in favor of a large new hall in the Olympic Park. The city council’s mandate is now much more open, but the speaker wants to act quickly. After all, the investors in Freising should receive a sign that Munich will not give in. The city would rather build it itself in order to be able to control the competition. “We will quickly put a hall plan on its feet.” The investors in Freising do not want to comment on how to proceed until they have officially received the news of the sale. However, they had emphasized in advance that they did not see any competitive situation with the Olympic Hall.