The excitement is great among many people in city politics who are concerned with the future of the wholesale market hall. In particular, municipal officer Kristina Frank is reportedly pissed off about economics officer Clemens Baumgärtner, who drove her into the parade with his initiative to build a new wholesale market on the outskirts of the city – and apparently without warning. For a long time, Frank has been campaigning for a private investor to build a new wholesale market on the main site on Schäftlarnstraße and for the city to cede the property as a building lease. A Europe-wide tender has just been completed.
Frank now reacts to the suggestion of her CSU party colleague with a counterattack that is subtle in the choice of words, but which indirectly attests Baumgärtner an air number: She will “submit to the city council next week, in coordination with the planning department, a decision recommendation that is both reliable and well-founded and level-headed”. lets Frank align via a spokeswoman.
It is also a tricky situation for Manuel Pretzl, the leader of the CSU/Free Voters parliamentary group. His CSU helped get the investor solution off the ground, and it only has two speakers left from the previous election period: Frank and Baumgärtner, who now disagree on one of the biggest local political decisions in the near future. But Pretzl is with the faction on Frank’s side. “We are sticking to the Grossmarkthalle project as planned. From our point of view, the city council should decide on further steps next week.” Baumgärtner is currently alone in his own party with his proposal.
Formally, responsibility for the wholesale market lies with Frank’s municipal department. Business consultant Baumgärtner justified his initiative with concerns about the whereabouts of the dealers in the city and thus about the business location and the trade tax revenue. Baumgärtner warned in an interview with Suddeutscher Zeitung and real estate newspaper, that the investor’s project, which will probably result in a combination of the wholesale market with another use in one building complex, harbors considerable risks due to its complexity. It is unclear whether the new wholesale market can actually be completed by 2030 as planned and whether, given the construction costs, the promised moderate rents for retailers can be maintained. In view of the already existing dissatisfaction in large parts of the dealership, Baumgärtner fears that a competitor location outside the city limits will come into play.
Interesting are the reactions from the green-red town hall coalition, which does not sidestep Baumgärtner, but leaves back doors open. “There must be no ban on thinking when developing the wholesale market area,” says Kathrin Abele, deputy leader of the SPD/Volt parliamentary group. “But the proposal that has now been presented is very vague, and relocation to the outskirts of the city has already been examined.”
In fact, the municipal and planning departments jointly stated that an examination of private and public areas at the end of 2020 showed “that there are no alternative immediately available locations for the wholesale market hall”. A piece of information that at least leaves the question unanswered as to whether space would need to be acquired in the future. Baumgärtner has announced that he will have the question checked again – which in turn could be understood as interference in the municipal and planning departments.
Kathrin Abele from the SPD is now focusing on the next week. “We want the best possible solution and will therefore first wait for the call for tenders so that we have a well-founded basis for discussion.” Anna Hanusch from the Green/Pink List parliamentary group, whose members are skeptical about the investor solution and still cling to the idea that the city could build the new wholesale market in Sendling itself, made a similar statement. “I don’t know why Mr. Baumgärtner is making his great suggestion now, although he doesn’t even really have a suggestion,” says Hanusch. Her parliamentary group will also deal with the topic again after the presentation of the tender results. However, she emphasizes that the process was deliberately designed in such a way that the city could still say goodbye to the investor model.