After the Free State’s first renovation plans became known, the Munich Student Union is now also planning to densify the student town of Freimann. “We had our first discussions with the municipality about launching an urban development competition in 2018 and 2019,” says Alexander Uehlein. “We will resume this now.” According to the head of the student housing department, additional living space could be created in the two-story development in the rear part of the development, also called the “old town” by insiders.
There is also capacity in the parking deck area on Ungererstrasse. “An architect we commissioned had at the time considered how much living space could be possible on the site.” His result back then: an additional floor area of 32,000 square meters or around a thousand living spaces.
The first implementation ideas were also born back then. “One could be to step down in terms of urban development towards the English Garden,” explains Uehlein. What he calls a “test draft” envisages a row of houses “in a comb structure” along Ungererstrasse – including the local supplier that is urgently needed on site. However, the parking deck there would have to go because it is rarely used anyway. Most residents of the neighborhood cycle or use public transport. In order to be able to provide a reduced parking space certificate and thus be able to actually demolish the parking deck, the student union is currently creating a mobility concept.
This new development is possible thanks to the Bavarian state government’s draft budget for 2024/25. In order to create student housing, the Free State wants to strengthen the student unions’ equity base by a total of 50 million euros. And because new buildings are financed not only with equity, but also with subsidies and borrowed capital, construction costs of at least 150 million euros could be shouldered, explains Uehlein.
Money that had been missing in previous years. In Uehlein’s opinion, however, investments of around 300 million euros are conceivable on the student city site with its numerous empty apartments. “The whole thing has now developed a new dynamic,” says the engineer and architect. The need is there, now concepts are needed.
There are currently more than 1,000 empty apartments
The student town of Freimann, Germany’s largest student settlement, is divided into two parts – the old town facing the English Garden with a small-scale development and 784 residential spaces, built between 1961 and 1968. And the so-called Neustadt towards Ungererstrasse with its high-rise buildings, built between 1971 and 1977 . The Neustadt theoretically offers space for 1,674 students, but there are currently more than a thousand empty apartments there.
The student union and the Free State were criticized for this for years, but the renovation has now been initiated. The renovation of House 12 is scheduled to last until autumn 2027, and completion of the work in House 9 is planned for the end of 2028. According to Uehlein, houses 10 and 13 should also be completed in 2027/28: “The vacancies will then largely be eliminated and the new town will be renovated except for house 14.”
The planned densification should help to further reduce the deficit of dormitory places in Munich. The student union currently offers more than 9,000 dormitory places in Munich, Freising and Rosenheim, and the same number of people are currently on the waiting list.