It should be a lively meeting place for shopping, eating and chatting, with very good potential, it should become a top attraction for all population groups: the Evers shopping center on the newly designed Oertelplatz directly at the Allach S-Bahn station. Conceived as a local supplier, with its sales area of 10,000 square meters, it cannot be compared with regional centers such as the Pasing Arcaden (39,000 square meters of retail space) or even the Pep in Neuperlach (60,000 square meters). But for some time now, more and more customers have been facing empty sales rooms at Evers.
If you do not include service providers such as the Stadtsparkasse or the adult education center, of the around 25 shops and restaurants in the much-vaunted “shopping world”, almost two and a half years after opening in July 2019, only two thirds of the smaller ones remained. The “food court” under the glass dome is orphaned. The high vacancy rate is also worrying more and more citizens. So much so that in July a citizen herself started a survey of the population on behalf of many to find out which businesses the Allachers would like to see in the Evers. The list that went to both the center management and the Allach-Untermenzing district committee is long: it ranges from organic products, flowers, cheap and high-quality clothing stores to books, delicatessen and “fast food” from Greek, Asian to shashlik and bratwurst as well as fish, to the techno market and a shop for handicrafts.
You have to ask the citizens, because they know best what their district needs, according to the initiator. The policy of the center management was obviously not working. “It would be a shame if we lost the Evers”, she writes, because Allach has no real town center.
The district committee felt that the commercial units were too big from the start
“80 percent” of all with whom he spoke said, “the Evers was a total failure,” said Victor Agerer (CSU) in the district committee, to which citizens had turned for help. In the opinion of Green Group spokesman Falk Lamkewitz, the whole thing does not come as a complete surprise. The district committee felt the commercial units were too big from the start, and then Corona was added. For Lamkewitz, the problem does not lie with the management or the district committee: shop owners and those in charge of large chains thought very carefully about where they were going and analyzed exactly what was happening in the market and the environment. “I only see a future for the Evers when the cherry grounds are finished,” said SPD parliamentary group spokesman Friedrich Schneller. And for Florian Wimmer (CSU) too, the Evers came too early: “Something was built first that you don’t need yet.”
What was not discussed in the district committee, but could also prevent rapid subletting: There were eight at the Munich I Regional Court, now there are still seven litigation proceedings pending between the owner of the Evers and current or former tenants, as well as independent evidence proceedings, one Main negotiation can be preceded. Almost all of them are about mutual claims such as damages or rent payments – with different judges in each case. At the end of September, the regional court’s press office announced that the evidence proceedings and another lawsuit had been suspended. The parties are currently not pursuing any proceedings, and the lawsuit has recently been withdrawn in one. Three negotiations were decided by a final judgment in the first instance. The “Evers” won each time. The unsuccessful parties had apparently appealed against the judgments, the files were at the Higher Regional Court. Two proceedings are still open.
The managers want to examine all ideas from the population and local politics
In the end, the district committee does not seem to be too worried: A conversation between city district representatives and center management recently went very constructively, said the deputy district committee chairwoman Stefanie Martin (CSU). You have the impression that the management is committed to the center with commitment and professionalism. Although the meeting was confidential, she could say so much: The management had indicated that – also based on the wish list – it was in advanced talks and was convinced of a positive outcome. It should also be taken into account that it takes two to three years for such a center to be established. And then the hard corona lockdowns came in between. “This time has to be added to the end to establish itself.” Few expanded now. SPD spokesman Friedrich Schneller made a similar statement: he was very pleasantly surprised by the conversation: and convinced that the center management was thinking into the future.
The center management is also signaling openness itself: All ideas from the population and local politics will be checked for their feasibility, says Matthias Felten, manager of corporate communications at MEC Metro-ECE Centermanagement GmbH & Co. KG in Düsseldorf. “We are working flat out to further revitalize the Evers with new tenants.” Specifically, “advanced discussions with regional companies” can be reported. The center management is convinced that these negotiations will have a positive outcome, but at the moment they cannot “make any further statements on the status of the negotiations”.