A good three years after its launch, Shaere in the former Allianz building in Neuperlach will close its doors on October 31. This marks the end of what it claims to be Germany’s largest temporary social use project, which brings together 150 artists, clubs, initiatives and start-ups as well as the food rescuers of the “Community Kitchen” under one roof on 15,000 square meters.
1500 people come and go at Shaere every day; in addition to a bar, there are workshops, a cinema, studios and photo studios; plus dozens of workshops and events every week. Among other things, the Munich Kammerspiele with its theater laboratory has found a home in the building on Fritz-Schäffer-Straße, which is very much about culture and education.
But all of this will soon be over, says Philipp Heimerl, who speaks for the owner company Hines. The US group acquired the building and the neighboring office building in 2020, where the final renovation work is currently underway. Meanwhile, the Shaere, which was planned as an interim use from the outset, was built next door from autumn 2021. Now the more than 40-year-old building has “reached a point where continued operation is no longer possible for structural reasons, in particular fire protection, which expires at the end of 2024,” says Heimerl. In addition, according to Hines, preparatory work will begin next year for what is to be built on the site in the long term and will go by the name “Fritz District”. Behind it is a new development with 300 apartments, offices, shops, cafés, restaurants and a daycare center.
Since they want to preserve as much of the existing building as possible, several reports are pending first, explains Philipp Heimerl. “However, these investigations can only be carried out in empty buildings. Any other use is not possible due to these issues.” In addition, Hines is currently working with the city to develop a master plan for the district as a basis for the development plan process. The starting point is a design that emerged as the winner of an urban development and landscape planning competition at the end of 2022.
One requirement in this competition was to accommodate a use similar to Shaere in the Fritz district, recalls Heimerl. “Hines will therefore stay in contact with all users in order to incorporate their opinions and ideas as far as possible until the end of the development plan process so that the essence of the Shaere project can be transferred.”
For now, however, the clubs, institutions and artists must look for a new home – just like the “Community Kitchen”, which saves food from the trash and uses it to make meals for its restaurant and canteens, as well as soups, stews and jams in jars, in the former Allianz canteen kitchen.
“We are very confident that we will find something suitable,” says Günes Seyfarth, founder of the “Community Kitchen”. For many artists and musicians from the area, however, it will be more difficult. “I fear that ten to fifteen percent will return home.” The sadness was correspondingly great when the users of the Shaere were told last week that it would end on October 31. “One or two of them fought back tears,” reports Seyfarth. Despite all the sadness, however, one should not forget that with the Shaere something was created that was unique in Munich, she stresses. “There was no interim use for such a wide range of people. The diversity of this place cannot be found anywhere else in Munich.”
The Greens in Munich City Hall also expressed regret about the approaching end of the interim use of the former Allianz building. “Shaere has decisively changed and promoted neighborhood life in Neuperlach,” says City Councilor Christian Smolka. “I assume that this open meeting place with a communal kitchen, educational and cultural center will find a home in the neighborhood again.”