Building senator on Elbtower: completion by July 2028
In view of the construction freeze on the Elbtower, the Senate is insisting that the skyscraper be completed on time - no later than two years after the previous plans. "We are now assuming completion in July 2028, as stipulated in the contract," said Karen Pein (SPD), Senator for Urban Development, in the parliamentary budget committee on Friday. When the land was handed over to project developer Signa Real Estate in January of this year, the Senate had still assumed that the prestigious property would be completed by 2026 at the latest.
Pein rejected criticism from Left Party MP Heike Sudmann that the Senate had negotiated a "bad contract" when selling the land at the time, which now threatens to leave the city with a "ruined building" for the next five years. "I don't agree at all with the assessment that this was a poorly negotiated contract."
The deadlines for drafting the contract with Signa were deliberately broad in order to cover all eventualities in such a complex construction project, said the Managing Director of Hafencity GmbH, Andreas Kleinau. The aim was always to define deadlines that would enable the private investor to "carry the project across the finish line under its own steam", Pein also said.
According to the contract, the shell of the building must be completed by the beginning of 2028 at the latest, otherwise penalties of 500,000 euros per month, up to a maximum of 10 million euros, could be imposed. The city would not be able to buy back the unfinished building from Signa until 2029 at the earliest in return for reimbursement of the purchase price of 117 million euros. "Insolvency would immediately trigger the repurchase right," said Pein.
"If Signa does not continue building, the people of Hamburg will be able to look at the Elbtower construction site for years to come as a memorial to Olaf Scholz's greed and as a relic of capitalist urban development," said Sudmann. And that is "really not a pretty sight".
Behind the ailing Signa Group is the Austrian real estate entrepreneur René Benko, who recently commissioned a reorganizer to restructure his real estate and retail holding company and withdrew from the operational business.
Financial difficulties in the real estate sector are not limited to Hamburg alone in view of inflation and rising interest rates, said Pein. "In principle, this is a worldwide problem."
Her authority only found out about the construction freeze at the end of October - despite monthly reports from a construction controller commissioned by the project developer, said Pein. "The required reports were submitted and checked every month." "No anomalies were identified". According to Kleinau, there are no indications to date that tenants have already left the Elbtower as a result of the construction freeze.
With 65 floors and 245 meters, the Elbtower is set to become Germany's third tallest building. According to earlier information from Signa Real Estate, the skyscraper was to cost 950 million euros.
Despite the current construction freeze on the Elbtower, citizens are expecting its completion as stipulated in the contract, which is now set for July 2028. The real estate developer, Signa Real Estate, acquired the land for the Elbtower project early this year, with an initial completion date of 2026 at the latest.
Source: www.dpa.com
