September 5, 2024

Thyssenkrupp site in Ehrenfeld to become a multifunctional quarter

Food market hall instead of industrial factory hall | Bernd Schöneck | 04.09.2024

Plans and ideas for the former Thyssenkrupp Schulte site are becoming more concrete – offices, restaurants and leisure facilities

Ehrenfeld – The former Thyssenkrupp Schulte site still consists of concrete and asphalt as far as the eye can see. The site on the corner of Oskar-Jäger-Straße and Vogelsanger Straße and a small plot of land opposite to the west of Oskar-Jäger-Straße covers around 22,000 square meters. Industrial production took place here for almost 100 years before the branch of the steel processing and trading group moved to the Frechen industrial estate in September 2021.

More greenery for the district

However, as part of the development of the new district planned by project developer Soravia, it is set to become much greener and open up into the neighborhood. “So far, there has been a total lack of greenery. We have taken a close look at this and are planning to unseal around 3,500 square meters of space,” says Thomas Nadolny, project developer at the Austrian real estate group with a 140-year history. “It will be a completely new quality for Ehrenfeld, which has hardly had any green spaces to date.”

In Austria in particular, Soravia has already realized several large-scale projects with a combination of living, working, gastronomy, culture and leisure. One mega-project that has just started in Germany is the transformation of the former Tengelmann headquarters in Mülheim an der Ruhr into the new “Parkstadt Mülheim”, which is expected to be completed by 2032. With an area of around 14 hectares, the site there is almost comparable in size to the Clouth site in Nippes.

The administration building from 1920, which is a listed building, is to be modernized and continue to serve as office space. To the north and south of the administration building, new buildings are planned for further office and commercial space with six floors as well as a 17-storey tower. A total of around 50,000 square meters of usable space is planned on the site. The winning design from the architectural competition for the development of the site comes from the Dutch-Belgian duo of Neutelings Riedijk Architects (Rotterdam) and the landscape planners from Kollektiv Landscape (Ghent). In August 2023, the urban development committee decided to draw up a project-related development plan for the project. Public participation took place in February and March of this year.

The aim is to have the development plan ready for approval in 2026. The project will then be realized. In addition to the modern office space, the heart of the project will be the 100-year-old, historic factory building with 4,500 square meters of floor space, which will be opened up to the outside: In addition to office lofts, gastronomic offerings and areas for events are planned here that correspond to a modern market hall concept. “We are looking into the possibility of realizing Cologne’s first food market hall in a historic building, following the example of cities such as Paris or Barcelona,” says Lorenz Tragatschnig, project developer at Soravia, including at the Mülheim/Ruhr location.

Soravia realized a similar project in Vienna with the “Gleis/Garten”, in which a “food hall” with several restaurants and an event area was created in a former railroad maintenance depot.

Cultural use is also included in the current project. “It was immediately clear to us that we would incorporate Ehrenfeld’s rich artistic and cultural history into the project,” says Nadolny. Contacts have already been established with the neighboring Live Music Hall, whose grounds adjoin the hall at the rear. Hotel operation conceivable. A hotel is conceivable for the smaller site on the other side of Oskar-Jäger-Straße. A beer garden bar will open on the site in a few weeks as an interim use. A hall with a stage has also been integrated into the ensemble. Adjacent to this, on the edge of the railroad embankment, a footpath and cycle path will lead towards the Max Becker site, which will also be developed over the next few years.

Company history

Thyssensche Handelsgesellschaft had been based in Cologne since 1912, initially on Gereonstraße. In 1926, the company moved to the site in Ehrenfeld on what was then Jägerstraße with an ironmongery, initially under the name Thyssen-Schulte.

During the Second World War, the company premises, which were spread over two plots opposite each other at Oskar-Jäger-Strasse 192 and 175, were severely damaged. Reconstruction of the industrial facilities did not begin until 1948 (bes).

 

Press contact SORAVIA
Soravia Germany GmbH
Jessica Peters
Senior Marketing & Communication Manager
Vorsetzen 50, 20459 Hamburg, Germany
T: +49 151 26371739
J.Peters@soravia-deutschland.de

 

Images:

Image 1: A visualization of the future site. Copyright: Soravia

Image 2: View of the old factory building: its dimensions are to be retained, but it will be completely redesigned.