Frankfurt: What the city did with the “Loch” work at the Hauptwache on the Zeil
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fromJulian Dorn
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The Hauptwache on the Zeil in Frankfurt urgently needs to be renovated. THE city has a special plan for the “hole”.
Frankfurt – For a long time there was only one point of agreement among the city politicians: The main guard station on the Zeil in Frankfurt urgently needs to be renovated, both above and below ground. The local politicians could not come to an understanding solely on how. Until now.
Because now it is clear: The funnel-shaped staircase at the Hauptwache in Frankfurt should not be provided with a lid. This is what a decision of principle by the city council from 2010 actually provided for. He’s a nun from the table. The municipal authorities in Frankfurt decided on Friday (October 1st, 2021). The reason for this is once again the cost. A “cap” would have cost a total of 234 million euros, reports the Journal Frankfurt. In addition, the building renovation would have swallowed up another 70 million euros, an estimate from 2018.
Hauptwache on the Zeil in Frankfurt is to be transformed from a “hole” to a “city stage”
But what about the “hole” at the Hauptwache on the Zeil in Frankfurt? Instead of closing the exit, it is to be converted into an “urban stage”. This emerges from the new plans of the municipal authorities in Frankfurt. The city planning office recently presented a concept study for the redesign of the main guard house. The huge staircase of the Hauptwache should become a place of culture “with a quality of stay and a special character”, said planning department Mike Josef (SPD) according to Frankfurter Rundschau (FR).
This is now to be achieved temporarily with seating, shading elements, trees and other plants, thus upgrading the space. In this ambience at the Hauptwache in Frankfurt, smaller cultural events and concerts are to take place in the future.
The city says that the temporary redesign of the central square in downtown Frankfurt should now be tackled quickly. The rehabilitation of the underground levels is expected to take until 2030.
The controversy about the “hole” at the main guard
In Frankfurt there was a long dispute about “covering” the main guard. While planning department head Mike Josef (SPD) considers a lid for the hole at the Hauptwache to be expensive and unnecessary, the Frankfurt CDU has long been calling for a lid.
Another point of contention was the amount of between 77 and 234 million euros that were budgeted for the construction. In addition, Josef and the SPD criticized the construction of the lid as difficult and “incredibly expensive” for static reasons.
The head of the economic department, Stephanie Wüst (FDP), can also gain a lot from the solution. The upgrading of the Hauptwache sends “important signals to retail and gastronomy – especially against the background of the pandemic year 2020”, Wüst told Journal Frankfurt.
Renovation of the Hauptwache on the Zeil in Frankfurt: City parliament has yet to approve the new plans
How exactly these temporary changes at the Hauptwache in Frankfurt will look like is now to be proposed in a concept. Planning funds of 180,000 euros are available for this.
But before that, the city councilors of Frankfurt still have to approve the city’s new plans for an arena for cultural workers on the Zeil. But there shouldn’t be too much controversy in parliament. Even the CDU, which had demanded a lid over the staircase, was finally ready for new solutions, reports the FR. Especially since the roof that was decided on ten years ago could not be implemented for ten years at the earliest.
There were also ambitious redesign plans for the Zeil at the beginning of the year. An idea for the shopping mile in Frankfurt is particularly spectacular and would cause a paradigm shift in the city center. (Julian Dorn)