For about a year now, the citizens of the city of Gelnhausen have been preparing for the demolition of the former Joh department store on the main shopping street, but they will probably have to come to terms with the sight of the ailing property for a while.
The building has been empty since the department store closed its doors forever in September 2013.
All attempts to re-use it failed, including investor plans for an inner-city outlet center.
Luise Glaser-Lotz
Correspondent for the Rhein-Main-Zeitung for the Main-Kinzig district.
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Last summer, what finally appeared to be a solution emerged. The Kreissparkasse Gelnhausen presented plans to buy and develop the area. In this scenario, the demolition of the building is planned. In a new building, areas for gastronomy and retail are to be created on the ground floor. The Main-Kinzig-Kreis acts as the anchor tenant for the upper floors, and wants to consolidate its branch offices scattered around Gelnhausen there and use additional rooms for the nearby vocational school and the district's media center. In order to give the Sparkasse planning security, the city of Gelnhausen granted it a right of first refusal until December 31, 2020. The talk was of a purchase price of around two million euros. The building should then be demolished in the second half of 2021.
Failure cannot be ruled out
But once again a project for the future of the Joh-Kaufhaus has been delayed.
Failure of the plans cannot be ruled out either.
According to Mayor Daniel Glöckner (FDP), disagreements emerged at the end of November between the Sparkasse and the city, which owns the area through the Gelnhausen urban development company, over the creation of the necessary parking spaces.
Initially, the Sparkasse favored the city's sale of the parking lot between the train station and Triangulum to a private investor who should have built a parking garage, after which the Sparkasse switched to creating parking spaces on its own.
A change to the existing development plan was also necessary for the construction of the parking lot.
At the end of February this year, the city council decided to draw up the development plan for the “Service Center Südstadt”.
The open position began on May 17th and will last until June 18th.
The plan comprises two areas.
The first can be found south of Kinzig and west of Im Ziegelhaus street and north of Hailerer Straße.
This part concerns the property of the former department store Joh. The second part lies on the railway areas adjoining to the south.
Due to the development plan procedure, the deadline for the right of first refusal for the Kreissparkasse was extended twice, first to June 30th and then to the end of September.
A decision in July
According to Glöckner, the extent of the objections after the disclosure and what possible effects they will have is now decisive for the progress of the project. In his opinion, this depends on the Sparkasse's decision as to whether it will pursue the project or whether it will give it up. Glöckner expects a decision to be made in July. Should the Sparkasse withdraw from the project, it would not be a disaster for the mayor, as he says. There are other interested parties for the department store area.