The beverage company Coca-Cola has announced the end of a bidding process for the end of September.

Then it will be clear which investor will settle on the 70,000 square meter area from 2025 - one of the last large contiguous commercial areas in the entire Rhine-Main area close to Autobahn 66. In any case, the community of Liederbach is not in control of the process: after several hours Discussion on Thursday evening, the main and finance committee decided in a special meeting against participating in the bidding process.

Heike Lattka

Correspondent for the Rhein-Main-Zeitung for the Main-Taunus-Kreis.

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The commune could not get involved in a million dollar game.

The project is simply a size too big for Liederbach to handle himself.

Without counter-financing, the community could not "just" loosen up a few million euros, warned Stefan Emert.

Mayor Eva Söllner (both CDU) also referred to the approval of the supervisory authority, which would be necessary if Liederbach wanted to bid in the sale of space.

She received several phone calls every day from interested parties, including international, very interesting companies, including several data center operators, she reported.

In terms of content, she is not allowed to express herself in detail because she has signed a confidentiality agreement.

As requested by the municipal council, Söllner presented a rough draft plan and feasibility study, which was to be presented to all bidders to orientate their options on the areas. The designs ranged from 24 meter high buildings to terraced blocks or a division into small-scale businesses. According to Joachim Lehner (CDU), the municipality does not decide who wins the bidding process and who becomes the buyer. This realization clearly frustrated many parliamentarians. Despite lively discussion, they could not agree on the desired key points. Rather, there was general dissatisfaction that the community was in no way master of the procedure.

Thomas Kandziorowsky (Free Voters) warned against blanket approval for the settlement of data centers. This would only bring in business taxes and compensation for the losses of Coca-Cola for the community if the companies actually relocated their headquarters to the community. Of course, there are no such guarantees, Söllner made clear. The municipality has the possibility of influencing only through the land-use planning, but not over who is buying the site.

This prospect further clouded the mood and increased perplexity: “Why are we actually sitting here?” Asked committee member Emile Ndiaye (The Greens).

The factions adjourned initially, presumably to let the information sink in.

However, the prospect of 24-meter-high buildings immediately aroused the displeasure of Andreas Müller (Die Grünen): If data centers also installed high chimneys, the Liederbach's entrance would be impaired, he warned.

A limitation to 21 meter high buildings with wide green strips was required.

Local residents are also protesting against the group

What Söllner can actually give interested international corporations as framework data remained largely open. The only thing that is certain is that Coca-Cola Liederbach will leave in 2025 - mainly because the desired expansion, which for example provided for the construction of a research center, could not be achieved due to a lack of land. Finally, after almost 50 years of peaceful coexistence in the community, residents also protested against the company. 252 jobs in the community will be lost, and whether a successor use will create as many jobs again at the site was a question that moved the committee members. In any case, data centers do not need many employees.

If Coca-Cola leaves the Liederbach location because of the lack of profitability, the red Coca-Cola can - the beverage company's water reservoir - will also disappear from the community. As Söllner reported, Coca-Cola does not allow the red can to remain after the move as a reminder of half a century of time together in Liederbach.