The traditional Autostadt Opel is to have a green campus by 2025, which is intended as the modern German headquarters of the newly formed Stellantis Group.

As the first drafts of the future headquarters, which were published on Thursday, show, the historic K40 building complex plays a central role in the renovation plans.

The shell, i.e. the edges of the cultural heritage, should be preserved as far as possible, but the area itself should be completely reorganized with several office wings.

In addition, the commissioned architecture firm Patriarche suggests creating broad north-south axes between the future independent parts of the building and transforming the outdoor area into a high-quality landscape park: for Opel employees, other traders, visitors and, last but not least, the people of Rüsselsheim.

Markus Schug

Correspondent Rhein-Main-Süd.

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On the other hand, the redesign of the factory premises, which was announced in September and which has now become more concrete, which is intended to give the car company a CO2-neutral headquarters, has resulted in the company wanting to part with areas in the city.

One is looking for a single buyer and developer for various plots in Rüsselsheim, which together cover 112 hectares.

According to the building councilor Nils Kraft (SPD), the municipality would prefer to act itself, but does not see itself financially in a position to do so.

At most, it is conceivable to set up a project development company together with the state of Hesse and possibly also private investors, which will still have to be discussed.

Commitment to the Rüsselsheim location

Otherwise, the city only has the building rights as a lever to have a say in future settlements and large-scale projects. After all, in the past few months, together with Stellantis, a framework concept “Rüsselsheim West” has been developed for the old Opel space that will soon be for sale and a target group analysis has been drawn up that makes initial statements about possible conversion concepts. The basic concepts drawn up with the help of the Albert Speer and Partner and Lennardt and Birner offices, which, roughly speaking, represent two conceivable change scenarios, were approved by the city's magistrate on Tuesday. They are to be discussed next week in the building, planning and environment committee.

The areas that will be vacated, which the group wants to sell “en bloc” as far as possible, according to Kraft, include properties to the left and right of Mainzer Straße, a site directly next to the Segula building, other parts of the old Opel plant on the railway line and areas on the Darmstädter Strasse. Depending on the location and previous exposure, fillet pieces, but also slow-moving goods, could be among them, according to the assessment of the city planning office. Therefore, not much can be said about specific square meter prices.

Stellantis himself has already pointed out in a communication that the restructuring that is now beginning, whatever it will look like in the end, is likely to involve investments in the three-digit million range, which is to be understood as a clear commitment by the automotive company to the Rüsselsheim location. Opel Managing Director Ralph Wangemann announced on Thursday that the aim is to create an attractive campus for employees from administration, sales, research and development around the historic K40 building complex - in the immediate vicinity of the production plant - “with modern equipment, excellent accessibility and short , efficient decision-making processes ". What exactly should happen to the areas around the new Stellantis headquarters that are no longer required is still open:According to Kraft, the city could envision residential development on around half of the areas, partly in mixed areas, i.e. in combination with “urban commerce”.

New settlements are an opportunity, if they bring manufacturing companies, for example from the automotive, chemical and pharmaceutical sectors, to the city, which is conveniently located and directly on the Main.

Sectors such as healthcare, digital communication and knowledge-intensive services would also be a good fit for and after Rüsselsheim.

On the other hand, one would rather not have logistics companies that require large areas.

And the data centers that sprout from the ground and consume a lot of energy would only be desirable if they could be integrated into the overall development as an additional heat supplier for adjacent buildings.