The Adler Group has not been on good terms in Frankfurt's local politics for a long time.
Because the real estate company, which was now in crisis, owned plots of land in a prominent location in the Westend and at the Ostbahnhof - where, however, hardly anything was progressing.
"We need investors who also build," says the Römer town hall.
Instead of building, an Adler subsidiary tried to push through more usable space on the former Telekom site at Ostbahnhof.
According to industry experts, this should compensate for the high purchase price for the property.
Gunter Murr
Editor in the Rhein-Main-Zeitung.
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Jochen Remert
Airport editor and correspondent Rhein-Main-Süd.
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But the city stood firm.
"It has proven itself that the magistrate sets clear guidelines," said planning officer Mike Josef (SPD) recently to a request from a city councilor.
And he referred to a business model that is widespread in Frankfurt: Projects are only "developed" and sold at significantly higher prices as soon as the next stage of the process has been reached.
That apparently worked, at least with the Adler property in Ostend.
The financially troubled group sold the two Frankfurt projects at a discount of 13.6 percent on the book value, as the company has now announced.
And specific purchase amounts were not mentioned.
But the industry service "Thomas Daily" speaks of a purchase price of 105 million euros for the area in Ostend alone.
Group urgently needs money
In 2016, the CG Group, which later became part of the Adler subsidiary Consus Real Estate, acquired the property for 71 million euros.
According to its own statements, the Adler Group has received a total of 166 million euros for the two properties after paying off the debts on the projects.
The company urgently needs this money.
Auditors had refused the attestation for the 2021 annual financial statements, and the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority had complained that the balance sheet for 2019 was incorrect.
Allegations of false real estate valuations had previously been raised, which the group has always rejected.
Most recently, both Frankfurt projects came to a standstill.
The former Telekom area at the Ostbahnhof is currently occupied by temporary uses.
Among other things, the German Architecture Museum is temporarily showing its exhibition there, and the buildings from the 1950s can also be seen in the “crime scene”.
So far, the city has planned to hold an urban development competition with the owner.
A mixed quarter with around 400 apartments, some subsidized, as well as commercial space should be created.
The Adler Group did not say to whom the 12,000 square meter site was sold.
"Thomas Daily" calls the Leipzig project developer Quarterback.
No comment was received from him.
The Adler Group wanted to invest 200 million euros in the "Westend Ensemble" project next to the building of the former Oberpostdirektion on the Ludwig-Erhard-Anlage.
240 apartments should be created, but the building permit from 2018 has now expired.
The project has now been bought by the Hamburg-based company Garbe, as confirmed on request.
The Adler Group also intends to sell to investors the large-scale project at the Offenbacher Kaiserlei around the former Siemens high-rises, which was announced under the names New Frankfurt Towers, Vau Vau and Vitopia-Campus, as a spokesman confirmed.
The goal is still a new urban quarter with residential units and office space.
In this regard, the company is bound by an urban planning contract with the city of Offenbach.
If the project were sold, the contractual obligations would remain.
Regardless of the new development, the city of Offenbach is confident that the Kaiserlei project can be implemented as planned, said a city spokesman.
Mayor Felix Schwenke (SPD) is in personal contact with the Adler board and potential investors.