Hotel Astoria (Leipzig)

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Hotel Astoria, 2013
Hotel logo as fluorescent tubes

The Hotel Astoria was opened in Leipzig on December 5, 1915 and operated until December 30, 1996. It is located immediately west of the main train station on Willy-Brandt-Platz between Kurt-Schumacher-Straße and Gerberstraße. The building complex, whose facade is under monument protection, followed the closure. In January 2016, an international hotel and real estate consortium acquired the hotel building and sold it to the Israeli company Intown Property Management in May 2016 .

history

Hotel Astoria, 1928, on the right Leipzig Central Station

The hotel complex was built from 1913 to 1915 according to the plans of the architects William Lossow and Max Hans Kühne by the Frankfurt construction company Cohn & Krek on an area of ​​2800 square meters. Lossow and Kühne were also the architects of the neighboring Leipzig Central Station , which officially opened at the end of 1915. At the beginning the hotel had around 200 rooms with 250 beds and 35 bathrooms. There was also a dance café, social rooms and several restaurants (1915 with 160 seats). The original main entrance was on Kurt-Schumacher-Straße opposite the main train station. As part of the reconstruction after 1945, this was relocated to Willy-Brandt-Platz in a more representative form.

One of the first shareholders was the Leipziger Wollkämmerei . During the Third Reich , the Astoria belonged to the Jewish building contractor Carl Ottokar Cohn. In the course of the Aryanization , he was forced to sell the hotel to the state for far below its value, which ultimately saved him from being murdered in the concentration camp.

During the air raid on Leipzig on December 4, 1943 , the building was badly damaged, so that the west and south wings had to be completely rebuilt.

GDR

Hotel Astoria in June 1957

The hotel took on its first tasks after the end of the Second World War as part of the Leipzig Spring Fair in 1946, before it was officially reopened three years later. During this time one of the first Leipzig post-war television sets was in the entrance hall of the house. By 1958, the bed capacity was increased to 350 through a new building and extensive reconstructions . After further construction work, the Hotel Astoria offered accommodation for 465 guests and 800 restaurant seats from 1965. After the expropriation of the previous owner, it was operated first from 1952 by the state trade organization (HO) and from 1965 by the Interhotel chain. The ceremony for the establishment of the Interhotel took place in January 1965 in the Hotel Astoria .

Between 1969 and 1973 there was a complete renovation while the hotel was still in operation, including new lifts . In the years 1978 to 1981 the rooms were modernized again and a new office wing created in order to do justice to the house as a so-called government and protocol hotel for politically and socially highly respected guests. In 1986, in addition to the hotel bar, three well-respected restaurants, the Karat dance café and three salons with 1,000 seats were available to visitors.

In the GDR times, the Astoria was considered one of the most beautiful hotels in the country due to its modern, luxurious and individual interior design (no two rooms were alike) and it was also an important gastronomic center. His guests included mainly government employees as well as state guests and visitors to the Leipzig Trade Fair from non-socialist countries who served the GDR as an important source of foreign currency. Personalities like Walter Ulbricht , Karl-Eduard von Schnitzler or Rudi Glöckner were often guests at the Astoria .

After the turn

Shortly after the fall of the Wall in 1990, it was privatized as Hotel Astoria GmbH . In 1992 the Maritim Hotelgesellschaft took over the hotel and continued to run it until the hotel was closed in 1996. The partially listed building has been vacant since then. In 2006 the building was bought by the US investment company Blackstone Group . Blackstone claims to be looking for investors for the hotel. Public expressions of interest in buying the Astoria, for example by the Israeli investment banker Adi Keizman in 2011, were initially not followed by any further steps. In August 2013, Blackstone held unsuccessful sales talks with the three creditors of a EUR 550 million loan, with which Blackstone had largely financed the purchase of the former Interhotel chain.

In January 2016 it was announced that Blackstone had finally sold to interested parties Starwood Capital , i-Star and Brookfield after more than two years of negotiations . The transfer of ownership came about as part of a package sale with ten former GDR Interhotels. The total amount was given as 600 million euros. The new hotel operators wanted to develop the building complex again into a hotel and congress center.

On May 20, 2016, the real estate company Intown Invest owned by Israeli project developer Amir Dayan acquired the Astoria . The German managing director of the Intown Group , renamed Lianeo Real Estate GmbH in January 2019 , Sascha Hettrich, also became head of the Berlin company Vivion Investment GmbH in August 2019 . Vivion now operates as the owner of the Astoria Hotel .

Renovation 2019 - 2021

In April 2017 was a report by the Leipziger Volkszeitung of the start of construction in mid-2018 and the opening for summer 2020 announced . The renovation and a partial demolition will be supervised by the Berlin architectural office Wolff Architekten , which has announced an opening for the end of 2020. The neighboring Hotel Best Western caused an initial delay, the owners of which obtained a temporary construction stop at the Leipzig Administrative Court on July 24, 2019 by means of an urgent application against the building permit. The neighboring hotel complained about inadequate precautions against the dust and noise pollution during the construction work. After an agreement, the urgent application was withdrawn on August 7, 2019. Just like the owners of the Astoria , the hotel chain Best Western also founded their own company for their Leipzig hotel under the name Hotel zum Löwen GmbH .

The gutting of the building was completed in May 2019 and the first details of the planned use were presented at a press conference. A representative lobby welcomes the guests and the restaurant will contain stylistic elements from 1913 to 1950. A banquet area for 1000 guests on around 800 m² with five ballrooms and six conference rooms forms the center of the hotel. The completion with 250 rooms and 470 beds should initially take place at the end of 2020. The future hotel operator had not yet been determined in May 2019. In October 2019 Vivion was in negotiations with the British InterContinental Hotels Group ( IHG ).

The Bautzen Higher Administrative Court decided on February 14, 2020 that the approval for the renovation was not permitted under planning law and thus obtained a second interruption of the construction work. Hotel neighbor Best Western submitted an application for a change to the building authority in Leipzig "already in spring 2019" with a number of demands on Vivion , which essentially insist on minimizing the noise level on the part of the Astoria owners . The catalog of requirements provides, among other things: "Change of the underground car park access, the complete housing of the glass containers , electric drives and noise-free tires for the vehicles in the courtyard area". Vivion has not yet met these requests for noise protection in the inner courtyard. In addition, it became known that Vivion would not reduce the previous number of 350 guest rooms to 250 as stated, but would rather increase it to 500 rooms. The Leipzig Office for Building Regulations and Monument Preservation lifted the construction freeze on June 11, 2020 after the case had been "intensively examined" and issued a building permit.

literature

  • Herbert Pilz, Helmut Vogel: Hotel Astoria - 70 years old! In: Leipziger Kulinarien 3 (1986), ZDB -ID 1175133-2 , DNB 210406585 , pp. 31-36.
  • Herbert Pilz: Shelter for strangers. From hostels, inns and luxury hotels . In: ders .: Leipzig hospitality through changing times. A gastronomic journey through six centuries . (= Culinary Antiques 14) Vocational School for the catering and hotel industry, Leipzig 2003, record of slub , pp 5-14.

Movies

  • Politics, celebrities and luxury - The Hotel Astoria in the GDR. Documentary, Germany, 2013, 29:45 min., Script and director: Galina Breitkreuz, production: MDR , series: Der Osten - Discover where you live , first broadcast: March 5th, 2013 on MDR television , summary from MDR, ( Memento vom March 8, 2013 in the Internet Archive ).
  • Alina Cyranek is currently shooting and producing a documentary with animations about the Hotel Astoria , funded by Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung . The film should be ready for the opening of the hotel; Preview.

Radio

  • VEB Luxus - The Leipzig Hotel Astoria. Radio documentary, Germany, 1998, 55 min, Book:. Ulrich Wendel man, directed by Hein Bruehl, Production: WDR , Summary of phonostar .

music

  • Dilapidated - Episode 1: Astoria. 9th album by the band ASP . Music genre : Dark Rock , Text: Alexander Spreng , Publication: October 16, 2015. Musical implementation of a fantastic plot in which the Hotel Astoria plays a central role as a luxury hotel and as a ruin.
  • Dilapidated - Part 2: Facades. 10th album of the band ASP. Music genre: Dark Rock, Text: Alexander Spreng, Publication: April 1, 2016. Further accounts of the events in the Hotel Astoria over the course of German history, from the Second World War to the construction of the Berlin Wall .

Web links

Commons : Hotel Astoria  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

After the turn

Individual evidence

  1. ^ N. N .: End of a luxury hotel. About the closure of the Leipzig “Astoria” in 1996. ( Memento from February 20, 2016 in the Internet Archive ). In: WDR 5 , August 2, 2015.
  2. ^ A b Jens Rometsch: Leipzig Hotel Astoria has new owners - consortium takes over property. In: Leipziger Volkszeitung , January 20, 2016.
  3. ^ A b Jens Rometsch: The new owner of the Hotel Astoria is very secretive and controversial. In: Leipziger Volkszeitung , June 6, 2016.
  4. ↑ a b c Herbert Pilz, Helmut Vogel 1996, p. 32.
  5. ↑ a b Herbert Pilz, Helmut Vogel 1996, p. 33.
  6. ^ Galina Breitkreuz: Politics, VIPs and Luxury - The Hotel Astoria in the GDR. ( Memento of March 8, 2013 in the Internet Archive ). Documentary, MDR , March 5, 2013.
  7. ↑ a b Herbert Pilz, Helmut Vogel 1996, p. 34.
  8. ↑ a b Herbert Pilz 2003, p. 13.
  9. ↑ Herbert Pilz, Helmut Vogel 1996, p. 34 f.
  10. ↑ For Adi Keizman's real estate activities, see Peter Podjavorsek and Adama Ulrich: Goldgrube Wohnungsnot. Profits with brutal methods. In: Frontal 21 , December 3, 2019, 11 min., Video available until December 3, 2020.
  11. ↑ Jackie Richard: Is Israeli buying Leipzig's abandoned luxury hotel? New hope for the Astoria. In: Regional picture , September 21, 2011.
  12. ↑ Erik Trümper: Owner leads new negotiations. Hotel Astoria before the sale? In: Regional picture , August 28, 2013.
  13. ↑ Jens Rometsch: Fürstenhof operator could take over the Leipzig Astoria Hotel. In: Leipziger Volkszeitung , June 11, 2015.
  14. ↑ Doreen Beilke: BILD solves riddle about new owner | Israelis buy Hotel Astoria. In: picture , June 3, 2016.
  15. ↑ Company data: Vivion Investment GmbH, Berlin. In: North Data , accessed January 22, 2020.
  16. ↑ a b c Jens Rometsch: Done: Hotel Astoria is gutted. In: Leipziger Volkszeitung , May 11, 2019, with site photos and videos.
  17. ↑ Jens Rometsch: Former Grand Hotel Astoria in Leipzig should keep its name. In: Leipziger Volkszeitung , April 6, 2017.
  18. ↑ Slide show: Grand Hotel Astoria. In: Wolff Architekten , accessed on December 22, 2017.
  19. ↑ dpa / sn: Saxony. Renovation of the luxury hotel “Astoria” comes to a standstill. In: Die Welt , August 5, 2019.
  20. ↑ a b MDR / cg: Construction freeze at the Leipzig Hotel Astoria canceled for the time being. In: MDR Saxony , August 7, 2019.
  21. ^ Hotel history: Everything about the hotel history and the answer to what the lions in Leipzig are all about! In: Best Western , accessed May 11, 2020.
  22. ↑ a b Evelyn ter Vehn: This will become the Grand Hotel Astoria in Leipzig. In: Leipziger Volkszeitung , May 4, 2018, with video.
  23. ↑ Jackie Richard: With the luxury category 4-star plus: Will Leipzig's Astoria become a “Crowne Plaza” hotel? In: Bild regional , October 17, 2019.
  24. ^ MDR / kp / dpa : Construction stop at the Leipzig Astoria Hotel. In: MDR Saxony , February 19, 2020.
  25. ^ A b Jens Rometsch: Lawyer in an LVZ interview. Hotel legend Astoria: Construction freeze could take months. In: Leipziger Volkszeitung , April 10, 2020.
  26. ↑ Film announcement: Politics, celebrities and luxury - The Hotel Astoria in the GDR. ( Memento of March 8, 2013 in the Internet Archive ). In: MDR TV , March 5, 2013.
  27. ^ NN: Luxury renovation in Leipzig. Construction stop at the Hotel Astoria lifted. In: Bild , June 12, 2020.
  28. ↑ Kerstin Decker: Looking for memories. The film about the Hotel Astoria should be ready in 2020. In: Leipziger Volkszeitung , January 22, 2018.
  29. ↑ Andre Stasius: ASP - awaken the Leipzig Hotel Astoria to new life. ( Memento from February 20, 2016 in the Internet Archive ). In: Tombstone Webzine , August 2, 2015.

Coordinates: 51 ° 20 ′ 42.9 "  N , 12 ° 22 ′ 41.8"  E