Northwest center
| North West Center | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Basic data | ||
| Location: |
Nordweststadt (district: Frankfurt-Heddernheim ) |
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| Opening: | October 4th 1968, after redesign in 1987, after expansion in 2004 | |
| Sales area : | 90,500 m² | |
| Shops: | about 150 | |
| Turnover : | around 400 million euros (2006) | |
| Owner : | NordWestZentrum Verwaltungsgesellschaft mbH | |
| Website: | www.nwz-frankfurt.de | |
| Transport links | ||
| Bus stop: | Nordwestzentrum underground station | |
| Subway : |
 
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| Omnibus : | 29, 60, 71, 72/73, 251 | |
| Motorways : | Rosa-Luxemburg-Strasse | |
| Parking spaces : | about 3,500 | |
| Technical specifications | ||
| Construction time : | 1965–1968, extension in 2004 | |
| Architects : | Otto Apel , Hansgeorg Beckert and Gilbert Beckert (ABB office); Extension 2004: JSK | |
The Nordwestzentrum (short: NWZ ) is a shopping center in the Nordweststadt housing estate in Frankfurt-Heddernheim .
General
The Nordwestzentrum was opened in 1968 as a multifunctional district center and is now owned by the private Nordwest-Zentrum Verwaltungsgesellschaft mbH . In addition to 150 shops, specialist department stores and service providers, the complex has its own subway connection (subway lines U1 and U9) and an internal bus station for six bus lines. Numerous social and other municipal facilities are also located in the center.
The north-west center is built according to the urban planning principle of an island solution: an oval area of 390 by 240 meters forms the center, it is surrounded by a wide ring road. Located on the eastern edge of the large housing estate in Nordweststadt, it borders directly on Rosa-Luxemburg-Strasse , an expressway leading from Frankfurt into the Taunus . As a large roundabout , the Erich-Ollenhauer-Ring leads around the center with entrances to the parking garage and the bus station. Five high-altitude footbridges lead to the neighboring quarters: the Nordweststadt-Steg , the Niederurseler Steg , the Heddernheimer Steg , the Römerstadt -steg and the Praunheimer Steg .
history
Concept, construction and opening
The Northwest Center was built between 1965 and 1968 according to the plans of the architects Otto Apel , Hannsgeorg Beckert and Gilbert Becker and was initially owned by the Neue Heimat .
The original appearance of the center was characterized by a typical 1970s flair. It was conceived as the cultural and economic center of the northwest city. From the beginning and almost unchanged to this day, there is the community center with a large event hall and the district library, an indoor swimming pool, a daycare center and numerous medical practices. Until the move in spring 2017, the Northwest Center housed the 14th police station and the 21 fire and rescue station .
On October 4, 1968, the Nordwestzentrum was opened as the first shopping center in Frankfurt. Tens of thousands of people streamed into the center on the Frankfurt subway that opened on the same day .
Due to the very short construction time and quality defects, the building fabric quickly needed renovation in the late 1980s. Penetrating rainwater caused severe damage to the reinforced concrete, so that at that time many pillars in the parking garage had to be supported by thick wooden beams. The north-west center was seen as an architectural derailment, like numerous other buildings planned in the 1960s. The number of visitors then fell sharply. Investors for the necessary renovation were initially not found and the demolition of the center was even discussed.
New beginning
In 1986 the center was sold to the management consultant Georg Faktor , who completely renovated it and redesigned it based on the model of American shopping malls . For its renovation in 1986/1987, in which huge curved glass roofs were added to the two open shopping arcades, the NWZ received an architecture prize from the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC, an association of shopping centers) for the “world's best redesign of a shopping center”.
In the early 1990s, Josef Buchmann bought the north-west center from the Faktor family and completely renovated it. It is still in his possession. The number of visitors has now grown steadily again. As early as 1992, the center was expanded to include a new building complex consisting of a hotel, a restaurant, a large fitness center and adventure pool ( Titus Thermen ) on the site of the old indoor pool. For this purpose, a high-rise building on the western edge of the center had to be demolished. The revitalized community center is now called the Titus Forum and is operated by Saalbau GmbH .
At the end of the 1990s, the Hertie department store , which was the center's largest store at the time, was closed and, after being converted, it was divided into five small stores and expanded. Until 2004, the Northwest Center no longer had a department store.
extension
After the extensive revitalization of the center in the 1980s, the investors commissioned the architects JSK to expand the center by around half of the rentable retail space. In December 2001, work on the extension began.
The north-west center was expanded as follows as a result of the 180 million euro project:
The construction of an additional 3000 square meter shopping street will create a further 37,000 square meters of rentable retail and catering space.
High-quality natural stone floors and facades, improved escalator and treadmill access, glass roofs and a large number of green “oases of calm” made the shopping center more attractive in order to attract as many visitors as possible to the center. The daily customer traffic of around 30,000 to 40,000 should also be maintained during the renovation work.
At the beginning of the 2000s, the expansion of the shopping center was the largest construction site in Frankfurt and one of the largest in the entire Hessian area. According to the construction company Ed. Züblin Stuttgart built around 10,000 tons of steel. In order to ensure a smooth process on the construction site, in addition to the approximately 180 employees, another 50 engineers , architects and planners were on site.
In autumn 2004 the third passage, the so-called fashion boulevard , was opened. Since then, the North West Center has been one of the largest shopping centers in Germany . In addition to a large number of textile suppliers such as Esprit and s.Oliver as well as the Humanic shoe store , around 1200 square meters are also used in the highly frequented experience gastronomy area . The largest anchor tenant in the new building with a floor space of around 15,000 square meters on three floors is now the Galeria Kaufhof department store , which will, however, finally close in 2019. With 30 new stores, the number of providers has grown to over 150 and around 1000 new jobs (including part-time workers) have been created.
In addition to the new retail space, a 13-storey high-rise has been built on the site of the former student residence , with 36 apartments on the top three floors. Of the approximately 6,300 square meters of rental space in the high-rise, around 1,300 square meters will be used as “attractive living” in the north-west center, the rest will be used as office space.
After the renovation and extension, around 3,500 parking spaces are available to customers. The approximately 1300 new parking spaces are located above the new shops in three parking decks, which are accessed with the help of a spindle via the existing underground car park. At the same time, the parking area was equipped with a parking guidance system; analogous to Frankfurt Airport or other large parking garages.
Renovation since 2017
Another renovation project began in 2017 and is expected to extend over two years. The move out of the fire station and the police station as well as the significant reduction in the size of the existing storage space will create space for 45 new shops. The commercial space will only be increased by 4,000 to a total of 94,500 square meters. At this time, the North West Center is visited by an average of 45,000 customers a day. The VHS-Zentrum Nord of the Volkshochschule Frankfurt am Main in the former fire station of the Nordwestzentrum has existed since autumn 2017 . The work should last until Easter 2019 and cost 60 to 80 million euros. After its completion, the Nordwestzentrum will again be the largest shopping center in terms of area in the Rhine-Main area, followed by the Main-Taunus-Zentrum .
See also
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ A b Kampffmeyer, Hans: The north-west city in Frankfurt am Main. European Publishing Company 1968 (together with Siegfried Boldt)
- ↑ Homepage of JSK Dipl. Ing. Architects with pictures of the extension
- ^ Frankfurter Neue Presse: 14. Revier has to move out in spring: Frankfurt northwest soon without police | Frankfurter Neue Presse . ( fnp.de [accessed January 25, 2018]).
- ↑ Construction progress at the Wache 21 . ( feuerwehr-frankfurt.de [accessed January 25, 2018]).
- ↑ The North West Center opened 35 years ago, and customers flocked to the new U1. In: heddernheim.de
- ↑ Josef Buchmann runs the Northwest Center. In: faz.net
- ^ Petra Kirchhoff: General overhaul: 45 new shops in the north-west center . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . March 8, 2017, ISSN 0174-4909 ( faz.net [accessed March 9, 2017]).
- ^ Judith Dietermann: Further training in the Northwest Center: Adult Education Center opens a branch in the former fire station | Frankfurter Neue Presse . ( fnp.de [accessed October 6, 2018]).
- ↑ NN: Full program in the new VHS Center North: Open House at the new VHS location. City of Frankfurt am Main, October 26, 2017, accessed on October 6, 2018 .
- ↑ Christoph Manus: Shopping in Frankfurt: Nordwestzentrum is 50 years old and bigger than ever . In: Frankfurter Rundschau . October 6, 2018 ( fr.de [accessed October 6, 2018]).
Coordinates: 50 ° 9 ′ 28 " N , 8 ° 37 ′ 59" E