Zeilgalerie
The Zeilgalerie was a shopping center that opened in September 1992 on the Zeil shopping street in Frankfurt am Main . Under the name Les Facettes , it was considered one of the prestige objects of the bankrupt building contractor Jürgen Schneider . The demolition of the shopping center, which was announced in May 2015 and will be replaced by the new UpperZeil building, began in July 2016 .
architecture
The building was planned by the architects Kramm + Strigl. The covered shopping center was built in a narrow gap between department stores. The dominant element of the elaborate glass and steel construction was the centrally located, elongated inner courtyard , which was filled with open escalators and two glass elevators . Around the inner courtyard of the Zeilgalerie, also known as the vertical passage, the footpath with a total of 52 adjacent shops spiraled upwards. On the upper floors there was an outdoor terrace that gave visitors a (free) view over the Main metropolis. There was a connection to the neighboring Galeria Kaufhof in the basement and over the roof .
history
Construction site
In 1936 the clothing store Peek & Cloppenburg settled in two buildings next to each other on the Zeil. The building, which was partially destroyed in the war, was converted to six floors in 1955. Since the small shop between the post office and the Kaufhof was no longer sufficient, Peek & Cloppenburg gave up this location and in 1990 space was created for the Zeilgalerie with the demolition.
Client
The Zeilgalerie was planned and built by the building contractor Jürgen Schneider , who had swindled credit of 415 million euros for the construction through dubious reports. Schneider had his draftsman falsify the plans and was able to convince Deutsche Bank at the time that the Zeilgalerie had 20,000 m² instead of the 9,000 m² of sales area publicly shown on the building sign . He also misled about the expected occupancy by inventing 30 tenants with whom he already wanted to have contracts signed. Shortly before the final completion of the already opened Zeilgalerie, Schneider became insolvent and the craftsmen had to worry about their payment.
Construction changes
In the Zeilgalerie, which was opened in 1992, there was only one escalator in the inner courtyard, which - with intermediate landing - led upwards, which forced visitors to take the long, spiral-shaped path around the inner courtyard that led past all the shops on their way to the exit to take. It was not until 1997 that an escalator leading down was installed, which made the light gallery less effective. The well systems in the basement had not been operated for years and were idle. Up until 1995, the private radio station Radio RPR maintained a glass outdoor studio on level 7 , which was later torn down and replaced by a retail space. In the late 1990s, a large IMAX cinema was built on the roof of the Zeilgalerie , in which, among other things, 3D films were shown. The cinema went bankrupt; A premiere cinema that opened later also closed again after a short time. After three years of vacancy, a 3D cinema with digital projection, the Cinemagnum, took over the rooms in 2007. It played until April 2012. After extensive renovations and a reduction in the number of seats, the Astor Film Lounge, a luxury cinema with a special service, finally opened in December 2012.
The Zeilgalerie was completely rebuilt from summer 2010 to autumn 2011. The new owner, IFM Immobilien AG, had planned an investment volume of around 61 million euros for the purchase and the renovation work. The Wiesbaden design office 3deluxe was responsible for the design . The conversion took place during ongoing operations. The outer facade and the 260 square meter video wall with around 14,000 LEDs were completed in November 2010. The redesign of the interior lasted until autumn 2011. In this context, the leasing of the usable space was also re-planned.
The Zeilgalerie was owned by RFR Holding, which acquired the property from IFM Immobilien AG in 2014.
Closure and demolition
In May 2015 it was announced that the Zeilgalerie would be closed and demolished. The reason given was the high vacancy rate, also caused by the unfavorable layout of the building and the high operating costs due to numerous escalators and elevators in relation to the not particularly large rentable area. While the restaurants in the basement and the shops from the ground floor to the 2nd or 3rd floor were quite well frequented, hardly any customers came to the upper floors in recent years. With rents of up to EUR 280 per square meter, no business owner could afford this for a long time. The vacancy before announcement of the closure was up to 50% so that the Zeilgalerie as a dead mall ( Dead Mall ) could be described.
The demolition work began in July 2016. On the property, in the line between Galeria Kaufhof and MyZeil, the UpperZeil office building is being built according to plans by KSP Jürgen Engel Architekten , Frankfurt. The upper floors are used by the neighboring Galeria Kaufhof and are therefore connected to the neighboring building. The glass facade of the property extends over 45 meters and offers views of the Frankfurt Zeil on all levels.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Nicole Brevoord: Insight into the construction site: the Zeilgalerie becomes UpperZeil. In: Journal Frankfurt. September 14, 2016, accessed November 28, 2016 .
- ↑ Milan Jaeger: Sale in the Zeilgalerie. In: Frankfurter Rundschau . August 8, 2014, accessed May 8, 2015 .
- ^ Fabian Scheuermann: Zeilgalerie is being torn down. In: Frankfurter Rundschau. May 10, 2015, accessed May 9, 2015 .
- ↑ Sönke Schulenburg: Shops are empty, leases expire: Will the Zeilgalerie soon be demolished? In: image . April 19, 2015, accessed July 7, 2016 .
- ↑ Florian Leclerc: Demolition of the Zeilgalerie begins. In: Frankfurter Rundschau. July 5, 2016, accessed July 7, 2016 .
- ↑ until 2018 "UpperZeil" Off "Zeilgalerie". In: fnp.de. April 6, 2016. Retrieved November 29, 2017 .
Coordinates: 50 ° 6 ′ 52 ″ N , 8 ° 40 ′ 50 ″ E