Deutsche Bank site exhibition

Frankfurt, 29/07/2016

Considerable interest in Frankfurt’s largest urban development project:
From 1 to 16 July, 2,000 people visited the exhibition on the development of the former Deutsche Bank site at Junghofstraße 11, which was organised by the project developer Groß & Partner. Over two floors, Groß & Partner presented the past, present and future of the site between Großer Gallusstraße, Junghofstraße and Neuer Schlesingergasse. By 2021, four high-rise buildings will be erected on the site and turn the financial district into the kind of mixed-use space it had been for centuries. After the area had not been open to the public for 45 years, its revival began with the opening of the exhibition.

The redevelopment concepts formed the heart of the exhibition and met with broad approval from visitors. The design by the architecture firm UNStudio from Amsterdam was the winner of the urban planning ideas competition, which was organised by Groß & Partner in cooperation with the city of Frankfurt. All ten submissions were showcased on the first floor. On the ground floor, atmospheric pictures, historical photographs and newspaper articles as well as background information about the site from the beginning of the 19th century took visitors on a journey through time.

The project developer offered guided tours of the exhibition for groups, including for Deutsche Bank, which owned the site until autumn 2015. The bank’s employees were impressed by the historical exhibition and the ideas for the area: “We like the fact that this be a versatile and lively quarter again. At the moment, there is not much to do in the financial district. The new restaurants, entertainment offerings and shops will benefit, not least, the many people who work in the city centre”, says a leading banker who works in the company’s Investment Banking Center at Große Gallusstraße.

Visitors had the opportunity to submit their own suggestions and wishes in an ideas box. Further measures are planned for this year in time for the opening of the building complex at Junghofstraße. Markus Radermacher, head of the Inner City Districts and Special Projects department at Frankfurt’s Urban Planning Office, explained: “The project is central to the development of the city – and it is outstanding in every sense of the word. We welcome the fact that Groß & Partner informs the residents of Frankfurt about the project and gets them involved at an early stage. This lends substance to the project developer’s goal of creating a new public space that is accessible to everyone in Frankfurt.”

To concretise the draft from the urban planning ideas competition, Groß & Partner will launch the architectural realisation competition in August. Fourteen national and international architecture firms will take part in the competition. The project developer will announce the results at the end of the year.