Handover of keys for Clariant site paves the way for innovative business park
07.07.2020 – A piece of Offenbach's industrial history came to an end on Thursday, July 2, when Clariant handed over the keys to the city of Offenbach. Chemical products were first manufactured on the Clariant site in the east of the city 178 years ago. Lord Mayor Dr. Felix Schwenke, who accepted the key ring from Dr. Thorsten Posner, CEO of Clariant SE, spoke of a "historic moment" and the unique opportunity to give the 36-hectare site a new purpose as an innovation campus.
According to the Lord Mayor and Head of the Department of Economic Affairs, the takeover by the city irrevocably ended a part of Offenbach's industrial history at this location, which had strongly influenced the city until the 1990s. The gradual withdrawal of the chemical industry, like the loss of thousands of jobs in the leather goods industry, mechanical engineering and steel processing, had marked a deep break in Offenbach's economic and social history.
The mayor saw the handing over of the keys as a symbolic act for the change in the purpose of the site: with the acquisition of the largely derelict area, Offenbach was being offered a "historic opportunity" for urban development.
Pioneering industrial estate being created
The municipal master plan designates the area as an innovation campus. Felix Schwenke: "This name is also the program." A "forward-looking business park" will now be created here as an interface between research and business. Housing is not planned here.
Together with the Offenbach Chamber of Industry and Commerce, Hessen Trade and Invest and the University of Art and Design, a design park is to be established, among other things. The aim is to create a technology location here where innovative start-ups, future-oriented companies and research and development departments of existing companies can settle. Felix Schwenke: "Jobs will be created here again and we will also generate business tax revenue here again."
New opportunities for Offenbach
Developing the new campus is a "major challenge and complex task", as it is the "largest contiguous inner-city development area in the region for commercial use". Schwenke: "We have entrusted the task of filling this huge area in the heart of the metropolitan region with new life to our municipal utilities, which have founded a new project company, INNO Innovationscampus GmbH & Co KG, for this purpose." The city has placed its trust in the experts here, particularly the INNO sister company OPG, which had previously organized the successful revitalization of the industrial port.
The Mayor of Offenbach thanked Clariant for the "sometimes tough, but always very fair negotiations" that he had conducted on behalf of the city together with Peter Freier and Paul-Gerhard Weiß. They had led to a "successful result for everyone." Clariant CEO Dr. Thorsten Posner spoke of "long negotiations" that had required "patience and perseverance". However, new opportunities are now opening up for Offenbach on the large site in the heart of the city.
Chemical production from 1842 to 2009
Thorsten Posner recalled the beginnings of chemical production in 1842 with Germany's first tar distillation factory, which the student and friend of Justus von Liebig, Dr. Ernst Sell, founded in Offenbach to produce disinfectants, among other things. The Oehler-Werke expanded this technology and produced the first synthetic dyes from 1851, including the famous blue dyes made from aniline in 1862. This was followed by Griesheim Elektron, the merger in 1925 to form IG Farben, Naphtol-Chemie and finally, in 1953, Farbwerke Hoechst, which expanded the site for its Trevira production.
After the "break-up" of Hoechst AG, Clariant took over the site in 1997 and leased the production facility to Allessa Chemie in 2001, Thorsten Posner recalled. While Allessa itself then concentrated on its Frankfurt-Fechenheim site, the last chemical production facility at the Offenbach site, Invista, was closed in 2009.
According to the Clariant Executive Board member, he was pleased that the industrial wasteland had now "fallen into good hands". His company would continue to follow the further development with great interest. Posner suggested naming future streets and squares to commemorate the industrial past of the site.
Commercial area with high quality of stay to be created
City Treasurer Peter Freier, who expects the new innovation campus to generate not only trade tax revenue but also income tax revenue, was convinced that the day the keys were handed over would go down in Offenbach's city history. The former Clariant site is "unique in Europe" due to its location.
Paul-Gerhard Weiß, Head of Urban Planning, pleaded not to allow a "sterile commercial area" to develop here and therefore also to pay attention to the quality of stay. "The city's urban and green planning departments will therefore be actively involved in this challenging process," Weiß continued.
Municipal utilities and INNO consider interim use options
Stadtwerke and its new INNO project company are already thinking about interim uses, as was previously the case with the development of the port, in order to gradually make the site accessible to the public, explained Daniela Matha, Managing Director of INNO and OPG. With the "Parkside im Hof" cultural series in the historic social building, the city has already made a good start.
It is "courageous and forward-looking" that the city has "taken the reins of action" here in order to move Offenbach forward with all the risks, but also the opportunities. "We will now develop the Innovation Campus with verve and vigor," assured Daniela Matha, speaking of a development horizon of ten to 15 years.
