Final development measures on the Innovation Campus are underway
19.08.2025 – In spring, the general planner for the Innovation Campus surprisingly resigned. Now the development work on the Offenbach Innovation Campus is making progress.
The new planners kept their word and quickly familiarized themselves with the subject matter after the general planner unexpectedly resigned in the spring and a replacement had to be found. In addition, Inno has now been able to commission a general contractor with the final construction development measures. "The construction site for the final development work has now been set up on the Innocampus since mid-August," announced Lord Mayor Dr. Felix Schwenke. First of all, the sewer construction and pipe work is being prepared and fine-tuned with those involved in all other sewer construction work in the surrounding area that is due to start soon. The underground measures will be followed over the course of next year by the innovation belt, as the main development axis for the Innocampus is called, new cycle connections and then, in 2027, the major new junction with Mühlheimer Straße.
"The work will make it possible for all neighbors and the public to see and experience how the site will develop from a huge construction site into a modern and innovative business location in the foreseeable future. However, it is absolutely clear that the development work will have an impact and, of course, cause traffic disruption in the immediate and wider area. There will also be additional noise and vibrations at times. All private and municipal parties involved are trying to keep these effects to a minimum and are in close contact with each other," emphasizes Mayor Schwenke. But, Schwenke continues: "In the end, the result will be tangible for everyone: The area, which has been completely sealed off for over a century, will be made accessible to the entire public through roads, cycle paths, footpaths and new squares, and will also be greened. Around 140 trees are to be planted in the "Innovation Belt" section alone. That will also be a big difference to the past, when the area was completely sealed. The new avenue will connect the site in the north around the Samson entrance to Mainstrasse by the end of 2026 and then to Mühlheimer Strasse in the south with a large intersection. The general contractor has currently promised to complete the public development, including new cycle paths, by the end of 2027 if everything goes according to plan.
Samson AG's relocation has begun on schedule
The 36-hectare former Clariant site, the largest contiguous inner-city development area in the city of Offenbach, is being developed into an attractive location for future-oriented companies. The municipal council and city council approved the resolution for the site in March, making the development plan legally binding. The special feature of the mega-project: Samson AG was granted planning permission in advance. This was made possible because their private building plot was deemed to already be adjacent to the surrounding public development areas and therefore met all the requirements for approval. Work on the new company site progressed according to plan, and in recent weeks Samson has already begun relocating the first production areas, in particular its electronics production, from Frankfurt to Offenbach. According to Samson AG, the start of the move marks an important milestone in its future-oriented MainChange project. The first employees started regular work at the new site at the beginning of August 2025. The first electronic components have already been successfully produced. From October 2025, the Samson positioners will be the first products to be manufactured entirely on the innovation campus in Offenbach. Electronics production will move into the first of a total of eight planned buildings on the new site. Lord Mayor Schwenke, as well as Head of Planning Weiß, had promised at the time of the settlement, when neither building rights nor plans for the developments were available, that the external development was the task of the city and that we would fulfill it in good time.
Initially, the city tried to finalize all development measures in parallel with the completion of the Samson plant. This became obsolete due to ever new challenges. Only after it was clear which areas Samson and BioSpring would acquire as further settlements and which areas would be available for public development in accordance with the final urban development concept, as well as which - particularly important for the development - ground heights would be aimed for, and an approved framework redevelopment plan would be available from the regional council, could the planning of the public development (roads, water, electricity and heat supply) really begin in earnest.
"In order to keep our promises, we implemented the variant with interim development measures. The final development at this point in time would undoubtedly have been the free option. However, interim development was always a possible option, and ultimately even the more likely one due to the objective challenges. The fact that there were moments in the project when we raised expectations too high through our communication on the subject of development still bothers me to this day," Schwenke openly recalls at the start of the final development work that is now beginning. "The important thing for companies and residents alike is that with the current solution, we are fulfilling our promises to Samson in time for the commissioning of the electronics plant. My most important responsibility is that you can rely on the city. We are keeping our word: everything will work on time."
Visually, the interim variant means that when the Samson plant is completed at the end of 2026, smaller parts of the Innocampus will be finished, but larger parts will still have the character of a large construction site. However, it goes without saying that the access routes will not only be functional, but also safe. Both Samson and Biospring have been informed of this and visualizations were used to illustrate the status at the end of 2026 and the end of 2027. It was important to everyone involved at the city and Inno that the interim development measures could ensure that Samson could move into its first, already occupied building on time: Specifically, these are: The electricity connection up to the Samson site, the cycle and footpath connection from Mühlheimer Straße to the southern boundary of the Samson site, a motor vehicle bypass in the project area with an entrance via Kettler Straße and the wastewater drainage system.
Nevertheless, the gas and drinking water connections as well as sections of the district heating system to supply the Samson site have already been completed.
With the move now underway, the aim of the city and Mayor Schwenke to create an innovation campus on the 36-hectare site, which has been derelict for around ten years, as an interface between business and innovation with new, highly qualified jobs, has taken another important step forward.
The ground-breaking ceremony for the first construction phase of BioSpring's new high-tech production facility for around 200 employees was also held at the beginning of July: The biotech company plans to build one of the world's largest production facilities for active pharmaceutical ingredients based on DNA and RNA on the innovation campus. "This means that new industry is returning to Offenbach for the first time in decades - and with two globally active companies," emphasizes Schwenke. According to Bio-Spring, it is investing more than 150 million euros in the first phase. The plant should be completed by the end of 2027. Production of the active ingredients is scheduled to start in Offenbach in the first quarter of 2028. "This will be the first time that Offenbach is a location to be taken seriously in the globally important biotechnology sector," explains Head of Economic Affairs and Lord Mayor Schwenke.
Quality of stay plays an important role
The owner of the former Clariant site is INNO Innovationscampus GmbH & Co KG, a real estate company of Stadtwerke Offenbach, which is developing and marketing the site together with its sister company OPG Offenbacher Projektentwicklungsgesellschaft mbH on behalf of the city. This construction was a strategic decision, as OPG had also successfully taken on this task for the former Offenbach industrial port. "As with the port, the quality of life in the public areas, the permeability of the district and the connection to adjacent districts and the Main River play an important role for us," emphasizes Božica Niermann, INNO Managing Director and Head of the Office for Economic Development and Real Estate. "The thoroughfare, including the cycle infrastructure, will be expanded with north-south and east-west connections." The innovation strip will become a traffic-calmed zone from the access road to the pellet plant, with exceptions for delivery traffic and residents. A total of four squares are to be created on the site, including a paved and landscaped neighborhood square near the transformer station, as well as the Mainpark, which will incorporate elements from the old industrial site: "Some of the former materials can be reused." As part of the measures, Mühlheimer Strasse along the Innovation Campus will also be redesigned - with new cycle paths and footpaths as well as a new bus stop.
In total, more than 200 additional trees will provide shade after the complete development measures. They are integrated into trenches that collect the rainwater. An innovative concept under the motto "sponge city instead of heat island" ensures that the rainwater - through cisterns and tree infiltration trenches - remains in the area for a relatively long time, allowing as much evaporation as possible and thus generating cooling effects.
Development measures have priority
Those responsible agree that the implementation of the development measures on the Innovation Campus, which are now about to begin, have absolute priority over all other issues on and around the Innovation Campus until everything is completed. "We will keep local residents informed about the individual construction phases and the necessary measures as well as any restrictions for the population," says Niermann.
Background information on development:
The 36-hectare former Clariant site, today's Innovation Campus, the largest contiguous inner-city development area in the city of Offenbach, is currently being developed into an attractive location for future-oriented companies. After extensive preparatory work, studies, expert opinions and public consultation, the municipal council and city council created the building rights in March 2025 - formally speaking, the "statutory resolution" was passed, making the development plan legally binding. This means that for the first time there is a legal basis for the specific location and construction of the new public sewers, roads and trees. This could not be started before. The situation was different with the building permits for Samson AG. These were granted to Samson by the city in advance of the development plan. This was possible because the private building plot could be assessed as already being adjacent to the surrounding public development areas and therefore fulfilling all approval requirements, among other things.
"A smaller-scale innovation area was originally outlined in the master plan. After we managed to reach an agreement with Samson AG to relocate its headquarters to Offenbach and acquire 14.3 hectares of land here, we had to virtually start our planning from scratch again in 2021 for this very welcome reason," explains Offenbach's Lord Mayor. "Municipalities normally spend two to three years preparing the planning for such a site. Only then do they start marketing the previously fixed areas. In order to be successful, we have done everything differently than usual here. We first marketed the sites that best suited the companies and then planned them. For example, the two building applications for the Samson plant were each approved by the city in just 10 weeks, so that they were able to start implementing their project as quickly as possible. To ensure that this works, we have also promised that all companies, above all Samson AG, which will be completed first, will be able to operate and access their plant here at any time. We are keeping this promise by creating interim closures," says Mayor Schwenke.
Completion of the final state of the public development measures, which will then also include public access to the innovation strip, is planned for December 2027.
The implementation of the upcoming development measures on the Innovation Campus have absolute priority.
In the future, the area, which used to be hermetically sealed, will also be made accessible to the public at other points. "In order to plan this safely on a former chemical site, we need a lot of capacity that is still tied up elsewhere on the Innovation Campus," says the mayor, making it clear that things will happen step by step and not all at the same time. Therefore, for pure capacity reasons, further planning, such as for the Die Grünen Haus and the Dreibogenhalle as well as for the planned Niederwiesen, can only be pushed ahead after Samson has moved and the Innovation Belt has been completed. "The timetable for this will be made once the development priority has been successfully completed," says Schwenke.