Exterior work at Mitte station completed for the time being
27.05.2026 – The area around Mitte station, where the city library with a wider range of services and businesses will be located in the former Kaufhof building in future, is becoming quieter again acoustically. The canopy, which was removed in recent weeks, has now been demolished. Further work on the corner of Frankfurter Strasse and Herrnstrasse is now concentrating on the interior of the building. From the outside, residents will notice little of this - apart from the construction site traffic that follows the route of the former Kaufhof delivery.
The refurbishment of the historic sandstone façade can then be seen again. "Now that the aluminum panels have been removed, passers-by can clearly see the three different parts of the building with which the department store has grown over the past 100 years," says city treasurer and responsible department head Martin Wilhelm. "The sandstone façade was only applied to one part of it. It should now be preserved and remain visible to the extent exposed today."
To this end, the sandstone is already being examined, including a 3D measurement of all the damage. In addition, the renowned expert Dr. Annette Ritter-Höll, who also wrote the report on the condition and quality of the sandstone used, will come to Offenbach. She was invited by Station Mitte GmbH, a subsidiary of Stadtwerke Offenbach, which commissioned the conversion and will later operate Station Mitte.
She will inspect the damage caused by the steel girders when the Kaufhof's aluminum façade was installed in the 1960s. It will then recommend how to deal with the damage. The aim is to carefully restore the historic part of the façade and integrate it permanently into the new appearance of Mitte station.
