Mitte station: Elevator for old ventilation ducts
02.10.2025 – A façade elevator now travels up and down the pedestrian zone in Offenbach's city centre. However, it is not intended to give customers new perspectives or to help transport shopping loot. The external transporter is suspended from the former Kaufhof façade in the direction of Frankfurter Strasse and is reserved exclusively for heavy loads of demolition material from the interior. The work will serve to transform the building into the new Station Mitte with the city library as the anchor tenant.
In the meantime, a subcontractor has been replaced on the construction site because the work was progressing too slowly. Now the final gutting of the last technical material - i.e. old ventilation ducts and components of the former electrical supply - should be completed by around the beginning of November.
At the same time, the results of the sampling of the building fabric to examine the supporting structure will be evaluated by the experts involved. "The former department store consists of three building sections from different construction periods. Separate samples had to be taken for each part, as several types of ceiling structures were found during the demolition work. The main issue here is that the fire protection in certain ceiling areas needs to be optimized," says City Treasurer and responsible Supervisory Board Chairman Martin Wilhelm.
In the meantime, the building application for the conversion of the building has been submitted and the approval process is still ongoing. The award procedure for the future general contractor is in the next phase, so that the Supervisory Board and City Council will probably be able to discuss the commissioning in November. The final resolution on the former department store building is scheduled for the last meeting of the year in December in the city council.
