State of Hesse supports further projects for the Stadthof with 300,000 euros
08.08.2022
Walking through Offenbach's city centre, it quickly becomes clear: "Many things are not as we would all like them to be," emphasizes Lord Mayor Dr. Felix Schwenke. "That's why the city of Offenbach has developed a future concept for the city center, which is intended to contribute to the positive development of the city center. We have to give people new and good reasons to come to the heart of the city," says Schwenke. Other cities that are facing similar challenges to Offenbach are increasingly realizing this: retail is on the decline, vacancies often remain due to excessive rent demands from owners. "The city centers will no longer be the same as they used to be, retail will not return, no municipality can promise that." That is why the city is working on new ideas and concepts for culture, participation and living in the city center. For these ideas and concepts, the city of Offenbach has now been awarded the maximum sum for the third time by the state program "Zukunft Innenstadt".
After the city of Offenbach had already received over one million euros for the "Station Mitte" and 250,000 euros for further projects in the first funding round at the end of 2021, Hesse's Minister of Economics Tarek Al-Wazir presented a notification for 300,000 euros for further projects at the award ceremony of the "Zukunft Innenstadt" state program last Tuesday, 27 July. The Hessian Ministry of Economics uses the state program to promote the most innovative concepts for a more vibrant city centre. The prize was accepted by Offenbach's Lord Mayor Dr. Felix Schwenke and Anna-Maria Rose from Agentur Mitte at the Economic Development Agency. The award ceremony took place on the premises of the Offenbach Chamber of Industry and Commerce on Frankfurter Straße.
Mayor Schwenke: "Positive changes, such as those we need for our city center, don't happen in one fell swoop. We need staying power and, above all, the willingness of the owners to get involved. Only then can our concept for the future be successful. And because I am aware that all of this takes time, the concept for the future was one of the first things that I tackled head-on with the Offenbach Association as Lord Mayor. All of this in close cooperation with owners, retailers and citizens, who were and still are able to get involved in the process." The renewed awarding of the prize gives those involved a tailwind for this path: "I am delighted that the joint work here in Offenbach has once again received so much external recognition and that Offenbach has prevailed against other good concepts in the jury. With the funding, we can now finance and initiate further projects for the temporary use of the Stadthof and the upgrading of public spaces," says Anna-Maria Rose from Agentur Mitte, who is responsible for the overall coordination of all projects in the future concept.
Mayor Schwenke understands the feeling of some that the implementation of the concept is not progressing fast enough: "Implementation is a process in which many things have to be tried out first. We are already doing this very actively: with the climate and weather workshop, the beach club, which is open until August 7, the renovation of the market square and various interim uses such as the Superladen, Offenbachs Neue or the UND department store, we have already created many incentives to come back to the city center. And that is precisely why we win prizes. Because independent experts have judged these projects to be good and forward-looking. The funding from the state of Hesse enables us to plan and implement further project ideas."
Grant of 1.55 million euros to date
With a grant of 1.55 million euros, the state of Hesse is now supporting Offenbach's approaches to upgrading the city center as part of the city center future concept. Offenbach received first prize from the state for the "Station Mitte" project in the first round of the "Future City Center" funding program in 2021, which alone was awarded one million euros. The "Station Mitte" is intended as a central meeting point for education and social interaction. The idea is to relocate the new city library building to the city center. A feasibility study is currently being carried out and a recommendation for a political decision should be made by the end of the year.
Four other key projects of the Offenbach concept were also supported with a further 250,000 euros in funding from the state, which went to the city in 2021. These included the UND project, which was jointly organized by the Offenbach University of Art and Design (HfG), the VAIR e.V. association and the City of Offenbach's business development department. As a communicative meeting place in the Stadthof, UND Offenbach offered a mix of international and regional, commercial and cultural offerings: Food, food and drink, crafts, textiles, music, performance, film, literature, everyday culture, knowledge transfer, community and participation. Other project ideas include the "Testraum-Allee" as a public-private cooperation. The project aims to help revitalize retail spaces and give creative city makers the space to try out innovative business ideas.
Other projects, such as the conversion of the town hall pavilion in the Stadthof courtyard, are intended to create new places that make users and visitors want to visit the city center. The premises of the pavilion are to be put to various uses until they are converted for permanent re-use. The uses envisaged so far range from an information and event space that addresses topics relating to the future concept and its projects, to temporary art installations and possible test pilots for various future projects.
The premises need to be upgraded for this. In order to achieve this as sustainably as possible, the City of Offenbach is pursuing the creation of a refined building shell through partial (early) dismantling. The acquisition of the temporary basic equipment is mobile throughout and will continue to be used for other future projects in the city center after the end of interim use.
The city of Offenbach also wants to invest in two vending machines to give start-ups and local producers an easy way to advertise and sell products centrally in the city center. An important advantage of the vending machines is that they do not require (additional) staff and benefit from an ongoing communication campaign by the city's marketing department. The vending machines can be moved flexibly within the city center.
Another idea for temporarily revitalizing the pavilion is to collaborate with artists. The city of Offenbach has had good experiences with such collaborations in other parts of the city in the past. The city center should now also benefit from this and initial talks with local artists are already underway. The aim is to enable an unconventional approach to the location in Offenbach's city center. The former police store will be open to a diverse audience several times a week for the duration of the campaign, helping to give the vacant space a special place in the perception of Offenbach's residents.
Furthermore, the "Green Belt" project, which has been designated as a key project, is intended to upgrade the public space and make it more inviting to linger. The ideas for this are diverse and include promoting initiatives to green the city center. The plans for the various future projects will now receive 300,000 euros in state funding and are intended to be important building blocks for implementing the future concept for the city center.
"All projects will be supported from an overall organizational perspective. This means that, in addition to the city, associations, store owners and citizens are also involved. We have to rely on the commitment of the owners, as we as a city hardly have any premises and properties of our own," says Anna-Maria Rose.
Future City Center" program
At the beginning of 2021, the state launched the "Future City Centre" program to strengthen Hessian cities in coping with the consequences of the pandemic and to counter negative changes in city centers with innovative, forward-looking concepts. When applying for the state funding, Offenbach was able to draw on the city center future concept entitled "Offen Denken" (Thinking openly), which had already been adopted in 2020 as a guideline for the future development of the city center. It was developed together with the Offenbach offensiv e. V. association with the participation of many city centre stakeholders and contains project ideas that are intended to realize new uses in the city center beyond traditional retail concepts.
