New city library "Station Mitte": interim results of feasibility study
07.10.2022 – There are various ideas to strengthen the city center. One of these is the "Station Mitte" project. The idea is to create a new city library in a central location. A feasibility study has now been carried out to determine which location is suitable for a new city library.
In the fight to strengthen Offenbach's city center, Lord Mayor Dr. Felix Schwenke presented the "City Center Future Concept" to the city council in 2020. It was developed together with the Chamber of Industry and Commerce, citizens and experts. A key project to strengthen Offenbach's city center is the "Station Mitte" project, which is the responsibility of Head of Planning Paul-Gerhard Weiß. According to this project, a new city library is to be built in the center of the shopping mile. A feasibility study was commissioned for its implementation. The interim results are now available.
The study examined which location is suitable for a new city library. After considering various potential locations, Aliceplatz 11, Frankfurter Straße 17 and Herrnstraße 35-37/Berliner Straße 80 emerged as the favorites from this process and are now to be examined in greater depth in accordance with the magistrate's resolution of 31.08.2022.
"Each of the locations examined has its own individual qualities, opportunities and framework conditions, which would lead to very specific solutions and thus to different libraries. In order to establish comparability, the accompanying working group brought together various structural and organizational perspectives and developed evaluation criteria to which the locations were subjected. For example, accessibility for families, visibility and impact in the urban environment, the accommodation of the book bus, the potential amount of conversion costs, the possibility of integrating other ideas from the city center future concept and much more were considered," says Weiß, Head of Planning. The evaluation process was accompanied by a scientist from the University of Kaiserslautern, who researches city libraries and their impact on urban structure and was able to provide valuable information and explain comparative cases.
Mitte station as a public space for education and social interaction
In the second stage of the feasibility study, the previous room concepts will be converted into concrete floor plans and the structural, fire protection and static feasibility will be examined in detail in order to specify the necessary structural measures and to be able to back them up with costs. "Of course, this is done in close consultation with the respective property owners, who may have different approaches to individual points for their buildings, so compromises may have to be found," explains Weiß.
This second stage of the feasibility study should be available by the end of 2022, so that political opinion can then be formed on the alternatives and a decision on the future of Station Mitte as a new lively magnet in the city center can be made, probably at the beginning of 2023.
Station Mitte is intended as a public space for education and social interaction around books, digital media and culture. It will also be a place to eat together, spend the day, play games or listen to lectures and concerts. Associations or educational institutions and initiatives could also use the space for various activities and offers.
"The city center is under extreme pressure and will never be the same again. That's why we need as many people as possible to join forces and 1,000 individual building blocks to give people a reason to enjoy coming to the city centre," says Lord Mayor Schwenke, emphasizing the fundamental challenge and how it is to be solved in Offenbach. "For the Station Mitte project, we won the municipal prize of 1 million euros from the state of Hesse because it was judged to be the best idea currently in existence throughout Hesse for upgrading city centers. This has already worked in other cities such as Hanau to successfully revitalize the city centre," concludes Mayor Schwenke.
