For more than 60 years, the striking office building with its entrances on Wexstrasse and Alter Steinweg was the residence of the Hamburg authorities. Today it is the Economic and Transport Authority that have their headquarters here. But that will probably change by 2026. WELT ONLINE had already reported on speculation about a move last year. Now the plans are concrete.
Yes, the authorities and the local marketing companies are expected to leave the site in 2026, authorities spokeswoman Susanne Meinecke confirmed in a report by the “Hamburger Abendblatt”.
The building was built between 1957 and 1969 according to plans by architect Werner Kallmorgen. At the same time, Kallmorgen also built the Kaispeicher A, which is now part of the Elbphilharmonie, and the AK Altona. The office building belonged to the city itself until 2006. However, the CDU government under Ole von Beust as mayor and Wolfgang Peiner as finance senator sold the building, which is now a listed building, to a private investor as part of the “Real Estate Mobilization Project”. The city sold more than 100 municipal properties at the time, taking in more than one billion euros.
The rental contracts for the largest properties, such as those of the economic and transport authorities, were then concluded for 20 years. The lease on Wexstrasse and Alter Steinweg will expire at the end of May 2026. The city has the option to extend it. Apparently she doesn’t want to use it.
The expiring lease has opened up the possibility of looking for alternatives to the current location, explains authority spokeswoman Meinecke. Specifically, there isn’t one yet. It is speculated that the authorities could get into Gruner’s building
The interior of the building on Wexstrasse and Alter Steinweg is difficult to convert. Offices that were functional in the 1960s are no longer so. In addition, according to Meinecke, the building technology is outdated and prone to failure and the wooden windows also have to be replaced. Therefore, the move is now favoured.
There are similar considerations in the tax authorities. Their main store on Gänsemarkt was built in the 1920s and also sold to private investors in 2006 – with similar problems as in Wexstrasse and Alter Steinweg. For example, there are always problems with the technology – and here, too, the current lease expires in 2026.
Finance Senator Andreas Dressel (SPD) had his authority put on a list of departments looking for new office buildings last year. The Sprinkenhof manages the list on behalf of the city. So far, however, a move has not been planned, official spokesman Claas Ricker said on Tuesday when asked.
How many authorities ultimately dare to move out of their former city properties may also have something to do with the negotiation results that the city can achieve with the current owners of the office buildings. Because rents for office buildings have risen rapidly in recent years. Quite a few private investors are likely to insist on significant upward rent adjustments after 2026.
For example, the city paid around 375,000 euros a month for the economic and transport authorities last year, which corresponded to a square meter price of around 11.70. However, according to an analysis by the real estate company Grossmann und Berger, the average price for office properties in the city center is EUR 21.90 per square metre.
The city already pays around 835 million euros in building costs per year. A large part of this is earmarked for rent. Much higher costs should not be added if the budget is tight.