The construction site of the Hamburg skyscraper Elbtower has been at a standstill for months due to the payment problems of the shaky real estate group Signa. Now a solution to the debacle could be closer.
Berlin restructuring expert Torsten Martini, as the insolvency administrator of the Elbtower project company, wants to look for a buyer who could take over the property on the edge of Hafencity and complete the ruined building. The sales process is scheduled to start in mid-March, as Martini confirmed to the German Press Agency upon request. The global real estate service provider CBRE will help in the search for investors. The “Hamburger Abendblatt” had previously reported on the insolvency administrator’s plans.
In his own words, Martini wants to sell the Elbtower “as quickly and as expensively as possible”. “Every day that the Elbtower construction site is idle costs money.” This corresponds to the essential goal of insolvency proceedings, which is to make the best possible use of the insolvent debtor’s remaining assets in the interests of the creditors. Martini does not have a specific price idea. “The price is determined by the market, hence the global process involving CBRE,” he said when asked.
Elbtower is a private sector project
Elbtower Immobilien GmbH & Co. KG filed for insolvency proceedings in January. The project company belonged to the shaky Signa real estate empire of the Austrian René Benko. Other Signa companies had previously filed for bankruptcy. Most recently, Benko himself had to file for bankruptcy as an entrepreneur this week.
It is still unclear how much the Elbtower company owes to which creditors. “The exact amount of the liabilities will emerge due to the complexity in the course of the insolvency proceedings,” said Martini. “It is only when the opening opens that the creditors are asked to register their claims, which I then check.”
The Hanseatic City of Hamburg has always made it clear that it sees the Elbtower as a private-sector project – and that a private-sector solution is therefore necessary to restart construction work. If a viable solution cannot be found, the city could take control of the project through the right of repurchase regulated in the property purchase agreement between the city and Signa.
The left-wing members of the Hamburg parliament contradict the expectation of a quick sale of the Elbtower, citing the purchase agreement. This stipulates that “the property may not be resold until one year after completion”. In a request from the left-wing faction, the Senate confirmed that this restriction on disposal still applies. “Resale can only take place if the Senate agrees,” said the Left.
Their urban development expert Heike Sudmann warned the Senate against “agreeing to a speculative resale or an inflated price”. An attempt “to get the Elbtower problem over with a quick resale, at least until the general election, must be prevented,” said Sudmann. The citizenry, in which the red-green city government currently has a two-thirds majority, will be re-elected in spring 2025.
The Elbtower is intended to be the crowning glory of Hamburg’s Hafencity. It is to be built in the far east near the Elbe Bridges, as a kind of counterpart to the Elbphilharmonie in the far west: “64 floors, 245 meters above sea level. A new view of the city,” it says on the Elbtower’s homepage. Planned completion and total costs so far: 2025 for around 950 million euros.
However, the construction site has been at a standstill since the end of October. At a height of 100 meters, the contracted construction company stopped work because Signa did not pay bills. The third tallest building in Germany, designed by London star architect David Chipperfield, will one day house, among other things, offices, shops, galleries, restaurants and a viewing platform on the 55th floor. (dpa)