End of horror: Stopping the concert hall project can cost 56 million

Created: 03/28/2022, 18:53

By: Markus Thiel

Will this animation by the Bregenz Konzerthaus architects ever become reality?

View of the large hall with 1900 seats.

© Cukrowicz/Nachbaur

The Free State of Bavaria did not want to give up its own property for the concert hall.

The fact that he has concluded a long-term lease agreement can now get on his feet.

Just get out, leave everything behind, that's what some in the Bavarian state government may dream of.

But the concert hall project cannot be overturned that easily.

Should everything be stopped, this could end with a pretty big scare for the Free State.

The momentous decision that the budget committee of the Bavarian state parliament reached was five and a half years old.

In November 2016, he approved a long-term lease agreement with the Pfanni heir Werner Eckart.

A decision that is likely to put a lasting strain on the state coffers.

Because for the 8,000 square meter area in the Werksviertel, on which the concert hall with 15,000 square meters of gross floor area is actually to be built, the Free State has to pay Eckart 592,000 euros a year.

An “unlimited hereditary building right” was agreed.

The contract between the Free State and Pfanni-Erbe will theoretically continue indefinitely.

Every 44 years, however, the public sector has the opportunity to terminate without giving reasons.

People who are close to Eckart say that he would not dream of making concessions to the Free State.

When asked, Josef Glasl, Werner Eckart's spokesman, said that no statement would be made on this.

Ex-minister Heubisch: "A fatal signal"

This means that the Free State would lose 26 million euros in ground rent without possibly even a single note being played on the site.

In addition, there are the planning costs for the concert hall.

A few months ago, these were given to our newspaper at around 30 million euros.

All in all, an emergency stop at the Konzerthaus costs 56 million euros.

This puts the leasehold model at the feet of the Free State, which did not want to provide its own property for the prestigious project.

There are definitely more expensive solutions than the Werksviertel.

When several locations were evaluated seven years ago by experts consulted, the variant Paketposthalle near the Friedenheimer Bridge came in second.

The purchase of the land was estimated at 45 to 55 million euros.

In addition, there would be repair costs of ten to 20 million euros and the upgrading of the glass facades including fire protection for 30 to 40 million euros.

Calculated over 50 years, this would have cost 85 to 115 million euros - so this also has to be taken into account when the idea now germinates on various occasions as to whether a free state cultural center should not go in the direction of parcel post.

Bavaria's former arts minister Wolfgang Heubisch (FDP) considers moving away from the plans for a new concert hall in Munich to be a fatal signal.

“This is a dramatic development for the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra with its top conductor Sir Simon Rattle.

A world-famous orchestra like this still has no fixed place of work in Munich," said the deputy head of the state parliament's committee for science and art.

"This decision once again underlines the low importance of art and culture for the Bavarian state government." Heubisch accused Söder of being unreliable.

"Announce and do not implement!

Söder's decision is transparent and heralds the death of the project."

Simon Rattle is strangely silent

One who is also being brought to Munich to act as the motor for the concert hall is behaving strangely quietly at the moment.

Sir Simon Rattle, Chief Conductor of the BR Symphony Orchestra from autumn 2023, is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Konzerthaus Foundation.

Just a few months ago, he praised the project as an "exciting idea" because "artistic and musical excellence go hand in hand" at this place.

The Werksviertel is the perfect location for such a “visionary and radically new cultural project”.

But now: not a word.

An interview cannot be realized in the near future, can be heard from the BR ensemble.

Rattle is currently at a residency in Santa Barbara, California, with his fellow ensemble, the London Symphony Orchestra.

In general, the Briton, who actually cultivates his image as a communicator, has an idiosyncratic relationship with the public.

Instead of granting direct interviews, Rattle had questions submitted by journalists in Munich some time ago, which a representative of the BR Orchestra read to him and wrote down his answers.