"That will change the townscape": City council not convinced of plans for 200 new apartments

Created: 12/30/2021, 1:21 PM

From: Sabina Brosch

The green inner courtyards are to be densified, as they are hardly used.

© Sabina Brosch

A real estate company wants to build 200 new apartments on Römerhofweg in Garching.

The city council is not enthusiastic about it, the mayor worries about the townscape.

Garching

- The area on Römerhofweg is to be redensified.

The "Zentral Boden Immobilien Gruppe" (ZBI) wants to create a total of 200 new apartments.

A project that will change Garching's cityscape.

The ZBI intends to condense the area on Römerhofweg with rental apartments. The existing development comprises 318 apartments, grouped around three courtyards with increasing number of storeys from three storeys in the southern part to nine storeys in the northern part. No major conversions or modernizations have been carried out since the socially subsidized apartments were built, and the social commitment expired in 2016. As a result, the city issued a conservation statute two years later to prevent the inventory from being revised and rented or divided and sold under new conditions. The goal: to protect the residents from crowding out and rising rents.

Living space above the parking spaces: elevated structures with 85 student apartments are being built in the parking lot at the cemetery. © Sabina Brosch

The complex is visually characterized by the articulated concrete facade, which was often implemented at the time of construction at the beginning of the 1970s. The Steidle architects consider the little-used inner courtyards in connection with the annoying outbuildings for garbage in the access area to be a deficit. In the course of the densification, these courtyards are to be upgraded and revitalized, according to the planners. A development of the green inner courtyards with townhouses and multi-storey apartment buildings with two- to four-room apartments is planned along the Freisinger Straße and Römerhofweg. In addition, the adjacent parking lot at the cemetery is to be built over with 85 micro-apartments for students. This building would be elevated so that the area below would still be available as a parking space. "Conflicts with the adjacent cemetery are to be feared",said Anette Knott from the Garching building authority.

Rental apartments are to be built in the new buildings (red). © MM

A total of 11,100 square meters of living space is planned, which, according to the planners' calculations, corresponds to living space for 280 tenants. The Garching city administration, however, speaks of 449 residents. "The apartment mix should also be discussed," said Knott, "according to which the rate of one-room and 1.5-room apartments is 58.8 percent." Knott also drew the city council's attention to the "compact design": "The three-room apartment is a maximum of 70 square meters." The radii for doors are not durable with this size, which is why sliding doors are provided. The large and green inner courtyards would be very densely built, the wall heights would be high, but parking spaces for cars and bicycles would work due to the underground car park. The quota of socially just land use (Sobon) will be met."Nevertheless, this will change the appearance of the city," emphasized Mayor Dietmar Gruchmann (SPD). Even in view of the large demand for housing, the planning fits into a large city, "but not into Garching".

Walter Kratzl (Greens) agreed: "That is too much and also the wrong place".

Even Bastian Dombret (FDP), proponent of redensification, had to admit: "But that also has limits for me, this seems to be the wrong way to go." The plans have now been passed on to the parliamentary groups for detailed advice.

You can find more news from Garching and the district of Munich here.