A grocery store in the center of Forstern?

Created: 06/18/2022, 11:00 am

By: Veronica power

A food market in the town center: A specialist office sees great opportunities for the municipality of Forstern (symbol image).

© Hendrik Schmidt/dpa

A grocery store in the town center: A specialist office sees great opportunities for the community of Forstern.

As is well known, she has other plans for the area.

Forstern

– In the commercial area on the outskirts, the new, larger Edeka is being built, in the town center an administrative center with town hall, vicarage and village square – at least that’s what the planning of the Forstern community looks like.

For the Salm & Stegen office from Munich, on the other hand, this is a completely wrong approach.

The food market on the "green field" may be ideal for the operator - "it's not for the town center," said geographer and city planner Rafael Stegen in the municipal council.

Together with his colleague Konstantin Bauch, he presented the results of the study on retail as a specialist contribution to the Integrated Urban Development Concept (ISEK) within the framework of urban development funding.

Stegen explained: “You have a lot of functions, you have great potential, you are completely on the right track in terms of planning.

All that's missing is to get the ball rolling."

Forstern: A total of 1550 square meters of retail space, most of which is Edeka

As Bauch explained with regard to the structural data, the average age of the approximately 3,700 residents is 41.2 years.

The forecast assumes 3990 inhabitants by 2033, with the age group 65 plus increasing in particular.

And: "Significantly more people commute out than in, it's more of a place to live than a place to work."

The team determined a total of 1,550 square meters of retail space, most of which is made up of Edeka and the electronics and kitchen retailer Selma.

The remaining nine percent are in a central location - bakeries, pharmacies, lottery shops.

This results in a per capita sales area of ​​0.42 square meters, with the basic supply it is 0.24 square meters, which is below the Bavarian average.

"The industry mix is ​​not very pronounced," stated Bauch.

880 square meters are for food and beverages, beverages and baked goods, 490 square meters for household appliances, 119 square meters for cosmetics/drugstore/medicine and 54 square meters for publishing products.

The experts counted a total of eight retail and four catering establishments, four (specialist) doctors or medical service providers, three so-called coupling-relevant service providers (two banks and a hairdressing salon) and one vacancy on the main street.

Edeka is not easily accessible on foot - a radius of 400 meters is used here, which covers the commercial area, but not the residential areas.

Forstern: Areas that would be suitable for retail

The experts see the supply of food and services as a strength.

The lack of quality of stay in the town center, the low mix of branches and the fact that former retail premises are being used by third parties that do not bring any frequency were mentioned as weaknesses.

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"But you have retail potential in the inner city and operator interests for the location," explained Bauch about the opportunities.

This also includes a good location between the middle and upper center as well as a reduction in internal traffic, should the local amenities be accommodated in the town center.

Risks, on the other hand, are the loss of further trade and service functions, the development of trade on the outskirts without reference to the town center and this in turn as an administrative center.

Stegen raised the question of what role retail could play in the development of the town centre.

One has to consider that a town center and the right to build there are not created for five or ten years, but for 50 or 100.

"Small-scale retail only works in places of your size if it has a large partner," says Stegen.

It is therefore important to continue to explore whether local supply on the scale of an Edeka could be developed in this location.

Of course, the operators came with finished plans on the outskirts.

But the municipal council must not “become soft” when it comes to its own interests.

As examples, Stegen showed places like Mittenwald, where there are retail buildings in the center below and a different use above - practices, offices or living.

Forstern: ice cream parlor or flower shop in the town center near the new town hall?

"For the operator it's optimal on the 'green field', for the town center it's not," said Stegen and explained: "If there is a daily frequency generator, everyone else benefits from it." So the recommendation is, with operators and At least to speak to project developers, because a new building of a grocery store on the outskirts - "I don't think that reflects the public interest, and I don't see any urban justification for it either".

Mayor Rainer Streu (AWG) said the office's statements were thought-provoking.

The councils should first let the presentation sink in.

There were always certain goals for the town center: administration with quality of stay, plus a fountain, as is usual with projects to promote urban development.

And of course we know that the land does not belong to the community alone, but also partly to the church.

“But this might now offer us a chance to not just turn it into a purely administrative center.

We have to think about whether something else can happen there," said Streu.

For example, whether an ice cream parlor or a flower shop should be implemented at the new town hall.

"Now we still have it in our hands" - after all, there is still no development or construction plan, not even on the part of the church.

Further discussions are to follow with her, in which the new knowledge can be incorporated.

The concept presented is now going to the government of Upper Bavaria for further approval.

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