Free State pays 232,000 euros monthly rent for Söder Museum in Nuremberg – landlord has CSU connections

A committee of inquiry examines the future museum in Nuremberg initiated by Markus Söder.

Rent level and useful life are in the criticism.

Even experts were skeptical.

This is shown by documents available to "Münchner Merkur" and Merkur.de.

Munich/Nuremberg

– It is September 17, 2021: After several delays, the Museum of the Future will open in Nuremberg.

It is a branch of the Deutsches Museum - and an idea by Markus Söder, born in 2014 when he was Minister of Finance.

"Here you can experience the future," enthuses Söder at the opening.

He talks about solar cars, robot laboratories, science fiction and Star Wars - Söder is a big fan of the film series.

+

At the opening of the museum: Markus Söder with Star Wars actors as well as museum director Wolfgang Heckl and the then Minister of Science Bernd Sibler.

© Daniel Karmann/dpa

A museum dream that is now being examined.

Starting today, an investigative committee in the Bavarian state parliament will deal with the founding of the museum in parallel to the investigative committee on the 2nd trunk line.

Once again, it's all about the money.

It is unusual that the museum is housed in a rented property, the Augustinerhof directly on the Pegnitz.

Fantastic location, not exactly cheap: since November 2019, the Deutsches Museum has been transferring 232,000 euros a month in rent and operating costs to the owner, the Alpha Group of Nuremberg entrepreneur Gerd Schmelzer – making 2.78 million euros a year.

(Our Nuremberg newsletter informs you about all developments, news and stories

Around 200 million euros in costs for the taxpayer by 2044

The index rent, which increases due to inflation, is reimbursed to the museum by the Free State via a financing agreement.

25 years.

There are also one-time investment costs of 27.6 million euros.

The Bavarian Supreme Court of Auditors estimates that 200 million euros could be raised by 2044.

The agreement was signed by the then ministers Markus Söder (finance) and Ludwig Spaenle (science).

Schmelzer is married to Julia Lehner (CSU), Nuremberg's second mayor and former cultural advisor.

A business among friends?

Söder's prestige project

Sebastian Körber (FDP)

SPD, Greens and FDP want to pursue this from today.

The FDP MP Sebastian Körber, who is a member of the investigative committee, speaks of a "landlord-friendly lease".

The museum is “a prestige project”.

Söder fixed himself "completely prematurely" on one location - and thus gave the entrepreneur Schmelzer carte blanche for adventurously high financial demands.

(By the way: Our Bayern newsletter informs you daily about all the important stories from Bavaria.)

The museum idea was controversial, as the correspondence between the ministries involved shows.

A few days after Söder had presented his idea on August 5, 2014 as part of a Northern Bavaria initiative, an official from the Ministry of Science whispered: "The concept sketch still seems extremely vague and immature to me." much 'euphoria' for this topic”.

It depends on a “big hit”, Söder wants “to have something to look at/touch”.

The entrepreneur was informed at an early stage

When Söder made his idea public, there was neither a plot of land, nor a building, nor a concept - but the bold approach put everyone involved under pressure.

"That's politics," noted the director of the Deutsches Museum, Wolfgang Heckl, who was also visibly overwhelmed by the idea.

At first the Aufseßplatz south of the main train station was favored as the location.

But in December 2015, the Bavarian Ministry of Finance, which it had expressly described as "leading", suddenly changed its mind and recommended "sounding out" the Augustinerhof.

So it was.

Entrepreneur Schmelzer was therefore informed at an early stage: If something comes from the top in the Free State, according to those involved from the state-owned "Immobilien Freistaat Bayern", then Schmelzer is usually in the picture.

I wonder why?

Did the "rail Lehner" - i.e. his wife's contacts to the CSU - play a role here, as a document says?

By putting aside all other location alternatives, originally 14 in number, Schmelzer's Alpha Group has also been in a comfortable position since early 2016.

Even before the foundation stone was laid, which only took place in 2018, a rental agreement was drawn up.

The costs rose and rose with each new calculation - a "bottomless pit," as one Science Department official complained to his Treasury colleagues.

In the end, the price per square meter was 38 euros – far more than is customary in the area.

The Ministry of Finance has an explanation for this: Because it is a museum building, there were storey heights in XXL format: 4.30 meters.

As a result, the building has one floor less – three instead of four.

Hence the higher square meter rent.

Donations to the CSU

There are other questions that the committee of inquiry intends to investigate.

Was it a so-called order construction – did the Alpha Group build according to the wishes of the Free State?

Then the construction project would have had to be put out to tender throughout Europe, which did not happen.

Why wasn't a property bought?

That's not legal, says the Ministry of Finance.

And then the party donations: Schmelzer's companies donated at least 90,000 euros to the CSU - but there was "zero connection" with construction deals, the entrepreneur emphasized to the "Nürnberger Nachrichten".

List of rubrics: © Daniel Karmann/dpa