As of: February 18, 2024, 8:27 p.m
By: Nikolas Pelke
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Tear down or preserve: Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) has sparked a debate in his hometown about the future treatment of the empty Kaufhof on Königstrasse.
© Nikolas Pelke
In order to give the stumbling city of Nuremberg a helping hand, Prime Minister Markus Söder and Mayor Marcus König (CSU) are thinking out loud about demolishing the empty Kaufhof.
Protest doesn't just come from the Greens.
Nuremberg - Nuremberg's city center isn't having an easy time at the moment.
The orphaned “City Point” cannot get back on its feet.
And the Kaufhof on Königstrasse has also been empty for almost a year.
Now Prime Minister Markus Söder and Mayor Marcus König (both CSU) have come up with the idea of seriously considering demolishing the empty department store.
And this despite the fact that the goods temple between the toll hall and Lorenzkirche, built in 1950, was only placed on the monument list last year by the State Office for Monument Preservation as a “highly vivid” witness to the Franconian economic miracle.
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Nuremberg: Kaufhof should make way for a congress center
At a joint press conference, Söder and König brought up the idea of building a new congress and conference center in the city.
According to the CSU, even demolition should no longer be taboo in order to strengthen the development of the troubled city center.
According to the CSU, Nuremberg could create a future-oriented infrastructure with a new “Convention Center City” (CCC) under the umbrella of the Nuremberg Trade Fair Company in order to bring one of the largest pedestrian zones in all of Europe back into action.
Prime Minister Markus Söder (center), together with Mayor Marcus König and parliamentary group leader Andreas Krieglstein, is calling for an end to the ban on thinking in order to make Nuremberg's pedestrian zone flourish again.
© David Papaja / CSU Nuremberg
Galeria bankruptcy and Kaufhof collapse - Nuremberg Messe wants to examine feasibility
There is great joy among the exhibition halls about the initiative.
“As NürnbergMesse, we have been pointing out for a long time that the city of Nuremberg lacks another congress center to hold events with 500 to 1,000 participants,” said Ulf Santjer, press spokesman for Messe Nürnberg, when asked and explained that the trade fair currently wants to take a close look at the feasibility of the Kaufhof location, particularly with regard to the existing architecture and the space available, at the request of the city.
According to Santjer, this investigation will take some time.
Only then will it be clear whether demolition or “just” gutting is actually necessary.
After the Galeria bankruptcy, the Kaufhof in Nuremberg's Königstrasse, built in 1950, had to close forever last spring © Nikolas Pelke
Greens criticize the CSU’s “landlord style”.
Nevertheless, there is already opposition, for example from the Nuremberg Greens, who speak of a “quick shot”.
“It is completely premature to have a demolition debate now,” criticized the Green state parliament member from Nuremberg, Sabine Weigand, for example.
First, we have to investigate what was possible in the department store from 1950.
“We don’t know what condition the building structure is in.”
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According to Weigand, Söder is trying to lay the ax to monument protection in the manner of a landowner.
The Green Federal MP from Nuremberg, Sascha Müller, took the same line.
“Demolition and new construction are the worst of all possible alternatives due to the destruction of gray energy and the immense amount of waste,” the former sports journalist is certain.
Criticism even comes from Nuremberg city leaders
There is even cautious criticism of the demolition plans from within our own town hall.
“The Kaufhof is a monument in good condition that you can do a lot with,” says Nuremberg’s building advisor Daniel F. Ulrich and calls for a debate on its use to be held before a demolition debate begins.
“In any case, I have never agreed to the demolition of a usable monument,” adds Ulrich warningly.
Many people in Nuremberg, such as the thousands of members of the Old Town Friends, would probably welcome the demolition of the listed department store on Königstrasse.
© Nikolas Pelke
Meanwhile, many friends of Nuremberg's old town are probably hoping that the days of the comparatively sober economic miracle glass facade on the magnificent Königstrasse will soon be numbered.
Even after it was included in the list of monuments, there was criticism, for example from the Old Town Friends, who are committed to protecting the medieval appearance of Nuremberg's old town.
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