Cologne in the rent trap: 300 million euros for Kaufhof headquarters!

Cologne in the rent trap: 300 million euros for Kaufhof headquarters!

In Cologne there is currently a lot of buzz surrounding the city's real estate contracts. Two years ago it became known that the city of Cologne had no option to purchase the Technical Town Hall, which has been rented since 1995. At that time, the city council had decided to anchor this option in the rental agreement, but the city administration at the time was under senior city manager Lothar Ruschmeier ignored this political mandate, which now raises questions as to whether the Cologne city administration deceived the city council on important construction projects.

The city's audit office has confirmed in a recent report that the city of Cologne may have suffered "material damage", which is estimated to be considerable. A lot of information was only given to politicians upon request, and the entire documentation of the events is more than incomplete. The Rundschau points out that from 1995 to 2025 the city will have to raise a total of 556.9 million euros for the townhouse, which was finally completed in 1998 and whose construction costs amounted to 317.3 million euros.

Lack of purchase option and expensive rental contracts

The core problem is that the rental agreement for the newly rented Kaufhof headquarters also does not contain a purchase option. The city will have to pay more than 300 million euros for this property by 2050, plus another 50 million euros for necessary renovations. These must be handled by the landlord, which greatly limits the city's influence on the design KSTA reported.

The political assumption that the Kaufhof headquarters could serve as an interim for the city center fire station turned out to be a fallacy. The department under construction department head Markus Greitemann is now advocating for an alternative property on Löwengasse, as the renovation of the Kaufhof headquarters is allegedly too expensive.

The political context and responsibility

The full responsibility for this misery could lie in the past. An investigation was carried out by the FDP parliamentary group manager Ulrich Breite was initiated after the administration tried to terminate the rental agreement for the East Town Hall. He stated that the 1997 rental agreement contains a clause that also applies to other contracts. The city administration is critical of its actions here, especially since urban development funding for sustainable urban development now supports various programs.

Overall, the situation in Cologne's real estate policy is a lesson in how important communication and transparency is between political committees and the city administration. In the future, programs such as “Living Centers” and “Growth and Sustainable Renewal” will serve to improve the city structure and correct deficiencies. Ultimately, Cologne needs a good hand to sustainably strengthen the city center and its people and not fall into expensive traps.