The DIC Group is one of the leading investors in the German market for commercial real estate

Press Release

DIC: work on the MainTor site begins with demolition

Frankfurt, 19.08.2011

• Construction management concept approved to protect local residents, passers-by and traffic 
• Construction of Primus building to start on 1 November 2011

This Monday, 22 August 2011, DIC is due to begin the major demolition work for the MainTor site. Over the weekend, steps are to be taken to prepare the area and make it safe, most importantly providing protected, unimpeded routes for pedestrians. 

The demolition work will begin by carefully gutting the buildings. This process will then be followed by the demolition of the outside walls of each building individually. First to go will be the Südbau (southern building) by the River Main, followed by the central Kreuzbau (cross-shaped building). Only in the final phase will the Ostbau (eastern building) nearest the city centre be demolished, so that it can serve as a natural sound barrier for the city for as long as possible; last of all to go will be the Mainbau (building by the Main), which will continue to house the special MMK exhibition until October. All the demolition work will be completed by spring 2012. Specialist companies from the Rhine-Main area have been commissioned to carry out the work.

To ensure that the process runs smoothly and causes a little disruption as possible to local residents, passers-by and traffic in the city centre, and as part of its intensive preparations over the last six months, DIC has been working on a comprehensive construction management concept, focusing on four main aspects, which has now been approved:

• Safeguarding structural features under preservation orders: In close cooperation with the city's Office for Historical Monuments, the Historical Museum and other experts, all of the structural features worthy of preservation have been identified and ways in which they can be dismantled and preserved have been determined.  The most prominent feature is Frankfurt's historic stone statue of the"Metallgießer" (metal caster). Before the building work begins, experts will remove the statue from the building ensemble and restore and preserve it. Then, in close cooperation with the Office for Historical Monuments, it will be re-installed in an appropriate place among the new buildings. Other objects to be preserved include the historic keystone in the archway, remains from the façade of the laboratory building and the Mägdelein fountain.
• "Whisper field": This concept has been jointly developed with the TÜV Hessen (Technical Control Association in the State of Hesse), which will also continuously monitor this phase of the construction project, and aims to minimise the problems of noise, dirt and debris for local residents and passing traffic. For example, the largest long-reach excavator in Germany is being used (weight: 180 t), and this will play a key role in cutting demolition times. To reduce the problem of dirt and debris, the solid sections of the buildings – where the most dust will be created – will be demolished during the winter months, when the windows of the neighbouring offices are kept closed.  Furthermore, the site is intended to be a daytime-only site, so there will generally be no work carried out at night or over weekends.
• Procedures and transport logistics planned in minute detail: An engineering company specialising in construction logistics has been commissioned to work closely with the relevant authorities of the city of Frankfurt on developing an optimised plan for transport logistics and to provide support in putting it into effect. The plan includes, for example, barrier-free and traffic-light-controlled crossings to ensure the safety of pedestrians by separating construction site traffic from pedestrian areas as far as possible. 
• Publicity campaign: DIC has launched an extensive publicity campaign to accompany the realisation of its building plans for the MainTor site, focusing on two main areas: 
  • Firstly, the residents of the city of Frankfurt must be kept well-informed about what is going on in the centre of their city. To this end, DIC is providing a continuous flow of all the relevant information about this project via a dedicated website (www.maintor-frankfurt.de), press releases, a magazine ("The Riverside") and in the "Blue Room" in the MMK museum on the MainTor site.
  • The second target group is the people who live and work in the immediate vicinity. They are being kept informed by means of face-to-face meetings, information events and personal letters about all stages of the project; a hotline is also being set up in case anyone requires any further assistance. Special attention is being paid to the "Komödie" and "Schauspiel" theatres and the Frankfurt Opera House, with their programmes and rehearsal schedules being taken into account. 

Stefan Blümm, Managing Director of DIC Development: "It is very important to us that the people of Frankfurt regard the MainTor project as enriching. Part of that entails ensuring that the demolition and construction phases cause as little disruption as possible. We are doing everything we can, with the help of modern technology and professional expertise, to protect the surrounding area".

Start of construction on Primus: 

The first stage of construction work on the "Primus" building complex will begin on 1 November 2011, with the preliminary building works. The building has already, in the summer of this year, been sold to the well-known Frankfurt real estate investor Professor Carlo Giersch. It will be ready for occupation by the middle of 2013, and DIC will also be setting up its headquarters there. 

The Primus building is being completely gutted, so that only its cubature remains the same, and it will be fully modernised, with a new façade and new building services, in accordance with the highest sustainability standards of the German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB). The total investment volume of the first construction stage (demolition, site reinstatement and construction of the Primus building) amounts to some EUR 50 million. The competent city authorities in Frankfurt have already issued a demolition permit; the application to begin new construction work has been submitted.

The Primus building is located at Neue Mainzer Strasse 20 and therefore has good transport links, being close to the important intersection of metro lines at Willy-Brandt-Platz. The commercial rental space, which comes to just under 5,550 sqm, is spread across the twelve floors of the 46m high building. Primus features an arcade as well as a roof terrace with a unique view of the old town and skyline. 

The Frankfurt-based real estate investment company DIC is an experienced developer of city-centre properties. In 2004, for example, DIC purchased the 57 branches of the Frankfurt Sparkasse and in some cases converted them for new purposes. DIC's work in Frankfurt over the past few years has included high-profile projects such as the city library, the Bienenkorbhaus, Nespresso in Goethe-Strasse and the Grünhof.  The company also developed and completed the key city-centre project on the site of the former main post office in Erfurt. 

About the MainTor project – the Riverside Financial District:

With the "MainTor District" project, the DIC Group is redesigning the area of Frankfurt between Untermainkai und Weissfrauenstrasse.  As part of this process, the site, which was previously enclosed, is not only being redeveloped but also turned back into a public space, with footpaths and roads making it an integral part of the surrounding city district.  The area will be known as the Riverside Financial District: the MainTor project will enhance the part of Frankfurt's banking quarter that lies alongside the Main, from both an architectural and an urban planning perspective. Implementation of subsequent construction stages will be subject to the terms of the rental agreements that are expected to be signed. The whole MainTor district is due to be completed by 2015.  Until mid-October, the cleared building scheduled for demolition which was home to some of Degussa's main offices for several decades is hosting part of the anniversary exhibition of Frankfurt's Museum of Modern Art (Museum für Moderne Kunst - MMK). 

About DIC

DIC (Deutsche Immobilien Chancen), active throughout Germany and based in Frankfurt, was founded in 1998 and, with its innovative investment philosophy and its focus on the German market, is one of the most prominent and successful firms in Germany specialising in commercial real estate transactions.  Its business activities include portfolio and asset management, which are handled by its SDAX-listed company, DIC Asset AG, as well as project development and opportunistic investments.  It currently holds approximately 40 per cent of DIC Asset AG. The real estate assets managed by the DIC Group currently amount to around EUR 3.2 billion. Its shareholders are investment companies, several insurance companies, international investors and family offices. 

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