Negotiations continue Still no new escalators at the Motel One in Bonn
Bonn · The investor of the "Urban-Soul" project at the main station has not yet been able to reach an agreement with the public utility company and the municipality on how to split the costs. The Thomas-Mann-Straße underground station can only be reached via the stairs.
Even after more than a year, no solution has been found for the missing escalators at the Thomas-Mann-Straße underground station. Stadtwerke Bonn (SWB) has been negotiating an out-of-court solution with the "Urban Soul" investor since at least September 2020 in order to avoid a legal dispute. However, there has been no breakthrough yet, SWB GmbH says.
Old escalators could no longer be lifted into place
The new Motel One hotel protrudes so far beyond the exit to the underground that the old escalators could not be lifted in after the construction project was completed - the city council had approved the hotel in these dimensions. Therefore, new, split escalators are to be built, which will only be connected to each other on site.
Investor "Die Developer" had made SWB a settlement offer in spring. They were prepared to pre-finance the procurement and installation - minus the residual value of the old stairs. One third would be paid by the public utility company, two thirds would be paid by the developers, but part of it would possibly be passed on to the municipality.
Administration will not pay for new staircases
"The municipality is prepared to pay the costs for the installation of the escalator, which it has to do within the framework of its contractual obligations," explains Andrea Schulte from the press office. So the administration does not want to pay for the new procurement. It speaks of planning errors on the part of the investor. The developers argue that the overhanging hotel is not the main cause of the escalator problems: the building ground had to be structurally strengthened, which is why the old escalators no longer fit anyway. These are therefore so-called residual costs for the preparation of the building site sold by the city. Holger Römer, spokesman for the Zech Group, which is behind the investor, expects an agreement soon. "We are in constructive talks," says Römer.
City still examining residual cost settlement for "Urban Soul"
The city has not yet completed its review of the residual cost settlement for "Urban Soul". Most recently, in spring, the developers had demanded more than one million Euro for the internal residual costs and another two million Euro for the external residual costs (e.g. for the pavements around the new buildings). In 2020, the city had already recognised 11.4 million Euro in internal residual costs. After deduction of all services provided by the developer to the municipality, about 5.4 million Euro of the agreed purchase price of 23.5 million Euro will remain in the end.
Original text: Andreas Baumann
Translation: Mareike Graepel
