Heir to the Benko bankruptcy
Hamburg entrepreneur should finish building Elbtower
The third tallest building in Germany was to be built in Hamburg. But the work stopped in October 2023. Now a Hamburg company is expected to complete the Signa project.
After more than a year of standstill, there are signs of a solution for the further construction of the Hamburg Elbtower. The Hamburg real estate entrepreneur Dieter Becken is planning to join the company, but things are not in the clear. The construction of the high-rise building was stopped as a result of the collapse of the Benko real estate group.
The insolvency administrator Torsten Martini has now reached an exclusive agreement with Becken Development; The company belongs to a holding company led by the Hamburg real estate entrepreneur Dieter Becken. The agreement means that the insolvency administrator will only negotiate a sale of the Elbtower with Becken, as the insolvency administrator’s office and Becken Holding announced.
Martini said he was pleased that exclusivity had been agreed. “And I am confident that I will be able to complete the sale with Dieter Becken’s investment group.” Recently there were several bidders for the Elbtower. The Hamburg investment company Prio Holding and the Turkish construction company Enka were also said to be interested. The “Hamburger Morgenpost” first reported on the new development.
First there was no money, then the magnificent building fell into disuse
The Elbtower was originally a project by Signa Prime Selection AG of the Austrian building contractor René Benko. The high-rise should be completed in 2025. The costs were estimated at around 950 million euros. At the end of October 2023, the contracted construction company Adolf Lupp from Hesse stopped work at a height of 100 meters because invoices had not been paid.
In January, Elbtower Immobilien GmbH & Co. KG, the owner of the Elbtower property, filed for bankruptcy. The project company was an indirect subsidiary of Signa Prime Selection AG, which was also insolvent.
According to the original plans, the Elbtower was supposed to be the third tallest building in Germany with more than 60 floors and a height of 245 meters – after the Commerzbank Tower and the Messeturm in Frankfurt. The building was designed by the office of the British star architect David Chipperfield.
The Elbtower was to house offices, shops, galleries, cafés, restaurants, a fitness studio and a publicly accessible viewing platform on the 55th floor. A hotel from the Nobu chain, co-founded by actor Robert De Niro, was to occupy several floors of the Elbtower.
Becken wants to complete Elbtower in three years
A few days ago, Becken told the “Handelsblatt” that he wanted to complete the construction within three years. It should take a maximum of four years until the last tenants move in.
The Hamburg Senate signaled its approval that Becken was proposing to house a Leibniz Association natural history museum on the lower floors of the high-rise building. Hamburg’s First Mayor Peter Tschentscher (SPD) also praised the fact that the Elbtower should be completed at the exclusive risk of private investors.
The real estate and investment company Becken says it is headquartered in Hamburg and has offices in several German cities. The company has implemented several projects in the Hanseatic city, including the police headquarters and the large “Berliner Bogen” office building.
dpa
Source: Stern
