LINZ. “Linz is not only an industrial city, but also a railway city,” said Georg Ortner, Head of Strategic Real Estate Management at ÖBB-Infrastruktur AG, during yesterday’s inspection of the premises on Böhmerwaldstrasse. The residential complex there from 1954 is one of the properties owned by ÖBB Infrastructure AG and is part of the group’s housing program.
In the block of flats in the immediate vicinity of Linz’s main train station, which comprises a total of 56 apartments, 31 vacant apartments were renovated, and the staircases and entrance areas were also redesigned. ÖBB invested 3.6 million euros in the modernization project.
With the freshly renovated apartments, ÖBB not only wants to score points with its existing workforce, but above all with future employees. “Employee apartments are an increasingly important argument when looking for new colleagues,” says Ortner.
The need is great – also in Linz – shunting workers and dispatchers are just as needed as bridge technicians and engine drivers. A total of around 300 new ÖBB employees are being sought across Upper Austria this year alone.
Ortner emphasized the “fair” rental prices yesterday: “We start with the market price, depending on income there is a discount of up to 40 percent.”
For Mayor Klaus Luger (SP), ÖBB’s decision to invest here for the employees was a “strategically clever and sympathetic one”, planning councilor Dietmar Prammer (also SP) sees a “social responsibility” fulfilled.
The Böhmerwaldstrasse project is not the only ÖBB project that has been implemented in the provincial capital; 20 of the 40 apartments on Strachgasse (near the Linz AG headquarters) have also been renovated. There are also renovation considerations for another ÖBB property in Raimundstraße. (jp)
More at nachrichten.at/linz
Source: Nachrichten
