After years of decline, a solution has been found for the 11.5 hectare area around Uno-Shopping in Leonding: The housing company WAG is taking over the former shopping center. Together with the city of Leonding, a mixture of commercial space, offices and shops as well as apartments is to be created over the next few years.
There is currently a commercial license for the shopping center. There is not yet a dedication for residential construction. “I can envision a rededication, but not so that only apartments are created,” says the Mayor of Leondingen, Sabine Naderer-Jelinek. “The project should bring added value for Leonding and the region.”
But we haven’t got that far yet. At the moment, everyone involved is happy that there is at least one perspective. In a broadcast, WAG emphasizes that the focus will be on “sustainable and future-oriented urban development”. “We don’t just build, we develop the location,” they say. A department consisting of two experts will develop a district – as eleven have already been developed across Austria. In the broadcast, WAG Managing Director Gerald Aichhorn emphasizes the close cooperation that should exist with the city of Leonding.
WAG was offered area
When the deal came about, WAG supervisory board chairman Reinhard Schwendtbauer said that the area had been offered to WAG and that he supported it from the start. The owners would estimate a development period of five to ten years. WAG is 46 percent owned by Raiffeisenlandesbank, where Schwendtbauer sits on the board. Wiener Städtische and Hypo Oberösterreich each hold a quarter of the shares, the remaining four percent belong to Upper Austria. Insurance.
The parties have agreed not to disclose the purchase price that the previous owners Josef Hofer and Hubert Wagner achieved. In the real estate industry, it is estimated that between 35 and 40 million euros.
How much is invested in the project is just as open as the schedule or the number of apartments to be built. The WAG says that they will proceed step by step. It has also not yet been decided whether the architectural planning will take place via a competition or an invitation to tender.
The Jumpdome trampoline fun park currently has a valid rental agreement for a hall with more than 4000 square meters. “The rental contracts are still valid,” says WAG. “We calmly clarify the further procedure.” Insiders assume that the Carinthian operator has a long-term guarantee of existence. After all, a new hall was built and only opened in April. Spar is also likely to have a long-term commitment from the owners to be able to operate a retail space during revitalization.
Chronology of Uno Shopping
- October 1990: The entrepreneur Josef Handlbauer from Wels opens the Uno Shopping. More than 80 shops were housed in an area of 32,000 square meters, including Media-Markt, Interspar, C&A, Kleid Bauer and Hervis. The operators expected a frequency of 8,000 to 10,000 customers per day.
- 1990s: For years the United Nations Shopping was in dispute with the neighboring PlusCity with managing director Ernst Kirchmayr. Trials were the order of the day. Mostly it was about mutual accusations that allegedly the permits for the expansion were missing in each case. However, substantial investments were made, and event catering and cinemas were intended to attract customers.
- September 2008: After 18 years in family ownership, Uno Shopping was sold to a real estate subsidiary of Bank Austria. This could get more out of the shopping center than a family business, said the boss at the time, Christof Handlbauer, son of the founder of the UN shopping center.
- To 2012: Bank Austria’s plan did not work out. Tenants complained that the owner was leaving the mall and pulled down their tents. Some even took legal action against the bank. From 2009/10 more and more tenants left the shopping center.
- August 2012: As the last draft horses to throw in the towel in the summer of 2012, Interspar and Hervis. Media Markt followed two years later and moved to PlusCity.
- January 2016: In January 2016, Bank Austria announced that it would be parting with UN shopping. The area with 110,000 square meters was offered for sale.
- November 2016: The Mühlviertel investors Hubert Wagner, Josef Hofer and Joachim Pawelka were awarded the contract for the orphaned shopping center. Before that, the area had even been discussed as a possible LASK stadium.
- October 2017: Attempts to breathe new life into the mall have failed. Two outlet stores were opened in 2017, but had to close again. The investors wanted to develop a retail park center.
Source: Nachrichten