Duesseldorf Opera: The astonishing turnaround How to profit from the Signa insolvency

DÜSSELDORF

Düsseldorf Opera: The astonishing turnaround

How the city benefited from the Signa insolvency

July 2024

June 2024: At the end of last Thursday's council meeting, the state capital of Düsseldorf decided on "Am Wehrhahn" as the new location for the opera house of the future. This rendered the previous plans for Heinrich-Heine-Alle, which resembled an odyssey, obsolete. Surprising opportunities that arose were utilised to solve many of the old problems.

A surprisingly good step

The council resolution of 15 June 2023, which provided for the new building on Heinrich-Heine-Allee, was thus revoked. The council announced that it would purchase the property at Am Wehrhahn 1 and Oststraße 15 to use for the construction of the new opera house. The administration would be instructed to prepare a new architectural competition for the new location. At a press conference arranged at short notice that same week, the Lord Mayor surprisingly declared that the city had succeeded in negotiating contracts with the insolvency administrator, Signa, Prof. Dr Torsten Martini. None of this had been made public. There had never been any interest in discussing the property with Signa before its insolvency.

The building ruins of Düsseldorf

The insolvency of Austrian investor Rene Benko's Signa Holding affected several prominent property projects in Düsseldorf, including the Carschhaus, Kaufhof am Wehrhahn and Kasernenstraße 6. Many Düsseldorfers had been looking forward to having their own KaDeWe in the Carschhaus, which would have been the fourth luxury department stores' in the KaDeWe Group. Although the other owner of the department stores' group, the Central Group from Thailand, is involved, no further details are known. It was known that several buyers were interested in the fate of Karstadt and its employees. Now, with the takeover by the city of Düsseldorf, something good could come out of this sad state of affairs.

No more expensive interim building

The city also announced that the takeover of the land and the relocation meant that an expensive interim building would no longer be needed, a point that was met with incomprehension by many, especially because of the costs, which the city itself estimated at 75 million. Especially as the search for an interim building was in vain, at least at the beginning of the year, as these had all been sold to China. The new location would also mean that there would no longer be any encroachment on the Hofgarten, a highly emotive issue for the people of Düsseldorf. Further advantages of this U-turn are that the opera's collection could be fully realised at the Wehrhahn, which would otherwise have cost 20 million to relocate. According to the city, it is also conceivable that the Clara Schumann Music School Düsseldorf could also move into the building. It is estimated that there would be 50% more space.

What has happened so far

In March 2021, the Lord Mayor put forward his idea that Düsseldorf could benefit from a new opera house. A visionary and very good idea that inspired many architectural firms to come up with the most beautiful opera houses under the title "Opera of the Future". "Opera of the future" meant that a classical opera house was considered an outdated concept and that an opera house in our time should have a more extensive use. A meeting place for people and not just an elite circle was desired. In addition to the existing location on Heinrich-Heine-Allee, other locations were proposed, such as Am Wehrhahn 1, Rheinpark Golzheim, Medienhafen/Kesselstraße and Graf-Adolf-Platz, and evaluated according to the criteria of centrality, availability and technical feasibility. On 16 December 2021, the council decided on a new building and on 2 March 2022, an international competition was announced, to which designs for the Am Wehrhahn site and the previous Heinrich-Heine-Allee site could be submitted.

The results of the architectural competition showed the opera buildings on both Heinrich-Heine Allee and Werhahn realised in line with the brief. Renowned offices were honoured, the international star architects from Snøhetta, Oslo, German offices such as Henning Larsen Architects, Prof. Jörg Friedrich I Studio PFP, gmp, Berlin and the two large Düsseldorf offices ingenhoven associates at the Prange Mühle and HPP Architekten at the Medienhafen. At the same time, more and more critics were having their say, describing the new opera house as economically unreasonable and even wanting to stop the project. Plans were made for a sum of 780 million and the project made a lot of bad headlines under the title "billion-dollar opera". A council vote called for in May of this year was postponed because the SPD announced a "need for consultation". They demanded more transparency regarding the costs. The SPD also linked its approval to improvements in urban housing. Their approval was crucial because the Greens in the black-green Düsseldorf council were against a new opera house.

Off the table: the location of the heart

According to the old plans, the new opera house was to be built on Heinrich-Heine-Allee. According to the Lord Mayor, this was the location of his heart. Indeed, it would have been an impressive avenue with central elements such as the Academy of Fine Arts, Grabbeplatz with the K20 Art Collection of North Rhine-Westphalia, the opera house, the listed Steigenberger Hotel, the neoclassical Carsch House and the monumental Galeria Kaufhof. The decision to relocate the opera house to the less attractive Wehrhahn site was probably not an easy one.

The state of the old opera house

The conditions of the old opera house were unanimously described as "intolerable". According to the new plans, the opera house will not move to an interim building, but will remain there for probably another 10 years. As was to be expected, this circumstance is now being criticised once again. As with any public building, it can be assumed that this is not about damage to the fabric of the building that could endanger the opera staff. Experts and architects have described the working conditions as unacceptable, but this is due to the cramped nature of the rooms. Here, too, preparations have been made. The city announced that it had set up a commission to consult with the opera staff on how to proceed, it was announced at the council meeting.

Will costs now be capped?

The opera discussion now seems to be taking a turn for the better. No interference with the Hofgarten, no expensive interim building, more space for the opera staff. And yet - on the day of the meeting, a - smaller - demonstration group turned up to protest against the "billion-euro project". Of course, a new opera house will cost money, even without an interim solution. We spoke to architects, the construction company and, most recently, the PARTEI Klima Alliance. They are the only party in the council to call for a cost-capping resolution. A good approach that we will hopefully hear more about.

------

Claudia Greta Mauer