Paderborn (WB). The city of Paderborn is looking for land to expand the technology park. Apparently negotiations are currently underway to purchase the former Nixdorf building at Riemekestraße 160 (Almepark office centre).
The modern-looking building, which is said to have defects, was used by the company Atos until August 2017. Now there is only a sign for ESG (Eurofacility Solutions GmbH). According to information from this newspaper, the city of Paderborn has made an offer to buy the property. No other bidders are known so far.
So far there has been no official confirmation that the city is seeking to buy the Almepark office centre. However, the building was already under discussion in 2016. At that time, it was brought into play as a possible location for the city administration. At the time, Mayor Michael Dreier considered the office space at Riemekestraße 160 unsuitable for the administration. The decision was therefore made in favour of the Hoppenhof location, where renovation and refurbishment are currently taking place.
Technology Park II
The impending shortage of space in the Technology Park is also an issue for Frank Wolters, Managing Director of the Paderborn Economic Development Corporation (WFG). When asked yesterday, he explained that the Barker Barracks on Driburger Straße were still being considered as a future Technology Park II. However, it will probably take “four to six years” until the British barracks can be taken over by the city. Therefore, the city is looking for alternatives that are available in the short term.
The free space in the technology park on Südring will be used up in the foreseeable future. In addition to the planned student residence with more than 200 flats, further plots will be built on this year. WFG boss Wolters pointed out that the technology park company will start with a new building directly between the roundabout and the allotment gardens. The floor space will be 2500 square metres.
Allotment garden site Samtfeld
Adjacent to this, a multi-storey car park is being built opposite garage 33. This is scheduled for completion in winter 2018. Another office complex with 3500 square metres of floor space is being built between Garage 33 and the B 64. In addition, there are further areas in the order of 11,000 square metres, but these are privately owned. And what about the Samtfeld allotment garden site? According to Frank Wolters, there is a lease agreement with the city. This could be terminated from a purely legal point of view, but this is not politically desirable.
So the only option is to look for alternatives. A new use for the vacant space in Riemekestraße seems to be the obvious choice. A decision is to be made by the politicians in the next few weeks.
By Ingo Schmitz