Contract signed

Mariahilfer concrete skeleton has found a buyer

(Bild: klemens groh)

The standstill in the ruined department store from the Signa bankruptcy on Mariahilfer Strasse is coming to an end. On Thursday evening, the insolvency administrator and the new owner met to sign the contract. The ghost building site should be filled with life again before the end of the year.

The new owner of the shell of the building on Mariahilfer Strasse is the Austrian Stumpf Group, which built the Millennium Tower on Handelskai in Vienna, for example. According to bankruptcy trustee Clemens Richter, the decisive factor for the real estate empire behind 52-year-old Austrian Georg Stumpf winning the bid was not only the price offered - "as an insolvency administrator, this must be relevant for me" - but above all that "the competence and creditworthiness of the bidder are beyond dispute".

Trustee in bankruptcy wanted an unconditional yes
What also mattered to the insolvency administrator Richter was that Stumpf had made an offer without any further conditions. Richter had already set himself the goal months ago of completing the sale in the fall so that construction could continue before the end of the year. He did not want to accept offers such as "yes, if I get this credit line or, yes, if the mayor lets me build 100 meters high", Richter told the "Krone".

The construction site could wake up from its slumber before the end of the year.

(Bild: Krone KREATIV, APA Picturedesk, stockadobe)

The purchase agreement is still subject to approval under insolvency law. However, no further hurdles are to be expected, and the debtor's right to make a statement is likely to remain unused. "At the end of October, beginning of November," estimates bankruptcy trustee Richter, the contract should then be watertight. After that, construction work, which came to a halt in December 2023 in the face of the bankruptcy of investor René Benko's companies, is likely to start again soon.

Tough negotiating opponent for city hall and district
With the Stumpf Group as the new owner of the property, City Hall and the district have a vis-à-vis they know well. The fact that it is a local company is certainly one of the positive aspects for the city. At the same time, however, real estate tycoon Stumpf is regarded as a tough calculator who likes to push his construction options to the limit. The Millennium Tower, for example, had to be legally "repaired" retrospectively because the permitted building mass was significantly exceeded.

No details on use yet

The Stumpf Group itself - more precisely a wholly-owned subsidiary as the buyer of the shell - is being tight-lipped for the time being. According to the company, it decided to purchase the building because of its good location, its established position on Mariahilferstrasse and its proximity to the city center. The real estate giant does not yet want to reveal what it intends to do with the building, but wants to "develop the future utilization concept in coordination with the City of Vienna and the district in the coming months".

Department store ruins as an "equation with many variables"
Bankruptcy trustee Richter points out, not without pride, that he has kept the promise he made months ago to sell the "challenging property" by the fall. "This is different from the Park Hyatt, where everything is ready and I already have a tenant." In contrast, selecting the best bidder for the department store skeleton was more of an "equation with many variables", each with different ideas for the future of the building.

According to Richter, he has heard often enough since the bankruptcy proceedings began in February: "No one will ever take it" and "it will remain a ruin". He is therefore all the happier "that we have managed to find a reputable investor for it". Is the bankruptcy trustee now taking a vacation? "At some point, it will probably happen," he says, but at the moment he is still busy with other insolvency proceedings in the real estate sector: "There is no shortage of them at the moment."

Realization is difficult
In recent months, the insolvency administrator responsible had initiated a bidding process that ran until the beginning of September. However, the realization was anything but easy: Signa financial juggler Rene Benko had planned a luxury department store including a hotel with 148 rooms, which would ultimately cost up to 530 million euros. The shell alone is estimated to have cost 300 million euros so far. The opportunities for investors to modify the project according to their wishes appear to be limited. More than 200 million euros must be factored in by the new owner for completion.

Rene Benko acquired the former Leiner flagship store around Christmas 2017 with the help of top politicians at the time via his Laura Private Foundation. At the bargain price of 60 million euros - although another interested party had offered 90 million. Just 15 months later, the Tyrolean speculator, who in the meantime also had to file for bankruptcy as an entrepreneur, passed the property at Mariahilfer Straße 10 - 18 on to a company belonging to his non-transparent Signa Group. For 190 million euros. To the delight of the Benkos' Laura Foundation.