"CARO" takes shape

Starting signal for office project at the southern entrance to Graz

This is what the Graz south entrance should look like in two years' time. A café is planned in the "projection" at the southern end of the complex.(Bild: Hohensinn Architektur/nonstandard)

While the last word is far from being spoken in the discussion about the Liebenau stadium, the excavators are moving in opposite: At the entrance to Conrad-von-Hötzendorf-Straße, a seven-storey office building is being raised from the ground - the next piece of the puzzle of Graz's southern entrance.

The first details of the CARO project were presented on Monday. Investor Günther Lederhaas and Granit-Holding are building a striking building with 13,500 square meters of office space on around 5,000 square meters of land west of Hötzendorf-Straße - from the stadium intersection to the Roth petrol station - where around 700 jobs are to be created.

End of the line for long-established inn
The schedule is ambitious: In just a few days, the site where the Gasthaus zur Endstation stood for generations will be razed to the ground and the excavation pit should be in place by Easter. CARO should be ready for occupancy by the end of 2026. The project has had a lead time of one and a half years so far, including an architectural competition with more than 80 projects submitted.

On Monday, the Gasthaus zur Endstation was given the green light.(Bild: Sepp Pail)

Mini "landscape park" for everyone
The winning concept is a continuation of the Pachleitner headquarters on the highway feeder road. The renderings show a slender, permeable building that meanders along the arterial road. Attention was paid to the green space: A "landscape park" is planned towards the ÖBB tracks, which is on private land but will be open to the public. The green space also runs through the building on all seven levels - the keyword here is vertical parks.

The parking strip on the west side(Bild: Hohensinn Architektur/nonstandard)

Great importance was attached to permeability on the ground floor.(Bild: Hohensinn Architektur/nonstandard)

The view out of town, where the stadium tower is to be massively extended once the CARO is completed(Bild: Hohensinn Architektur/nonstandard)

Granit boss Lederhaas also sees the project as a mission to upgrade the southern entrance, which has so far been unattractive despite individual construction projects, and to brighten up the cityscape. "It will be realized exactly as the architects have planned," he promises at the presentation. And he is already thinking several steps ahead. After the planned completion in 2026, the stadium area itself is to be tackled. The 20-metre-high tower is to be significantly raised and the stadium itself made competitive again: "We don't want to have to travel to Klagenfurt anymore," he says, speaking on behalf of the soccer fans in Graz.

Jürgen and Rudi Roth with Granit boss Günther Lederhaas and the architects Jakob Dunkl, who awarded the winning project, and Karlheinz Boiger (Hohensinn Architektur, from left)(Bild: Sepp Pail)

"Starting signal for the whole of Graz"
One of them is oil entrepreneur and GAK veteran Rudi Roth, whose petrol station is to be redesigned and integrated into the new concept. "The CARO is the starting signal for the whole of Graz," he enthuses about the new landmark cast in concrete, glass and green on "one of the most important sites in the whole city" in the south of Graz.

Client does not want to compromise
According to reports, the costs are between 60 and 70 million euros, although the parties involved did not want to put a precise figure on this on Monday. It is more important for developer Lederhaas to emphasize that there will be "no compromises" and that everything will be built from a single source.