Politician bought land

One-euro site is now said to be worth half a million

Instead of a hotel, a residential building could be built on the approximately 1,700 square meter site at Bahnhofstrasse 14 in Vorchdorf.

(Bild: Wolfgang Spitzbart .)

Eight years ago, the municipality of Vorchdorf sold a plot of land to a VP politician for one euro. His company should have demolished the building and built a hotel. The hotel project never materialized. Now a residential building is to be made possible. The purchase price for the site is estimated at 500,000 euros. 

Eight years ago, a company in Vorchdorf secured a 1700 square meter plot of land for one euro with the obligation to demolish the old fire station and rescue building and build a hotel. Because the managing director at the time was also a local ÖVP politician, the waters ran high. 

Citizens' list demands buyback
Eight years later, there is still no peace. The hotel project was never realized. The Citizens' List has long been calling for the site to be bought back. However, it is completely alone in the municipal council with this demand.

Municipal council decides
The remaining parliamentary groups are in favor of easing the conditions ahead of the local council meeting next Tuesday. The obligation to build a hotel should be dropped and the way cleared for the construction of apartments instead.

A buy-back also carries the risk of legal proceedings. Construction could be delayed again by many years.

Mario Mayr, ÖVP-Fraktionschef

"We want something to finally happen on the site. The investor has presented us with a new concept. The commercial space on the ground floor that was planned at the time is planned again, only now the upper floors will be apartments instead of hotel rooms," explains ÖVP parliamentary group leader Mario Mayr.

He rejects the buyback because the price as well as the costs for the demolition and the planning costs incurred to date could be disputed and there is a risk of going to court, including high legal costs. "We would lose many years again." The money for the buy-back is also not included in the budget. "We would have to draw on reserves and risk becoming a municipality in decline because of the repurchase," says Mayr.

Instead of aiming to repurchase the property, the municipality is handing over the EUR 400,000 increase in value of the site to the investor.

Albert Sprung, Chef der Bürgerliste

Sprung sees it the other way around. Following the demolition of the building, the site is now worth almost half a million euros, as the usual market price for a square meter of building land in Vorchdorf is 300 euros: "The investor is being left with the increase in value of 400,000 euros. The more sensible way would be to buy it back for 120,000 euros as compensation for the demolition costs. The municipality could then sell the site back to him at the market price and thus make a lot of money."