Implenia starts project development work in Germany

Earlier today, representatives of the city of Darmstadt and Implenia signed a purchase agreement for the Marienplatz site. Implenia, working with Netzwerkarchitekten of Darmstadt and GTL Landschaftsarchitekten of Kassel, won the city design competition in 2019, thus qualifying to acquire the city-centre plot. The core of the winning design is a wave-shaped residential development with a municipal day-care facility and a separate 15-storey tower block. The whole development will offer roughly 30,000 m² of gross floor area and include around 310 rental and owner-occupied homes. Part of the ground floor will be set aside for public use. The project is worth approximately EUR 100 million.

Attractive and sustainable urban living space
Marienplatz is a roughly 1.4 hectare parcel of derelict land in the middle of Darmstadt, currently used as a car park. The university city in the south of the German state of Hesse suffers from a tight housing market, so there is a need for an attractive residential neighbourhood suitable for different user groups. Particular emphasis is being placed on exceptionally high energy efficiency and environmental quality as well as on alternative mobility offerings: car use can be reduced by the inner city location and careful design. Parts of the buildings will be made of wood. In addition, 25% of the gross floor area will be used for social housing, and at least 20% for middle-income residents.

Building up an innovative development portfolio
“Our development portfolio has a market value on completion of more than two billion Swiss francs, making us one of Switzerland’s leading real estate players,” says Adrian Wyss, Head Division Real Estate. “As planned in Implenia’s strategy, we are now building up a development portfolio in Germany, and are already active with a powerful team in the heart of the Rhine-Main region. The Marienplatz development in Darmstadt signals the start of the planned expansion.” This will also involve new investment vehicles and innovative new real estate products that are standardised, prefabricated and thus scalable.