Munich office-to-housing plan: study finds smaller potential

A new study from the commercial property firm Colliers suggests Munich’s plan to turn empty offices into homes may deliver far less housing than hoped. According to the Munich newspaper tz, which has seen the study, only around 60,000 square metres of vacant office space could be converted quickly and without legal complications.

What happened

Munich’s Oberbürgermeister (Lord Mayor) Dominik Krause of the Greens said during his election campaign that up to 10,000 homes could be created from empty office and commercial space. He repeatedly pointed to around 1.8 million square metres of vacant space in the city.

The Colliers study, reported by tz, gives a lower figure. It finds that around 1.5 million square metres of office space currently stand empty in Munich, out of a total of around 17 million square metres. It also finds that much of this space is not suitable for conversion.

The main obstacle is planning law. According to the study, a large share of the empty space lies in areas not designated for housing, such as Gewerbegebiete (commercial or industrial zones). Noise from nearby businesses can cause conflicts there. Conversion in these areas is possible, tz reports, but considerably more difficult.

The 60,000 square metres that could be converted quickly also leave out more modern offices built from 2010 onwards, because their owners are likely to be reluctant to convert them.

The study says the potential could grow to around half a million square metres under certain conditions. To get there, the city would need to change its Bebauungspläne (binding local development plans) or allow conversions in commercial zones more generously. Felix Kugler, Regionalmanager Bayern (regional manager for Bavaria) at Colliers, told tz: “That requires a greater willingness to plan.” He added: “How far do you want to reduce the protection of commercial zones in order to make housing possible, with the risk of conflicts between neighbours?”

The city’s Planungsreferat (planning department) told tz it plans to use several tools. The so-called Bau-Turbo-Gesetz, a federal law meant to speed up housebuilding, makes it possible to change a site’s designated use to residential. Commercial zones are harder, especially where “noise-intensive businesses” operate there. So the city does not plan to turn commercial zones into residential areas across the board. It will instead look for specific sites suited to mixed-use neighbourhoods.

What it means for you

If you are looking for a flat in Munich, the study suggests that office conversions will not add a large number of homes in the short term. The space that can be converted quickly and without legal problems is small compared with the total amount of empty space. Most of the larger potential depends on future decisions by the city on planning rules.

If you own or manage empty office or commercial space in Munich, the city’s new Umbauagentur (conversion agency) is the place to go. Setting it up was one of Krause’s campaign promises. According to tz, it advises owners of potentially suitable space on how to make full use of the options that already exist. It will also help look for sites suitable for mixed-use neighbourhoods.

If you live in or near a commercial zone, it is worth knowing that the study names noise conflicts between businesses and new residents as one of the main problems. Any wider opening of commercial zones to housing would raise exactly this question, as Kugler’s comments show.

What to watch next

Interest in the Umbauagentur is already strong. According to tz, a high double-digit number of interested parties have contacted the agency, and more than ten of these projects are now being examined in detail. How many of them go ahead will give an early sense of what conversions can really deliver.

The bigger question is whether the city will change Bebauungspläne or relax the rules for commercial zones. According to the Colliers study, that would be needed to raise the potential from around 60,000 to around half a million square metres. Watch also for which sites the Planungsreferat picks for mixed-use neighbourhoods, and how it uses the Bau-Turbo-Gesetz in practice.

Source: tz