New residential project at Sendlinger Loch: The lake will be demolished!

New residential project at Sendlinger Loch: The lake will be demolished!

Something is finally happening in Munich: The construction pit at Alramstraße 14, which has been at a standstill since 2020, has had new owners since the beginning of July. The Starnberg real estate company Ehret and Klein has taken over the area and is now planning to build rental apartments instead of the luxury condominiums originally planned. This could finally fill in the so-called “Sendlinger Loch”, which has been bothering residents, people looking for housing and politicians for years. Michael Ehret, founder of Ehret and Klein, recently announced the plans and also revealed that work has already begun.

The situation on Alramstrasse has been anything but positive since M-Concept, which received a building permit for 128 condominiums in 2019, stopped construction. Due to rising construction costs, which skyrocketed particularly as a result of the war in Ukraine, and a lack of buyers, the project had to be put on hold. There is now a twelve meter deep construction pit on Alramstrasse and Aberlestrasse that is full of water. This sight is not only a nuisance for residents, but is also symbolic of the current housing crisis in the city, which is enlivening many of Munich.

New plans for the Sendlinger Loch

The new owners of Ehret and Klein have already started pumping out the water from the pit. While the construction vehicles and cranes are already on site, the local building commission is carrying out static investigations to eliminate any deficiencies. The plan is for construction to begin in a few months, probably in September, with the construction of the basement. This means that a turning point in the painful history of the Sendlinger Loch seems to be within reach.

The plans previously drawn up by M-Concept should continue to be put into practice. There are no new building applications in sight and the property is still owned by 14 Alramstraße GmbH & Co. KG. M-Concept boss Stefan Mayr confirmed that the property had not been sold, but rumors were circulating about a potential buyer from Starnberg. The sales price of 73 million euros for the property is generally considered utopian, and whether the new construction plans can be successfully implemented remains to be seen.

The challenges of the past

However, the problems for M-Concept did not end with the standstill at Sendlinger Loch. The company is also facing legal difficulties, including charges of breach of trust, bankruptcy and delay in insolvency, for which a trial date is still pending. A shadow that has weighed on the industry for months and does not exactly ease the already tense situation on the housing market.

But now one can hope that with the breath of fresh air from Ehret and Klein and the concrete construction plans for rental apartments, there will finally be movement in Sendlinger Loch. It remains exciting to see whether the project actually makes tangible progress in the coming months and whether the citizens of Munich will soon have an attractive residential area again, instead of the previous water hole and the structural standstill.

Current information on developments around the Sendlinger Loch can be found at [Süddeutsche] here and at the [evening newspaper] here.