A framework agreement on a leasehold agreement is to be concluded with the Landesbank Hessen-Thüringen and the Frankfurter Sparkasse. The play is to be built on a site measuring around 5,500 square meters on Neue Mainzer Straße. For this purpose, the city will receive a leasehold from Frankfurter Sparkasse with a term of 199 years in return for a one-off payment of 210 million euros. The dismantling of the property there will cost the city a further 3.75 million euros.
These conditions correspond to the framework agreement negotiated with the Landesbank Hessen-Thüringen in July. The bank had originally planned a one-off payment of 35 million euros and annual installments of 1.99 million euros, which would have amounted to 431 million euros. In July, head of the cultural department Ina Hartwig (SPD) announced a “prompt” template for the city parliament. Now the magistrate has made the decision, the city council must also agree. Then the architectural competition for opera and drama will be announced.
Hartwig said she was pleased “that the coalition is taking this important step and that we as the city government are showing that we are able to act on large projects such as the new construction of the municipal theaters and are moving forward together.” The play is to be built next to a new high-rise building up to 175 meters high on the ramparts; the opera is to be rebuilt on Willy-Brandt-Platz as in 2023.
