The Squaire

Squaire behind the A 3, July 2013

Squaire (own spelling: SQUAIRE, formerly Airrail Center Frankfurt ) is a 660 meters long, up to 65 meters wide and 45 meters ( nine stories) high office building in Frankfurt am Main (district airport). It was built between 2007 and 2011 over the existing railway station at Frankfurt Airport and provides additional space for offices, hotels and retail. Through a connecting corridor Squaire is directly connected to Terminal 1 of the airport.

With a total lettable area of ​​140,000 m² Squaire is considered the largest office building in Germany. It is next to the Opera Tower, the Frankfurt Messe Tower and the Schneefernerhaus one of only four buildings in Germany, which has its own postal code ( " 60600 " ) has.

Name

Squaire is a portmanteau of the words "square" (public area ) and " air" (air). The name was announced in June 2010, after the building had been out for years under the project name Airrail Center Frankfurt. Airrail is also a portmanteau of the words "air " (air) and "rail " ( rail).

Location and Transport

The building is located between the Federal Highway 3 and runs parallel to national road 43 near the Frankfurt Cross and the development area Gateway Gardens. There is a direct connection to the building below the train station with daily 210 long-distance trains, of which 185 ICE trains. Through a passageway through the Federal Highway 3 can be reached on foot at the airport terminal and the local train station.

Between the building and the car park (2500 parking spaces) oscillates a fully automatic horizontal cable car " Squaire - metro " with 2 cabins.

History

As part of the planning of the high-speed line Cologne-Rhine/Main was at Frankfurt Airport, the need to build a second station, because the existing urban and regional station does not have the necessary passenger capacity possessed to cope with the predicted traffic. 1995 construction began for the new railway station, 1999, the 660 meters long and up to 55 meter wide building was completed. The roof of the station with a glass dome was doing already constructed for future redevelopment.

Based on the design of the architecture firm JSK Architects began in November 2006, the preparatory construction work on the first office building called Airrail Center Frankfurt; the laying of the cornerstone took place on 1 March 2007. The main investor of the project is to IVG Immobilien AG in Bonn. The opening was originally planned for spring 2010. The expected construction costs were initially at 660 million euros; Early June 2009, said the investor IVG already more than 840 million euros. One end of July 2009 to the spillage of public opinion counted at a cost of almost a billion Euros and with a completion in late 2010.

While the structural work of the builder announced the concrete shell in April 2008, because he had the works to the grounds that individual requirements of the construction permit are not met and important planning documents have not been fulfilled. Then a competing company was entrusted with the continuation of the construction work. A year later, it was found that the imported steel from China had deficiencies, which meant that a total of 3,500 tons of built-up steel had to be replaced or repaired.

The final name Squaire was given in June 2010 in the context of the completion of the facade. In 2011 Squaire was officially opened and the tenant KPMG, Arthur D. Little and the auto supplier Nemak a subject. Moreover opened catering and retail companies such as Starbucks, Paulaner inn and REWE. The opening of the two Hilton hotels ( Hilton Garden Inn and Hilton) in the eastern part of the building took place on 20 December 2011.

The cost was ultimately about 1.25 billion euros. The project is approximately 800 million euros in the books of IVG. The result of the company fell in fiscal year 2011 due to the The- Squaire project negatively. The company wants to sell the building to pay off debt in the amount of approximately 500 million euro and 350 million euro release date free equity capital for profitable projects. Observers expect a sale in 2013 to a closed-end fund founded by IVG.

In February 2012, the Squaire 's own parking garage ( Squaire parking) was completed with 2,500 parking spaces west of the office building. The parking garage is connected via a 300 meter long steel construction ( " Skylink " ) with Squaire the fifth floor. About the Skylink people mover operate two metros in the shuttle.

Tenant

The main tenants are the accounting firm KPMG, two Hilton Hotels and Lufthansa. KPMG has leased 40,000 sqm of office space in the western part of the building and has moved on May 30, 2011. From there, KPMG will lead with 2,150 employees, the Europe and the Saudi Arabia - business of the Company (KPMG Europe LLP ). In the eastern part there are two Hilton hotels: The Hilton Garden Inn Frankfurt Airport with 334 rooms and the Hilton Frankfurt Airport with 249 rooms to a total of 34,500 m².

Lufthansa has signed a letter of intent for the lease of 18,500 m² in August 2011, in early 2012 around 1,000 people are expected to move in Squaire. Other tenants include Nemak, IVG Immobilien, Plug and Work and Arthur D. Little.

Many of the retail space has already been allocated to tenants. A REWE store with daily opening times of 5 clock in the morning to 1 clock at night and a Virgin Media store are found in the western part of the building.

On 3,600 m², a specialist center to be built in addition, 5,900 m² are provided for restaurants and shops. In February 2011, a total of 93,000 m² of land (about 66 percent of the total ) were rented. With conclusion of Lufthansa, the occupancy rate rose to 82 percent. For rent office space of around 30 euros per square meter will be charged. By further contracts, among others, the logistics group Panalpina, the office furniture manufacturer Bene, transport catering company SSP Germany as well as terminal for Kids, which operates a daycare center in the building, in early 2012, the occupancy rate rose to 85%.