In 2008 the city gave the archbishopric a property with a school in need of renovation. The building still has deficiencies – but is now supposed to change hands for money.
In 2008, the city of Hamburg transferred a piece of land on Eulenstraße to the Archdiocese of Hamburg – for zero euros. Because the renovation costs for the building on the property, the Catholic elementary school St. Marien, exceeded its value at the time. In 2021, the primary school was closed as part of the austerity measures initiated by Archbishop Stefan Hess. Now the diocese wants to sell the property – to the city of Hamburg.
There are currently negotiations about the “return” of the location to municipal ownership, the Hamburg tax authorities informed t-online on request. “This should ensure a sufficient supply of school places in the long term.” The Archdiocese sees no future for the building as a primary school.
“Significant fire safety deficiencies” at the school building
A spokesman for the diocese told t-online that the single-stream primary school at the site and in the listed premises was “not developable”. In addition, there were no suitable rooms “for future-oriented educational and also inclusive work”. Due to the size of the school, it was also not economically viable. There were also “significant fire safety deficiencies”.
It is therefore questionable whether the city can use the building directly as a school without further investment. Nevertheless, she should now apparently pay for the property that was once given away. Neither the tax authorities nor the Archdiocese provide information about the purchase price. “In order to protect the interests of the city, the financial authorities cannot provide any further information on the status of negotiations and pricing,” the authority said.
In 2006, the sales value of the property was estimated at around one million euros, according to a communication from the Senate to the Parliament in June 2008. In view of the development of property prices in recent years, the value should now be significantly higher.
