Ludwigsvorstadt– In front, construction machinery has been rattling at the historic Tietz department store since renovation began. In the back, the wind whistles through the scaffolding at the construction site of the Hotel Königshof. In between are a good 200 meters of street between the train station and Stachus, which will one day become Munich’s most attractive place to stroll – as soon as the old Karstadt annexe has fallen and a glass shopping palace will shine there. It is said that this could be in 2026.
Munich: The “grisly” Schützenstrasse
But until then? Is the Schützenstraße not a friendly place.It’s Tuesday around noon, and the people you meet here can be counted on two hands. A pensioner, for example, hurries past three homeless people in the direction of Stachus. Why is she hurrying? “Because it’s grisly,” she says, pointing around her. The arcades on the left look like sinister caves, shop windows on the right are stuck together from top to bottom, and there is a pungent smell of urine coming from the building’s entrance.
The engineer Ulrich Krotz, on his way to the doctor, comes in the opposite direction. He has “no urge” to stay here, he says, his hands buried deep in his coat pockets, “you can only walk quickly through the mess that is Schützenstraße,” this wasteland, this dirt, is shameful for a city like Munich.
Alpine view with green roof terrace: This is how the new glass temple at Stachus …
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Schützenstraße: The “gateway” to Munich’s pedestrian zone
It’s been true ever since it became clear that the Karstadt renovation and new buildis coming, which will affect practically the entire length of the street on the left, Schützenstraße, the “gateway” to Munich’s pedestrian zone, is becoming deserted.
Thomas Stanzel can be found in front of the former Hotel Meier. As building manager, he looks after the four houses with the numbers 8 to 14 – Signa, which is building the “Glass Palace,” has also bought them and will soon have them demolished.
The Meier and Luitpold hotels, he says, are empty,There is still an office above the dance school at number 8, and the five-story residential building at number 10, above the empty gold purchase store, is also virtually tenant-free. There is only a little activity left in the “Infoladen”, which explains the construction project for Signa. And at lunchtime in the homeless kitchen, which Caritas has set up on an interim basis.
Long vacancy – not beneficial for the overall appearance
But also across the street, at number 9, which has nothing to do with Karstadt, has been vacant for at least two years, not only in the row of stores below, but also on the five floors above, where there used to be offices and apartments. An investor, so it is heard, has bought the building and made it empty, which is not beneficial for the overall appearance, in the last few days by the storm one of the dusty windows fell out. Now the statics of the building are being checked, it is to become a hotel, which probably wants to profit from the future glamour of the Schützenstraße. But it will take until 2025 for this to be completed.
Not good for the neighbor, the Smart Stay Hotelat number 7, the last Gründerzeit old building on the street. Because until then, the smell of urine and rot will remain next door. A young guest couple is just leaving the hotel, Ismail and Edda, who are here for two days as tourists.
Of course Munich is a great city, says Ismail. But stepping outside the hotel door here? Spooky. The stench, the strange figures, especially in the evening. You feel uncomfortable here, at least not safe.
The stench, the strange creatures – uncomfortable
Perhaps one of the reasons why double rooms in this hotel can be had for the bargain price of 50 euros – just a stone’s throw from the pedestrian zone.
For the few stores that have remained,the prospects for the next few years are not very rosy. Sure, there’s still business in the Karstadtriegel until it’s torn down. “Sale” is stuck man-high, but hardly inviting in the shop windows. But the former guests from the Königshof are missing, the walk-in customers that the department store attracted are missing, there are no more walk-in customers at all, why should anyone stray into this wasteland? Angelo Kaser from the second-hand store Vintage Revival at number 7 asks himself.
From the rotten to the glamorous street: It takes patience
Hairdresser Sahin Mersin from Salon Haar Ekspreson the number 1 (next to Anna Hotel, which is also closed for a year) feels just as the walk-in customers dwindle. 15, better 20 people should be in the store all the time to make it profitable. Right now there are exactly three.
“It’s,” he says, “like the street is slowly dying.” And he doesn’t even want to imagine what it will be like when the Karstadt wrecking ball comes across the street. With even more construction machinery clattering and dust and dirt. The Gammelstraße on its way to becoming a glamour street, it will need patience.
