High-rise housing trend
Germany’s tallest and most expensive high-rise apartment building is currently under construction in Frankfurt am Main – other cities are following suit.
One thing has become very clear since the laying of the foundation stone for the spectacular new Henninger Turm in Frankfurt am Main in June 2014: high-rise apartment buildings are the latest thing. A dazzling new tower designed by US star architect Frank Gehry is also planned at Alexanderplatz in Berlin. Not one, but two high-rise apartment buildings are to be constructed at the Medienhafen development in Düsseldorf. The reason for this trend is that people are moving into cities and housing is becoming scarce. Densely populated cities like Frankfurt can only “densify”, as the experts call it. That is why the only German city with a skyline has opted for “vertical growth”. The result is willingly accepted by an affluent urban clientele.
360-degree luxury apartments with panoramic views
The 140-metre-tall new Henninger Turm is a prime example of this trend. The tallest (for the time being, at least) and most exclusive residential tower in Germany is currently being built on the grounds of a former brewery at precisely the spot where the old grain silo of the Henninger-Brauerei once stood. Until 1974 the tower with a revolving barrel-shaped restaurant at the top was the tallest building in Frankfurt and therefore a major feature on the skyline that was just beginning to rise at that time. The shape of the grain silo, which has meanwhile been demolished, was adopted for the new design. Over 200 apartments are being built in the cubic tower, while the slightly projecting “barrel” will contain four unique over 300-square-metre apartments offering 360-degree panoramic views of the Frankfurt skyline, the Taunus, Spessart and Odenwald mountains and the Rheingau. And like its historical predecessor, there are plans to open a restaurant with viewing platform on the roof. The completion of the building is scheduled for the end of 2016. Over 70 units have already been sold, including one of the luxury apartments at the top.
Incidentally, the trend has also arrived in the provinces. The small town of Fellbach near Stuttgart recently approved the construction of a 100-metre-tall apartment building.
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