The Bundesbank’s Executive Board has made a policy decision regarding the central bank’s future location: the Bundesbank is planning to buy a property in Frankfurt that will serve as the site of its Central Office. This decision was preceded by a cost-efficiency assessment conducted by the Bundesbank with external support. 

The cost-efficiency assessment has clearly shown that purchasing a property is significantly cheaper than housing the Bundesbank’s Central Office in its previous location on Wilhelm-Epstein-Strasse, Bundesbank President Joachim Nagel explained. A procurement procedure will be launched for the purchase of a property. “Key criteria in the procurement procedure will be the central location, price, quality and the timeline,” Professor Nagel said.

Market research has shown that suitable properties for the relocation within Frankfurt are available as new buildings or fully refurbished existing properties. The market research findings were compared with the previous location in an open and unbiased way as part of the cost-efficiency assessment. 

The total investment costs at the Wilhelm-Epstein-Strasse site would have amounted to around €1.6 billion. This would have included not only the refurbishment of the former main building, but all the modifications to the premises required to house the Bundesbank’s Central Office. 

The values calculated in this way were the basis for the cost-efficiency assessment. This assessment compared the present value of the investment costs and of the extrapolated costs for operation and maintenance up to 2067. At €2.9 billion, the old location performed the worst in this comparison, too. The Bundesbank had already considerably scaled down the plans for the Wilhelm-Epstein-Strasse site compared with those for the original “Project Campus”. 

The Executive Board under the leadership of Bundesbank President Joachim Nagel had put the project under review after the pandemic and initiated a shift towards a more economical solution. The current plan will also be made more cost-effective by the fact that the Bundesbank expanded its working from home arrangements in 2023. As a result, only just over 3,300 office workstations are required for employees at Central Office. Around 5,000 workstations were originally planned. 

Good public transport connections are an important factor in the satisfaction of our employees, Professor Nagel said. The Bundesbank’s Regional Office in Hesse is already located in the city centre. This could result in synergies with the new property. “A survey conducted prior to the selection of the current temporary headquarters had shown that accessibility by public transport was the most important criterion for the majority of employees,” Professor Nagel added. 

The city of Frankfurt has signalled that it intends to purchase parts of the Wilhelm-Epstein-Strasse site – a plot of land for public use – by direct sale. This would be legally permissible due to the special circumstances of the site.