Garage Campus

Topping-out ceremony on the building site

Even though the site appears to be at a standstill at the moment due to the construction work that has been ongoing for a year, months of hard work and dedication have already seen a lot of movement behind the scaffolding and excavators. On 20 March 2024, the client Chemnitzer Verkehrs-AG (CVAG) will celebrate the topping-out ceremony together with representatives of the City of Chemnitz, the construction companies involved, the planning offices, the architects and the sponsors.

"Our focus for 2024 is, on the one hand, on making the area usable for the Capital of Culture year 2025 and, on the other, on creating a place that will create long-term added value for the citizens of Chemnitz and the region beyond the Capital of Culture year," says Jens Meiwald, CEO of CVAG. "According to the current state of planning, we will be able to put the various project and event areas into operation at the beginning of the second quarter of 2025. We are currently planning a varied programme for 2025 together with interested users and are working on the long-term orientation of the site," adds Jens Meiwald.

"For the city of Chemnitz and the further development of the Kappel district along Zwickauer Straße, the expansion of the site into a garage campus is a key function for the development of the area.
key function for the development of the redevelopment area. A total of around 5 million euros has been earmarked for the project using various funding programmes," adds Michael Stötzer, Mayor of Construction.

In addition, the Garage Campus team is currently in the middle of planning the programme for 2025. Alongside events organised by external partners, the Garage Campus will also offer its own programme. The rooms are open to projects, initiatives and organisations looking for a venue or a new home. Interested citizens are welcome to contact the Garage Campus team with their own ideas.

Urban development funding for redevelopment area

On 21 November 2022, the city of Chemnitz received 6.4 million euros in funding from the Free State of Saxony for investments in overall urban development measures. 1.6 million of this will go to the former depot and depot halls, among other things. State Minister Thomas Schmidt handed over the corresponding funding decisions to Lord Mayor Sven Schulze. The funding will provide the city with considerable support in eliminating the loss of urban development functions.

The first milestone for the further development of the former Chemnitzer Verkehrs-AG Kappel depot has been reached! The traditional site on Zwickauer Straße is one of the so-called intervention areas of the European Capital of Culture Chemnitz 2025. At a virtual concept presentation last Thursday, the project team presented the concept for the Chemnitz Garage Campus, which has been developed over the past few months together with stakeholders and citizens.

In addition to the various utilisation scenarios, which are intended to enable a permanent and sustainable revitalisation of the site - even beyond the Capital of Culture year 2025 - an architectural vision was presented that will make the Garage Campus a beacon for the city, the region, Germany and Europe.

The concept summarises all the ideas collected together and serves as a guideline for the next planning steps. It helps to make investment decisions, acquire funding opportunities, decide on initial commissions and test and realise uses. The Garage Campus is a long-term urban development project.

The development will take place gradually over a period of ten years. Both an obligation and a challenge in the development of the area is the achievement of a spatial-architectural as well as sustainable, participation-orientated modularity.