After Signa bankruptcy: Viennese building ruins get new use

The city of Vienna has the successor project for the former Signa department store project „Lamarr“ in the Mariahilfer Street approved in Vienna. The demolition work on the shell is almost finished and work on the new building is scheduled to begin in three weeks. The demolition was necessary because the ceiling heights of the building, which was planned as a department store, did not fit the planned use. Only the building shell can therefore continue to be used. The construction waste – 30,000 tons of concrete and 1,800 tons of steel were removed from the construction site – is to be recycled.
A subsidiary of Stump group The Viennese investor Georg Stumpf bought the unfinished department store in autumn 2024 from the insolvency of René Benko’s Signa Group. The new owner is now planning a property with retail space on the lower three floors of the new building and apartments up to the eighth floor. The planned hotel in the rear part of the building and the publicly accessible roof terrace continue to be part of the usage concept.

The demolition or dismantling of the Lamarr shell was possible without approval. Changing the usage concept for the development of the property is possible because the dedication of the location also allows for residential use – a total of 200 condominiums will be built.
The publicly accessible terrace, which was already part of the Signa project, must be implemented because a right of use was agreed there, which is particularly important to the Neubau district. The owner expects the project to be completed in the first quarter of 2028.

New district in the 19th district

After 21 years in Sleeping Beauty’s sleep, they awaken City of Viennathe new property owner BUWOG and the Viennese street art organization Calle Libre the area around the former APA-Turm on Gunoldstrasse in Döbling with a work of art brought to life. Over the next few years, the 2.5 hectare area is to be developed into a lively district for living and working with the involvement of the population.

The former APA high-rise at Gunoldstrasse 14 was owned by Signa until 2025. Scaffolding is now being erected on the west side in order to then paint the largest mural in the country on the facade. The colorful work of art from the Spanish Urban Street Artist Okuda San Miguel The colorfulness of the 52 meter high tower is intended to represent diversity, tolerance and openness.

It takes around three weeks to complete the 1,100 square meter painting. The site is part of the Muthgasse urban development area. “In the not too distant future, numerous new apartments and jobs will be created here,” says Andreas Holler, Managing Director of BUWOG.