How ÖBB is letting top properties in the most expensive locations go to waste

Today, the building, which was built in the Neo-Renaissance style and has almost 16,000 square meters of existing usable space, presents a sad picture. Not devastated, but just what a property looks like that has been empty for so long. Only small parts of the ground floor are rented.

But how can an owner not manage 16,000 square meters in the most expensive location in Vienna for years? This is a question not only in the local real estate industry. The state-owned company ÖBB can, and not only this object. The building complex on Schillerplatz, which is impressive in terms of its size, is a prime example of – to put it kindly – ​​ÖBB’s unprofessional real estate management. For which the taxpayer is ultimately asked to pay.

Real estate experts calculate the loss of rental income from the start of the vacancy up to 2030 to be at least 50 million euros. An ÖBB spokesman counters that the rent on which this calculation is based can only be achieved for renovated properties in a new condition. As ÖBB, we “see the long-term potential of the property or location, which is why we decided to develop our own development”.

Late, but still. As part of Strategy 2030, long-term income should be realized for the group instead of short-term one-off effects. The railway has had really bad luck with the “Schillerhof” so far; it is referred to as “extraordinary external market shocks”. In 2019, the decision was made to comprehensively realign the location, but a hotel project was prevented by the pandemic. ÖBB did not receive a single economically viable offer in response to a 2022 concept tender. Again, external circumstances were to blame: the Ukraine war, the interest rate turnaround and increases in construction costs.

So the railway now wants to renovate itself and offer high-quality offices at the turn of the year 2030/31, at least according to the current planning status.

Lack of transparency

There is no word on the amount of vacancy costs, just like for the property at Mariannengasse 16 – 20, in a prime location in the 9th district. The former ÖBB service building with more than 10,000 square meters of usable space has been empty since 2009. In the 2024 balance sheet, the property has around 13 million euros in fixed assets; high-quality apartments were once planned.

Real estate experts estimate the loss of rent over 20 years at around 60 million euros, as the complex will probably not be fully let until 2029 at the earliest.

Here the ÖBB is even more opaque and only refers to a building permit holder to whom the property was awarded in 2020/21. They don’t even reveal the name of the company.

Both properties are parked in the ÖBB subgroup Infrastructure AG and there in turn in their own project companies. Sits in their management Andrea Reithmayer. As a reminder: The one from the Green ex-transport minister Leonore Gewessler The hapless chairwoman of the supervisory board, who was brought to the top of the ÖBB Holding, moved down to the fourth management level in 2024 to a newly created real estate position in Infrastructure AG.

The real estate companies report to the Board of Directors Finance, Market, Services, headed by Silvia Angelo. The former AK and ÖGB manager has strong ambitions to succeed the railway boss Andreas Matthä said.