News

January 22th, 2016

TAUNUSTURM: FOUR NEW LEASES

Within a short period of time, four prominent international corporations decided to move their operations to TaunusTurm.

Stephens Europe Ltd, Debevoise & Plimpton LLP, Mizuho Bank and McKinsey & Company, Inc. now complement the excellent tenant structure in Frankfurt's latest high-rise. The newly rented space totals 6,500 m². Since its completion, the 170m high office tower, developed as a joint venture project by the developer Tishman Speyer and Commerz Real AG, has already attracted 18 prestigious tenants and as of January 2016 has an occupancy rate of 70 per cent. The latest lettings highlight TaunusTurm's status as an established leading business address in Frankfurt's banking district, accommodating an outstanding tenant roster.

McKinsey & Company Inc., the renowned, internationally active management and strategic consulting firm, is moving its Frankfurt branch headquarters from Japan Center to the top floors of TaunusTurm. Jones LangLaSalle acted as McKinsey's adviser.

At the end of this year Mizuho Bank, one of Japan's largest financial institutions, will also be moving into the tower. The bank is leaving its current Frankfurt headquarters at Hauptwache plaza to set up shop in the banking district, making the top floors of TaunusTurm its new national headquarters. The bank's decision-making process was supported by the real estate consultancy firm NAI Apollo.

Positive proof that TaunusTurm is also a popular and sought-after location amongst prestigious international law firms comes in the shape of Debevoise & Plimpton LLP's tenancy. In April this year they will be moving from their current Frankfurt office on Taubenstraße to TaunusTurm. blackolive acted as Debevoise & Plimpton's adviser.

Stephens Europe Ltd, a subsidiary of the US-based investment bank Stephens Inc., has completed their move into TaunusTurm. The independent financial adviser was assisted by Colliers International during the lease negotiations.


November 26th, 2014

THREE ADDITIONAL NEW TENANTS AT TAUNUSTURM

TaunusTurm is steadily filling up. Tishman Speyer has acquired three more prestigious tenants for the 170-meter-high office tower on Wallanlage, namely the consultants goetzpartners, investment bank Moelis & Company, and executive search specialists Odgers Berndtson. The green building TaunusTurm was developed by a Tishman Speyer and Commerz Real AG joint venture and completed at the beginning of the year.

The renowned consultancy of goetzpartners is relocating from the Westend Duo to the TaunusTurm. Managing Director Dr. Markus Krall says the company is setting a clear signal by relocating: “As regards proximity to our clients in the financial sector, it is hard to imagine a more central location. We’re looking forward to working in one of the most beautiful and modern buildings in Frankfurt.” goetzpartners will take up premises on one floor of the TaunusTurm tower as early as the start of summer 2015; BNP Paribas Real Estate acted as its adviser.

Leading global independent investment bank Moelis & Company (NYSE: MC), which advises clients on M&A and other strategic matters, will move its Frankfurt office to TaunusTurm in the spring of 2015.

Moreover, the globally active executive search specialists Odgers Berndtson will be moving their head office from Mertonviertel to the TaunusTurm. The corporation feels the leap from a location on the edge of town into the very heart of the banking district makes a clear statement: “We tend to have a lot of contact with our clients and candidates in our offices, and are thus already looking forward to being able to welcome them in the near future to the especially beautiful TaunusTurm. What is more, the combination of the building’s purist look and prime ecological qualities is fully in line with our understanding of sustainability,” says Peter Herrendorf, Managing Partner at Odgers Berndtson. The company plans to relocate to TaunusTurm at the end of 2015; Knight Frank acted as the intermediary supporting Odgers Berndtson.


Mai 9th, 2014

Theaster Gates „Mama Red“ unveiled in the TaunusTurm Lobby

The walk through Frankfurt’s green city belt now has an added attraction: From today, Theaster Gates’ “Mama Red” is on display in the 13-meter high lobby of the TaunusTurm. The 3-by-12-meter large commissioned work is visible both from Taunustor and from the park and can be viewed during normal office hours.

“We commissioned Theaster Gates because we think his work is extraordinary. He is a multi-talented person – really a renaissance man.The discussion surrounding his work has been exceptionally interesting and informative,” said Jerry I. Speyer, Co-CEO of Tishman Speyer, explaining the choice of artist.

Mama Red is made from strips of decommissioned fire hose, tonally arranged and stitched together. „Mama Red is my largest and most ambitious Civil Tapestry to date”, says Theaster Gates. “It is the culmination of my ongoing investigations into the ways in which appropriated materials such as fire hose reveal their charge within a formal context and make murky a complex social and political history. By working on this scale, I am able to broaden and collapse the complicated relationship between form, function and the symbolic potencies of a material, resulting in a work that is both deeply-rooted in and an exciting extension of my practice.“

The work reflects Gates’ interest in the poetics of re-purposed and salvaged materials. He himself terms his oeuvre “poetically pragmatic” and it certainly moves people. It spellbinds not only art collectors and experts, but also unleashes creative energy. His ecology of opportunity, as he refers to it, creates new living and working environments and for its part aims to encourage new productivity and creativity. In Germany, Theaster Gates became well known primarily for his documenta project “12 Ballads for Hugenot House”, when in downtown Kassel he converted a condemned building into a synthesis of the arts that functioned as a cultural center.

Olaf Cunitz, Deputy Mayor of the City of Frankfurt, welcomes the new work: “With the TaunusTurm Tishman Speyer not only completes an architecturally striking high-rise trilogy, which makes its aesthetic mark on Frankfurt, but also a notable series of international art, which the structures display to the city’s inhabitants and guests: Jonathan Borowski’s “Hammering Man” at MesseTurm, Julian Schnabel’s “Ahab” in the Opern- Turm, together with Andreou Alfaro’s “Olympus of Weimar” on permanent loan in the former outer fortifications. As head of the planning department I am particularly pleased that alongside the forthcoming modern art gallery MMK2, the TaunusTurm is also providing space for a work by the artist and urban planner Theaster Gates.”


February 11th, 2014

First Tenant moves into TaunusTurm

According to the joint venture partners Tishman Speyer and Commerz Real AG, the first tenant has moved into the TaunusTurm. The international law firm King & Spalding LLP, one of the leading commercial law firms, which in Germany enjoys particular renown in real estate and regulatory law, has moved into one of the upper floors and begins operations in the new building today.

"The move is the consequence of previous, and an expression of future growth. To this end the TaunusTurm suits us ideally: It is striking and offers uncompromising, premium quality that is state of the art," says Mario Leißner, the firm’s German Managing Partner, explaining the relocation.

"We wish King & Spalding a successful start in the TaunusTurm, and are convinced that the excellent location and quality of the premises in the TaunusTurm will play a role in it," said Florian Reiff, Managing Director of Tishman Speyer in Germany. "The TaunusTurm successfully became operational in January and with King & Spalding now having moved in, we are looking forward to welcoming the other tenants to their new offices in the TaunusTurm over the coming weeks."

Alongside King & Spalding, other long-term tenants in the TaunusTurm include the international financial services provider J.P. Morgan, HVB Gesellschaft für Gebäude und Beteiligungen – a sister company of HVB Immobilien AG and wholly-owned subsidiary of HypoVereinsbank, the asset management company Schroder Investment Management, the international commercial law firm Norton Rose Fulbright, and Akbank AG.


September 16rd, 2013

J. P. Morgan to lease 8,000 sqm in the TaunusTurm

The lease agreement with J.P. Morgan is already the fifth to be announced for the Frankfurt high-rise by the joint venture partners Tishman Speyer and Commerz Real AG. The international financial services company J.P. Morgan is to lease five floors with a total area of approx. 8,000 sqm for a long-term period. Jones Lang LaSalle assisted the tenant with the deal. The move is planned for the end of the third quarter in 2014.

The structure of the TaunusTurm has already been completed and the steel works for the top of the high-rise are now being erected. The façade has likewise been installed up to the tip of the building.


June 3rd, 2013

Norton Rose Fulbright is a new TaunusTurm tenant

Joint-venture partners Tishman Speyer and Commerz Real AG can now proudly announce the fourth tenancy contract for TaunusTurm: international commercial law office Norton Rose Fulbright has put the ink to a long-term rental contract and signed up for a total of some 4,000 square meters of office space on the upper floors.

"We are very pleased to have found a new home for our Frankfurt office in the heart of the central banking district: in TaunusTurm. The building’s clear lines and extremely sustainable architecture played a strong role persuading us in favor of the property. Our forthcoming relocation to Neue Mainzer Strasse emphasizes the successful performance and growth achieved by our office in Germany and at the base in Frankfurt," commented Thomas Hopf, Head of Frankfurt and Director Real Estate at Norton Rose Fulbright in Germany.

"In the space of but a few months we have gained four renowned corporations as tenants for TaunusTurm and thus ensured their longer-term loyalty to Frankfurt," enthuses Florian Reiff, Tishman Speyer Managing Director in Germany. "Leading corporations are more than ever prioritizing a highly efficient use of space and prime locations where their staff can feel at home."

At present, the TaunusTurm carcass has grown, and the top of the highrise has been reached. The façade elements, each of which covers two stories, have now been installed up as far as the 31st floor.


January 18th, 2012

Foundation Stone Laid for "TaunusTurm" in Frankfurt's Banking District

Joint venture partners Tishman Speyer and Commerz Real AG today laid the foundation stone for the "TaunusTurm" office tower, which will be the latest addition to Frankfurt skyline. Located in the heart of Frankfurt's banking district, the 40-story, 650,000 square-foot (60,000-square-meter) tower is scheduled to be delivered by the end of 2013.

In the presence of 350 invited guests, Petra Roth, Mayor of the City of Frankfurt, and architect Martin Gruber joined Jerry and Rob Speyer, Co-CEOs of Tishman Speyer, as well as Jochen Klösges, a member of the Commerzbank AG Board of Managing Directors, in lowering the copper foundation stone capsule through a Plexiglas tube into the 10-meter-deep construction pit.

For Tishman Speyer, TaunusTurm represents the third phase of what has proven to be an enormously successful development initiative in Frankfurt, preceded by the MesseTurm and OpernTurm projects.

To be located at the corner of Neue Mainzer Strasse/Taunustor and the "Wallanlagen", the park belt, TaunusTurm will be the first building on Neue Mainzer Strasse to have its 13-meter-high entrance facing the adjacent park. The slender tower with a white natural stone façade, which was designed by the Frankfurt firm Gruber + Kleine-Kraneburg Architekten, is expected to be the first new high-rise in the city to be awarded LEED Platinum certification.

The construction of TaunusTurm will considerably upgrade the Wallanlagen - the adjacent former city fortifications. Part of the plot of land will be used to extend them and make them accessible by means of a new promenade along the entire row of buildings. Amenities in the form of a restaurant for staff and guests, and a business club with conference space will enhance the property. Next to the TaunusTurm, Tishman Speyer is developing a residential tower, with an entrance aligned to the park, making it a prime address on Frankfurt's unique park belt.

Petra Roth, Mayor of the City of Frankfurt, emphasized the entrepreneurial vision of Tishman Speyer and Commerz Real. TaunusTurm, she said, integrates a new urban space for work and life into the existing fabric of the city and gifts future residents, employees and guests a great deal quality of life: "The entire development of the TaunusTurm project is infused with the notion of sustainability. It is precisely this which a center such as Frankfurt really needs: Investors who believe in the potential of the place." Mayor Roth insists that such vision will spell a strong competitive edge: "In keeping with the claim of ‘Be Inspired' TaunusTurm is already a massive success for the City of Frankfurt as it not only creates hundreds of jobs but at the end of the day will be an impressive new landmark for the city."

In a joint statement, Jerry and Rob Speyer, Co-CEOs of Tishman Speyer, said, "Frankfurt is one of Europe's great cities and its importance as a key financial center will undoubtedly keep growing during the coming years. We continue to pursue a strategy of developing and owning premier properties in world-class cities, and this project is consistent with that strategy, while it satisfies Frankfurt's growing need for high quality office space that is architecturally superior, flexible, efficient and sustainable."

Jochen Klösges, Member of the Management Board of Commerzbank AG, highlighted the special location of TaunusTurm and the responsibility that comes with it, commenting, "It has been of major concern to us to implement a project in this prominent location in the banking district on a property formerly from our corporate portfolio that would guarantee complete success. The conditions have been met perfectly: The striking architecture, the quality of the space, and the alignment toward Taunusanlage are proof of the great attractiveness of TaunusTurm."

"Be Inspired - by seeing what is! We as architects are constantly moved forward by our visions. Creating a new location, imagining it from nothing, now that is always the search for the special, for the essentials. At this location, right here, we see the great opportunity to design and build a sculptural high-rise, a shape that contained multiple uses, right in the heart of the city of Frankfurt. TaunusTurm brings all this together and can be read as a metaphor for contemporary economics and aesthetics," commented Martin Gruber of Gruber + Kleine-Kraneburg Architekten.