The German Bundesbank has published a press note stating that its Executive Board has taken a principle decision on the future location of its headquarters, planning to purchase a property in Frankfurt to serve as the new seat of the central office. The decision follows an externally supported value-for-money review, and a procurement process will be launched to select and acquire a suitable building. The review found that buying a property would be significantly cheaper than keeping the headquarters at the current Wilhelm-Epstein-Straße site. Investment needs at Wilhelm-Epstein-Straße were estimated at around EUR 1.6bn, and a comparison of the present value of investment costs and projected operating and maintenance costs through 2067 identified the current-site option as the most expensive at EUR 2.9bn, even after plans were scaled back from the earlier campus concept. A market sounding indicated that suitable properties are available in Frankfurt, either as new builds or fully refurbished existing buildings, and key selection criteria in the procurement will include central location, price, quality and timetable; the Bundesbank also cites its expanded 2023 home-office rules as reducing required workstations to just over 3,300 from about 5,000. The City of Frankfurt has signalled an interest in purchasing parts of the Wilhelm-Epstein-Straße site via a direct sale, which the Bundesbank notes would be legally permissible given the property’s specific circumstances.

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