ERFURT – The groundbreaking ceremony for a new residential area in Saalfeld took place today, Tuesday, August 1st. LEG Managing Director Sabine Wosche and Saalfeld's Mayor Dr. Steffen Kania officially broke ground on the "Graba II" site. Over the coming months, LEG will develop 81 building plots for single-family and two-family homes on the approximately 7.1-hectare site. The company is investing a total of around €5.8 million in the acquisition, planning, and development of the land. The final sale prices for the plots will be calculated during the development process. The marketing of the building plots will be handled by the Saalfeld City Real Estate Office, which co-owns the land with LEG.
“LEG has extensive experience in developing residential land in Thuringian municipalities,” said Sabine Wosche at the start of the development work. “Here in Saalfeld, we expect rapid construction despite increased building costs and interest rates – due to the high quality of the location, the good infrastructure in the surrounding area, and in light of our market and demand analysis, which indicated a strong response to the future offering. We will be offering building plots here for young families, but also for those who want to build their barrier-free retirement home, without the involvement of developers or real estate agents!”
The demand for housing in Saalfeld is indeed high, and the real estate market in the Fairy Grottoes city is characterized by a lack of available plots. "Today is a significant day. After a long time, with Graba II, we are once again developing a large building area in Saalfeld for single-family and two-family homes. Creating building plots for single-family homes is important to keep young families in the city," explains Mayor Dr. Steffen Kania, adding: "We are competing with neighboring municipalities and Thuringian centers like Jena, Weimar, and Erfurt for the best talent. Therefore, we need building plots. Because the fact is, young families want to own their own homes, even in the current crisis."
In total, LEG will create approximately 8,800 square meters of roads and cycle/pedestrian paths as part of the development. This will include the installation of around 1,500 meters of pipes for rainwater and wastewater and around 1,900 meters of drinking water pipes for the new residential area. Additional green spaces, along with numerous trees, will give the area a natural character. LEG's contractors are the engineering firm for water management, construction and environmental technology (wbu) and August Dohrmann GmbH, both based in Saalfeld.
Background: The history of the project
The first construction phase at the Saalfeld-Graba site began in the late 1990s and was successfully completed in 2007. In accordance with the objectives of the land-use plan, the development plan for the second construction phase came into effect in October 2020. It was a long road before the excavators could finally start work. First, drainage had to be ensured by expanding the main sewer line operated by the Saalfeld-Rudolstadt Water and Wastewater Association (ZWA). In addition, a complex planning and land consolidation procedure was required. This involved reorganizing the area, which was divided into very small parcels of land. Last year, archaeologists successfully surveyed the area, and the ordnance survey was recently completed.
