The car manufacturer Stellantis owns part of his daughter’s historic production site Opel sold in Rüsselsheim am Main. The three properties with a total area of more than 700,000 square meters near Frankfurt Airport will now belong to the VGP Group, a European owner, operator and developer of logistics and commercial real estate, according to a statement from VGP. For the real estate developer, it is the largest brownfield acquisition in the company’s history. Brownfield is the English term for a disused area that was previously used for industrial purposes.
“Stellantis will initially rent the space back and gradually release it for new development,” explained VGP. Stellantis is currently optimizing the location in Rüsselsheim, which can look back on over a hundred years of history.
The headquarters has long been the subject of the Opel parent company Stellantis’ austerity measures. Since PSA took over Opel, the importance of the car manufacturer has been dwindling. Since then, Opel and Vauxhall sales have almost halved to around 428,000 vehicles in Europe. Opel is not represented in important markets such as the USA or China.
PSA had already reduced its workforce significantly at its Rüsselsheim location, the headquarters of the traditional brand. The technical development, the heart of every car manufacturer, was partly outsourced to the service provider Segula years ago. It was recently announced that CAD development in Rüsselsheim will be discontinued in 2024. The Opel Astra, among other things, is built in Rüsselsheim.
New owner wants to renovate industrial site
Real estate developer VGP, which specializes in the renovation of former industrial sites, wants to use the newly acquired land to develop a commercial area. Industrial companies as well as small and medium-sized companies with high added value are to settle on an area of around 350,000 square meters. “The renovation project will be implemented in close coordination with Opel and the city of Rüsselsheim,” VGP continued, according to the statement.
The Opel location in Rüsselsheim is characterized above all by its strategically favorable location. It is only 15 minutes by car from Frankfurt Airport, has a direct rail connection from the airport to the site, a port connection to the Main and direct connections to the three economic centers of Frankfurt, Wiesbaden and Mainz.
Rüsselsheim is not the only German location that the Belgian real estate developer has bought. Overall the group is in Germany represented at 40 locations and active in 17 European countries with 112 parks. The family company’s headquarters are in the Belgian port city of Antwerp.