Dortmund buys empty pension office - new plans in sight?

The city of Dortmund bought the former pension office on Rheinische Strasse. The purchase was confirmed by the city of Dortmund on January 7, 2025. The building has been empty for 13 years and future use is still unclear. The city council will decide on the further use of the building in the course of 2025. In the past there have been several failed purchase projects, including an interest from the Sparkasse Dortmund in 2024, which was not realized due to high renovation costs.

The building received special attention in 2023 when a scandal was uncovered in which sensitive health records were found inside. The city of Dortmund plans to use the building to save rental costs in the long term, and this purchase could be part of a strategy to accommodate urban offices in their own real estate, such as Radio 912 reported.

vandalism and abuse of the files

In the meantime, the historic building at Rheinische Strasse 173 was hit by Dieben and Vandalen. During an inspection on January 12, 2023, 9000 printed files from the 1970s and 1980s were found. These files come from the former pension office of the state of North Rhine -Westphalia and were used as analog data backup. After the office was municipalized in 2008, it was only responsible for Dortmund, Bochum and Hagen.

The files have been unnoticed in a closed room since the office moved out in 2011. City spokeswoman Anke Widow reassures that it is mostly not active processes and the city of Dortmund plans to process the files in cooperation with the NRW Ministry of Labor as quickly as possible. The building, which was inaugurated in 1922 and survived the Second World War largely unscathed, is entered in the monument list of the city of Dortmund as a monument.

The building has been empty since 2011 and has had several changes in ownership. A planned use as a hotel in 2020 was not implemented. Current damage in the building includes graffiti, theft of the facility, arson, water damage and cable class. The city of Dortmund has contacted the current owner, Novum Real Estate Development GmbH. Peter Externbrink, the head of the pension office, announces that it will act immediately and to eliminate the condition of the building, such as Ruhr24 reported.