Once the US Army built the new hotel complex....the old American Arms hotel down on Frankfurter Strasse was set to close. It was a guaranteed deal. The Army asked around....to see if any further use could be made. None.....so they started the process of turning over the property.
Deals like this....are million-Euro deals....for the city of Wiesbaden.
You see....there's also a second property....over in Mainz-Kastel (the suburb of Wiesbaden to the southeast, along the river). Both amount to big expansion plays for real estate players, and the city planners.
Well....the court system has gotten involved, and noted that there is a process for handling this kind of stuff, and it will be used. The mayor of Wiesbaden is still in the middle of the process.....but any hope of his to run this in a new and different manner? Gone.
The anticipated outcomes? The American Arms hotel is in decent shape and would make for decent student housing....or at least the Wiesbaden Kurier newspaper is reporting this. No, we don't have a university in town.....but there are various schools, and the business university (a private deal). So folks are leaning toward keeping the building standing. Note, parking just isn't something that you'd brag about with the American Arms complex. And rebranding it? I'd expect some naming convention to come up....honoring some Wiesbaden cultural figure.
The Mainz-Kastel property? The hint is that it'll be mostly torn down and rebuilt....residential properties of some sort.
The mess left here? Well....the US Army said....as part of the acceptance process....they want no additional costs. The court is surveying this, and likely to call in a big toxic waste inspection. Episodes like this....usually turn into a five-year period where tests are done, redone, and results become a topic for discussion. It's not concluded as final....until the court signs off.
I'd take a humble guess here....that the old Wiesbaden Arms hotel....stays mostly empty and useless.....until 2018 at the earliest. The Kastel site might take another three or four years past that point.
For Americans who traveled through the area, and knew both sites....it's a bit of interest, and maybe a bit of comedy. A simple process....simply doesn't exist.
15 comments:
Interesting! We just moved back to Wiesbaden from living in Seattle for over 7 Years. A lot has changed, a lot seems to have staid the same. Looking forward to more posts.
I managed both the American Arms and the Amelia Earhart hotels from 1985 through 1989 when Wiesbaden MILCOM was under V Corps Had a great staff in both hotels and managed to renovate both facilities. Sad to see American Arms go....but change is inevitable I guess.... Good luck to the new manager of the new hotel complex.
Mike Anderson
Does anyone know the years the Amelia Earthardt hotel in Wiesbaden was used to house women exclusively, and can this info be verified with a source? I understand it housed women serving on base, such as the USAFE Command Librarian, etc. Thanks.
The Amelia Earthardt was the newer of the two US hotels in Wiesbaden, and built next to the Air Force-run med center. I remember a conversation from years ago where the topic came up and someone said that the Air Force had it built to handle the number of dependent pregnant wives who would be flown in from Air Force sites/bases in Europe that didn't have first-rate delivery care and they'd spend the last month or two at the Earthardt Hotel. It was not exclusively for them, but I think they got at least one entire floor. Maybe someone can post up a more verifiable source/data.
Hello. Any new news on the American Arms? I lived very close to it at Frankfurter 21, over-looking the patio of Die Hutte, from 91-96. We stayed there for a few nights when I ETSd.
I will bookmark your site Sir and look forward to catching up on your writing as time allows.
PS- Thank you for your service.
Well, they sat on the reuse project to the point, where the refugee episode outweighed priorities. So, about four months ago, it was flipped over into an immediate-use situation for a couple hundred refugees. The Mayor says it'll be a two-year project and then get refurbished into a student-like dorm deal. As best as I can understand...they've enticed some private university group from Idstein to move back into the city (the old court building downtown)....massive renovation project. Lot more students will be in the city, and they will have the money then to make the American Arms into this student housing. So, it is being used, and there wasn't much they had to do to make it into refugee housing. Rest of properties flipped are in some discussion stage (A-H Hotel, Mainz-Kasteel site, Amonenberg site, etc).
Interesting stuff Mr. Hammond. Thank you for sharing your insight on the situation.
Since you are so knowledgeable about the situation, I wonder what you know about the place called City Bowling? It is located across the street from the American Arms. I was reminiscing about the place and looking at pictures of the interior on their website and notices words (artwork/decoration) on the wall in English. As it has been 20 years since I frequented the place I do not recall it being so big. Then I read an article that said the U.S. spent $10M to upgrade it. Could that be true? 3xW citybowling-wiesbaden dot de
I appreciate any thoughts you or your fine readers have on this topic.
Thank you in advance for your care.
(We used to come to this place often as it was inexpensive but delicious and 250m in a straight line from my front door. I liked to go and have a light beer and pizza tonno, which no American I have told can imagine such a pizza. Plus City Bowling had what I called Disco Bowling. I think they called it that too. Maybe not. The turned the lights low or off and had neon and black light and covered parts of the lanes in ground fog and turned the pop music up. Good times!)
"City Bowling" is still around. Never been inside, but I know from the exterior....it's a better than average place (not your typical bowling alley appearance). They attract customers now from that hospital down the street. If you see some article on US upgrading it...they mean the new facility over at Hainerberg Hill (new BX, new Hotel, old commissary, etc). They put a fair amount into that new recreation building (bowling, cafe, etc). Old BX building still stands but it has to be on some dismantle list. I think anyone who was stationed around in the 1980s and early 90s, and came back to the area today....would be fairly shocked. Some of Wiesbaden is upgraded and modern....some has gone backwards. One of the few things that has not changed in way or shape is that diner that was across the street from the old Amelia-Earhart Hotel...diner is still there and best cheap meal in town.
"...anyone who was stationed around in the 1980s and early 90s, and came back to the area today....would be fairly shocked."
For sure. I can see things on Google Earth that confirm your statement. I see the parking lot next to my building at 21 Frankfurter is paved now. I see huge buildings for the European Army command built at what used to be called WAB when I was there '91-'96 as well as a whole new housing development to the adjacent south.
Yes, things often change, sometimes for the better.
If I can easily find that article I will re-read it as I am sure you are correct. I probably read it wrong or it was sloppily written.
City Bowling, like so many other wonderful things I experienced in Wiesbaden and other places, happened by accident. I thought it was someone's house until I saw the sign to come in. So I did. So many places like that. One may think they are a house but really they are a gasthaus or a shop or something.
I can personally think of forty-odd coffee houses, pubs, or such that I've wandered into over the past three years in Wiesbaden....where you just felt like you'd found some corner of paradise. But it's been that way in Italy, Netherlands, Denmark, and so on. I think once people just go on some exploratory cycle...they find a unique experience. I rounded some corner in Melbourne a few weeks ago and I was in the midst of some crazy demonstration crowd. I edged my way out and sat at a cafe to observe the demonstration (not on my bucket list, but one of the thousand-odd things I've observed in life). It's like sitting one evening in a German pub with a taste test underway of ten unique beers, and finding each better than the last.
Here is the article from 4/2009 I was talking about. Maybe you will understand my confusion as now I see clearly what you were saying Mr. Hammond.
3Xw army dot mil /article /19913 /Goodbye__American_Arms_Hotel__Hello__new_lodge/
(Sorry about not putting the link directly. I don't want to set off spam filters)
The article says, "Although the venerable American Arms has been a Wiesbaden mainstay since the 1950s, it's time for an update...If you've PCSed or visited Wiesbaden, you'll probably agree with the need for a new lodge. ...In a little less than two years from the October 2007 groundbreaking ceremony, this new $36.9 million, 164-room Army Lodge in the Hainerberg military family housing area will have taken shape as one of the most modern-looking buildings in Wiesbaden."
I guess I missed the terms 'groundbreaking' (although that could pertain to an existing facility, and 'in the Hainerberg military family housing area' although I read that and just figured the writer meant the whole neighborhood INCLUDING the ground the American Arms stands on as well as my apartment halfway between Hainerberg and AA.
"Across from the new parking lot and landscaping area will be a $10 million multi-family entertainment center that will include a restaurant, 16-lane bowling center, billiards hall, dance club, slot machines, and party/meeting rooms." So that is the place you were talking about NOT City-Bowling which is across the street from American Arms parking lot.
I guess I missed the whole point of the article as I thought they were writing about the American Arms.
Thank you for helping me to clear it all up. Still, I find it interesting that there is writing in English on the interior walls of City-Bowling as can be seen on their website. Maybe a way to help GIs and refugees feel more welcome?
There are a handful of places around Wiesbaden (K-town too) that market greatly toward American customers. I'd take a guess that there are around 15,000 Americans (Army, dependents, civilians, retirees, and working Americans on the German economy) in the Wiesbaden region. No reason not to go after some of this potential revenue...Dominos tried and failed in the local area (closing three weeks ago). Some Germans will argue that they are also working on welcoming refugees, but it's a declining enthusiasm. And I would have my doubts about pocket-capital for spending purposes within the new immigrant community.
Lived at American Arms Hotel for almost a year back in 92. Good times.
Post a Comment