In 1998 the City of Frankfurt approved a new high-rise development plan which specifies where new skyscrapers are allowed to be built in the city. One of the approved locations was the estate owned by
Commerzbank and Rheinhyp at Taunustor, right at the heart of Frankfurt's financial district. The development plan envisioned a high-rise building for the property, named Kaiserkarree. In 2000 architecture firm Gruber + Kleine-Kraneburg won an architecture competition for the planned tower, but the project slowed down after the
Dot-com bubble burst in 2000 and the
September 11 attacks in 2001. Meanwhile the Rheinhyp became part of real estate bank
Eurohypo and moved to
Eschborn, therefore Commerzbank took over responsibility for the property. In 2007 Commerzbank announced that it wanted to sell the property because there was no need to use it for own purposes. At the end of the same year Tishman Speyer and Commerz Real bought the property and said that they would build the tower unchanged from the previous design. It was agreed upon with the City of Frankfurt that a part of the tower would be used for apartments. The demolition of the existing buildings on the property was scheduled to start in spring 2008 but was delayed because Tishman Speyer surprisingly announced that the plans for the tower had changed: Instead of one broad tower they changed the design to two towers, one and one , and therefore a clear parting between office use and residential use. Tishman Speyer submitted a building application in 2010 and started the demolition process but shortly after the demolition was once again stopped because the main tenant for the office tower (rumoured to be
Clifford Chance) cancelled the contract negotiations. Tishman Speyer then announced that the towers, now called Taunusturm, would not be built in the near future. In January 2011 demolition works continued and Tishman Speyer officially presented the final design for the towers, again from Gruber + Kleine-Kraneburg: and . The construction of the towers began in April 2011 and finished in time to open in February 2014. ==Gallery==