Another stir surrounding the Munich real estate company M-Concept. Another residential project is at a standstill in Bogenhausen. There are already several criminal charges against the boss, Stefan Mayr. A horticulturist reports an incredible demand.
At first glance, the neat but unfinished apartment building looks uninhabited. Pipes and gravel lie in front of it, shafts are only poorly covered with wooden planks; Also balcony railings, the waste pipes for rainwater, the garbage house, the outdoor area in front of the house – all of this and more is still missing. A man who happens to be walking by asks: “When will this finally be finished?” I’ve been going by here for five years. First nothing happened here for years, now the new building is no longer going on.”
Only at second glance do you realize that two apartments in the apartment building on the quiet street in Bogenhausen are occupied, and there are curtains hanging in front of the windows. “We live on a construction site,” says one of the residents in an interview with AZ. She and her husband bought the apartment in the summer of 2021; completion was originally planned for early summer 2022.
“Everything has been delayed month after month,” says the buyer. “We were only able to move in a year later: in August 2023.” But construction work has been at a standstill since last fall. “It’s like a game of cat and mouse. “We are always put off,” says the woman.
The apartment next door is still under construction. There are also many corners missing on the ground floor: “I still don’t have electricity in all the rooms. The garden isn’t finished either,” says this buyer, showing the AZ around.
Another major annoyance: the residents are still not registered as owners in the land register, only a preliminary notice of transfer is recorded there. The real estate law expert, lawyer Alessandro Coschignano, says: “It is in bad faith to refuse to transfer ownership to the buyer in the case of ‘stuck’ construction, even though the buyer has already paid more than 95 percent of the purchase price to the developer.”
This construction site also belongs to the well-known Munich property developer M-Concept. He has already built many villa-like houses in noble Bogenhausen. This includes the new building on Pienzenauer Straße in Herzogpark directly on the Isar, where billionaire Friedrich Karl Flick’s highly secured villa once stood, as well as a new building complex with condominiums on the area where the popular Grüntal inn used to be.
M-Concept became known nationwide through the so-called Sendlinger Loch on Alramstrasse. M-Concept boss Stefan Mayr wanted to build around 130 expensive condominiums there. But since the huge construction pit was dug, nothing has happened. The hole is full of water and has become synonymous with the construction crisis – since Corona, the rise in interest rates for loans and increased construction costs after the start of the Russian attack on Ukraine.
Stefan Mayr, the boss of M-Concept, is now referred to by some as “Benko’s little brother” – Mayr also continued to expand – even if the dimensions are not quite comparable to the fallen Austrian real estate tycoon René Benko. But Mayr has also bought more and more land and real estate in recent years. He also has major construction projects in Kitzbühel.
Until the construction crisis, his business model obviously worked well – also for Mayr personally: He gave interviews about his extensive Ferrari collection and also liked to polish his luxury sleighs in front of his luxurious property in Bogenhausen – for all the neighbors to see. He has now moved to another large villa.
Now things no longer seem to be going so well for Stefan Mayr. Large M-Concept projects are at a standstill, there are sometimes massive delays, buyers are left out in the cold because they cannot move into properties on the agreed date and building contractors and tradesmen complain about unpaid bills.
Now even the Munich public prosecutor’s office is investigating on suspicion of delaying insolvency – a criminal offense. If intentional, delaying insolvency can be punished with up to three years in prison, and if negligent, it can be punished with up to one year in prison. These investigations concern the two major Munich projects Sendlinger Loch and Paseo Carré in Pasing. In the latter case, around 200 apartments were originally supposed to be completed by the end of 2022. None of them are ready for occupancy to date, and no further construction has been carried out for months.
The Munich I public prosecutor’s office is also investigating the suspicion that millions of euros in money were not paid out to subcontractors. Stefan Mayr rejects the allegations. Of course, as always in criminal investigations, the presumption of innocence applies.
According to AZ research, there is now a third project that could mean trouble for Stefan Mayr: the residential building project in Bogenhausen. A buyer’s lawyer also recently filed a criminal complaint on suspicion of delaying bankruptcy.
The advertisement is based on an owners’ meeting that took place at the beginning of December 2023. At this meeting, a lawyer from M-Concept presented a list. This was confirmed by several AZ participants. All craft and construction companies to which the project company owes money were on this list. A total of 299,000 euros are available for this project. M-Concept’s lawyer told the owners that the project company could not pay these bills.
First the buyers would have to pay the rest of the purchase price, then construction could continue. “We ask ourselves, where did all the money that we have already paid go?” asks a buyer when meeting with AZ. “Where did it all go?” The public prosecutor’s office was unable to confirm receipt of the criminal complaint when asked by AZ – the responsible clerk is currently on vacation.
The craftsmen, in turn, do not currently want to continue working for M-Concept and the project company. “First I want the money for the work that I have already done and that was accepted without any defects,” says one to AZ. “My final bill for more than 100,000 euros has not been paid since summer 2023.”
Sascha Buk, head of a landscape and gardening company, also worked on the project with his company. He says to AZ: “I still get 90,000 euros. His construction manager offered me 100,000 euros, which would cover everything, but in return I should still work for him in Kitzbühel. I would have been allowed to do that for free – brazen!”
When asked by AZ about the construction standstill in Bogenhausen, Stefan Mayr’s spokesman said: “These are usual disputes that can arise again and again in the context of construction projects. The construction project is completed. The projects in Bogenhausen will be continued as soon as the situation on the real estate market improves again. When asked whether an application for insolvency would be filed for the company responsible for the unfinished apartment building in Bogenhausen, the spokesman did not answer.
By Nina Job
Since she was 19, Anouk has been unable to eat without pain without vomiting. Doctors diagnosed Dunbar syndrome. The 25-year-old explains how much it limits her – but she doesn’t give up hope.
A group of young people is said to have attacked two men in Magdeburg in Saxony-Anhalt, one of whom died. The victim died from life-threatening injuries, police said on Wednesday.
The original for this article “Munich real estate guru increasingly brazen: “Call him Benko’s little brother”” comes from Abendzeitung.
