Immediate programme city centre

Against shop vacancies

Concentration area Immediate action programme — *© Stadt Bocholt*

After the "Immediate programme to strengthen our city centres and town centres in North Rhine-Westphalia" expired, the state of North Rhine-Westphalia launched the "Future-proof city centres and town centres in North Rhine-Westphalia" funding programme to strengthen city centres as multifunctional places and promote an attractive design of urban space. The programme runs until 31.12.2027.

The city of Bocholt will receive funding of around 136,000 euros from the funding programme, of which around 120,000 euros will be used for the rental disposal fund component.

The aim of the disposal fund is to bring new ideas and concepts from the retail and gastronomy sectors, as well as services and cultural uses, into the city centre in order to revitalise the city centre with new and creative projects. At the same time, start-ups and business founders are given the opportunity to move into a shop at a significantly reduced rent and test their ideas and concepts. Funding is only available for projects within the concentration area, see illustration.

This is how the funding works

The city of Bocholt rents a vacant shop for a maximum period of 24 months. The owner of the shop waives at least 30 % of his last cold rent. The city continues to rent to businesses with new and innovative concepts at a reduced rent of up to 20 % of the old rent. The difference between the costs of renting vacant premises and renting them on is subsidised by the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Renting and re-renting only come about by agreement between the owner, subtenant and the city.

Example calculation:

The old rent (net cold rent) is 10 €/sqm. The owner waives 30 % of the old rent and receives a rent of 7 €/sqm from the city. The city sublets 20% of the old rent to an interested party. The latter thus pays a rent of 2 €/sqm to the city. The difference of 5 €/sqm between rental expenses and rental income of the city is borne by the subsidies.

A prerequisite for the subsidy is that the shop is located within the concentration area. A rental area of up to 300 sqm is eligible, but the area of the shop may also exceed this.

We are looking for new, innovative concepts and uses with frequency-generating offers, e.g.

Retail start-ups (pop-up stores)
Gastronomy start-ups,
service businesses with public traffic,
new offers of delivery services/distribution stations,
showrooms of regional online retail,
cultural and economic uses,
Civic and neighbourhood uses (repair cafés, rooms for initiatives, etc.),
educational and childcare facilities, and
Uses to enable new mobility solutions (e.g. example of bicycle parking areas with e-charging stations).

If you have an exciting idea, an innovative concept and would like to try out your idea at a reduced rent in Bocholt's city centre, please get in touch. We will find you a suitable shop.

If you are the owner of a vacant shop in the concentration area of Bocholt's city centre, you can also get in touch if you are interested in taking part in the support programme.