PRESS RELEASE
GROUND-BREAKING CEREMONY FOR NEW LEICA CAMERA AG HEADQUARTERS IN WETZLAR
Solms, Germany (April 26, 2012) – Leica Camera AG commenced ground-breaking on a new headquarters at the Leitz Park in Wetzlar on April 25, 2012. Once complete, the new Schanzenfeld site will mark the company’s relocation from Solms. Attending the celebration were dignitaries from Salzburg’s ACM Projektentwicklung GmbH, the majority shareholder of the company, the board of Leica Camera AG and representatives from Leitz-Park GmbH, the project’s developers, in addition to Volker Bouffier (CDU), Prime Minister of the state of Hesse, members of the media and invited guests.
The plans, prepared by architectural firm Gruber + Kleine-Kraneburg, will bring forth an ultra-modern location for the production, administration and customer care divisions of Leica Camera AG in November 2013, with a projected ground-plan area of around 27,000 m² (approximately 290,625 ft²). The new site, built in accordance with the latest energy-efficiency standards, will then be a new home to around 600 Leica employees. Openly visible production areas, a Leica Museum, a Leica Galerie, a Leica Store, a photo studio and a restaurant expand the spectrum of engaging features for visitors, friends of Leica and anyone fascinated by photography. A central plaza will create a binding element between the new headquarters of Leica Camera AG and the existing facilities occupied by Weller Feintechnik GmbH and ViaOptic GmbH on the Leitz Park site. The overall investment volume for the Leitz Park construction project amounts to 55 million euros.
‘Leica Camera AG is a traditional Hessian company with a worldwide reputation for excellence. We can be proud that a company so important in the optical industry maintains its manufacturing and administrative facilities in our state,’ said Volker Bouffier, Prime Minister of the state of Hesse. ‘With the new company headquarters in Wetzlar, Leica remains loyal to its Hessian origins. I am certain that the company’s employees will ensure that Leica will continue to be an internationally renowned name that is always equated with the highest quality.’
‘The Leitz Camera set out from here to conquer the world and revolutionize photography almost exactly 100 years ago. Now that Leica Camera AG is returning to its birthplace, we are confirming the utmost importance the city possesses for the entire optical industry segment in Germany,’ added Dr. Andreas Kaufmann from ACM Projektentwicklung GmbH, emphasizing the signal sent out to the world for the ‘Optical City’ of Wetzlar by the new headquarters project. ‘Leica Camera AG is returning to Wetzlar, to a new home that will be open to visitors and photography enthusiasts and will offer a unique experience with valuable insights into the past, present and future of photography.’
‘The production and administrative buildings in the development are being built to the latest environmental and energy-efficiency standards and will allow us to rapidly satisfy the enormous demand for Leica products without the delays we have sometimes suffered in the past,’ stated Alfred Schopf, Chairman of the Executive Board at Leica Camera AG. ‘Our colleagues will enjoy a modern and attractive working environment that motivates, promotes creativity and enables us to provide Leica’s familiar technical perfection, satisfying the most stringent quality demands. The new headquarters development is a further milestone in the history of our company that benefits not only us but also our customers and visitors.’
About Leica Camera AG
Leica Camera AG is an internationally active, premium-segment manufacturer of cameras and sport optics products. The legendary status of the Leica brand is founded on a long tradition of excellence in the construction of lenses. And today, in combination with innovative technologies, Leica products continue to guarantee better pictures in all situations in the worlds of visualization and perception.
Leica Camera AG has its headquarters in Solms, in the state of Hesse in Germany, and a second production site in Vila Nova de Famalicão, Portugal. The company operates branch offices in England, France, Japan, Singapore, Switzerland, Italy and the USA. New and innovative products have been the driving force behind the company’s positive development in recent years.
I just can’t wait for May 10th to see what they’ve come up with to get the legions of mediocre photographers spend another $10,000 and flood Flickr with millions of silly, uninspiring, boring, images that will never be printed. Such a wonderful “State of The Art”. But of course, hats off to Leica for having figured out (as Nikon, Canon, etc have moons ago) how to suck people’s money with new product they have to have but never really need.
I am pretty sure that the login for the press vault is not meant to be publicized. #justsayin
Um, did anybody else notice the size of the place? 85,000 sq ft?
I think I finally understand their prices, it’s because they aren’t so hot with numbers.
27,000 sq metres is actually about 270,000 sq ft, not 85,000. (I have two properties in Europe, so I’m pretty used to this conversion). They’re off by about 300%.
Hmm, maybe they’ll get all this figured out and sell M9’s for about $2,500, (which is probably about what they’re really worth), and I might buy one.
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I’m happy for them and bursting happy for me. My 50mm Summilux and 35 summilux fle are being fed exd to me tomorow!! Now if I just had a M10 to mount them on!
Good to see Leica prospering. I hope they keep it up!
Observation: For a ‘Photography’ company Leica’s Press Releases sure seem to present quite the dirth of -like, you know- Photographs!
I see their press releases here, on Leica Rumors, and the like, but the pattern seems pretty clear. Is Someone at Solms thinking they’re writing releases to travel round the world on AP/UP teletypes or something? 🙂
I Love Leica, own Leica, will one day buy more Leica, but stuff that’s silly deserves to be laughed at and these press releases are silly!
Sincerely
Richard Ward
I wonder wether Leica’s announcements and future direction is gonna be influenced by what Fuji is doing.
In 3 years…
So does the new home mean no more shortage and outrages grey market prices for lenses?
It is nice to see them strive. Man, were they struggling years ago and still they managed to pull off the M9 and S2. Now they have the pockets full of cash and I am looking forward seeing the new crop of cameras by mid May. Don’t disappoint, please. D!RK