Quartier 206: My first job in Berlin was in this gaudy, marbled mess (long live FT Deutschland). Photo: Jean-Pierre Dalbéra via CC2.0
Hey 20 Percent!
Sometimes we miss big news items, either because too much is going on, or because they’re too nuanced, or because we just miss them.
I wade into two today — there’s been a battle in the Berlin government for most of this year over possibly illegal subsidies to anti-antisemitism projects that have opposition politicians decrying cronyism in the current government, and today it finally claimed a victim. News below.
Neighbors as well as the district of Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg say the development is out of character for the area. Annoyed, Berlin stripped the district of planning authority and initiated approvals for developer Atrium Development GmbH.
It would have 1,000 new apartments, including 300 for low-income renters.
On the one hand, Berlin needs lots of new apartments. Now.
On the other, the area between Ostbahnhof and Warschauer Str. is such an urban planning nightmare and thoughtless collection of new construction that I want to side with the opponents.
Any thoughts? Let us know in the comments.
And have a good weekend!
Andrew
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The subsidy scandal: Berlin culture minister Sarah Wedl-Wilson (independent) Friday resigned after a government accounting office said €2.6 million in subsidies paid to anti-antisemitism projects last year may have been illegal, according to Tagesspiegel. The Berlin government has been investigating the subsidies after opposition politicians feared projects with ties to the conservative CDU had been favored. The accounting office said some of the 13 projects weren’t even legally eligible for subsidies. At least one politician pressured Wedl-Wilson to ignore internal rules and approve the payouts in WhatsApp chats — which she did, leading to her resignation. She’s the second culture minister in the current administration to resign.
Quartier failure
Are commerical property values finally starting to collapse in Berlin? The April 17 bankruptcy auction of the supposedly prestigious Quartier 206 mall and office building on Friedrichstraße had to be postponed for a week after the two bids were well-under expectations, according to RBB24. Bidders offered €40 million and €39 million for a building valued at €187 million. It has 8,000 sq/m of retail and 15,000 sq/m of office space, most of it empty. That stretch of Friedrichstraße adjacent to Gendarmenmarkt feels doomed after French department store Galeries Lafeyette (which was attached to Quartier 206 by a marbled subterranean tunnel) left in 2024, 28 years after it opened. An attempt to turn that stretch of Friedrichstr. into pedestrian-and-bike only also failed in 2023.
Landlord registry unlikely
A law proposed by the governing Berlin coalition would require all landlords to register their residential properties online including rent, amenities and size, according to tabloid B.Z. The information would then be reviewed by AI and any potential illegalities would be reported to prosecutors. The law has yet to be passed and while renter associations are in favor, urban development senator Christian Gaebler (SPD) admits the proposal is legally questionable — rental law is usually left to the federal government. Corporate landlord Haus & Grund said the proposal is also problematic because its only purpose is for landlords to provide evidence against themselves — a legal no-no.
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Berlin has built progessively fewer new bike lanes over the past years and will only install 8.1 kilometers of new paths for Drahtesel (wire donkeys) this year, according to Tagesspiegel (paywall). The city-state installed 26 kilometers of new paths in 2023 and then 24 in 2024. Last year they managed 20. Next year?
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The reason the landlords SHOULD have to enter their details into such a registry is the same reason it will presumably never make it into the law - because it would absolutely help tenants who are attempting to hold their landlords to legal and financial consequences for their actions. In attempting to sue my current landlord I investigated their ownership structure and discovered a web of shell companies all linked through managing directors and actual physical addresses. The only reason for these businesses to be set up that way is precisely to make it harder to hold them accountable and liable. Berlin renters allegedly have a high level of legal protection, but as anyone who has attempted to actually hold their landlords accountable to what they are lgally required to provide knows, all of the burden is on the renter and this includes even figuring out which party is responsible for the property.
The reason the landlords SHOULD have to enter their details into such a registry is the same reason it will presumably never make it into the law - because it would absolutely help tenants who are attempting to hold their landlords to legal and financial consequences for their actions. In attempting to sue my current landlord I investigated their ownership structure and discovered a web of shell companies all linked through managing directors and actual physical addresses. The only reason for these businesses to be set up that way is precisely to make it harder to hold them accountable and liable. Berlin renters allegedly have a high level of legal protection, but as anyone who has attempted to actually hold their landlords accountable to what they are lgally required to provide knows, all of the burden is on the renter and this includes even figuring out which party is responsible for the property.