Published: 26 Feb 13 12:26 CET | Print version
Online: http://www.thelocal.de/society/20130226-48197.html
Berliners are outraged at plans to demolish part of the world-famous East Side Gallery, the longest remaining stretch of the Berlin Wall, to make way for luxury apartments and a pedestrian bridge across the River Spree.
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Your comments about this article:
Smooth, The Local. Smooth.
"Click here for The Local's property listings"
That link, in that location is beyond stupid!!
Next to non-existant.
I'm not saying that someone greased the gears in Berlin, because that would be libelous, but...
I wonder how long Berlin will survive in this mode of spiting itself?
Berlin doesn't have what the other great capitals of Europe have as a destination, for better or worse it's USP is it's war time history, the cold war history and the alternative scences that sprung up there, including the Graffiti. I really regret that I didn't get there 20 years ago, but I visited several times recently and you can still taste a little of that atmosphere.. but only just.. take away the few remaining squats and derelict sites and the interest is gone, no big reason to visit any more, there are better places to go. If I want to see crappy shiny apartment blocks there's always my next trip back to Birmingham where they made a similar mistake. And btw there are millions of sqm of empty property in Berlin which are being sat on by the government, they couldn't release all the empty property onto the market because then the prices would collapse. Berlin property is a long term managed bubble, although this is common in many cities, but be careful if you are investing.
So many tourists (regardless of rich or poor) pushing to make Berlin adjust to their comfort rather than enjoy it for what it is.
If this kind of senseless rebuilding persists, you can probably count on it being like New York, where the once artistic districts thrived with wonderful life is now nothing but a money enforced over sanitized insensitive population of rich people.
Weather people are coming here to get wasted for the weekend or shop for property, I think they need schooling on what Berlin is really about to prevent Berlin becoming like Las Vegas.