The Senate and the district of Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg announced on Monday that an agreement with the Kurth Group on a development plan had not been reached. The investor unilaterally declared the talks a failure and sent eviction notices to several facilities. The site on Revaler Straße has been a point of contention for years: over 100 artists have studios there, while the Kurth Group wants to build a 100-meter-tall office building and apartments instead.
“The Kurth Group unilaterally declared the West development plan procedure a failure and issued eviction notices, even though a negotiation offer from the Senate and the district was on the table,” the district said in a statement. It said it would approach the owner again. The group had recently not even responded to a letter from a law firm commissioned by the state of Berlin.
Martin Pallgen, spokesperson for the Senate Department for Urban Development, Building and Housing, called the move “incomprehensible.” The owner is refusing to talk and breaking off the procedure without discussion. The state of Berlin had offered to link the early building permit for housing – the so-called “construction turbo” – with a long-term guarantee of culture for 30 years and to provide a subsidy for investments such as noise protection.
Jens Schwan, spokesperson for the “sociocultural facilities” on the site, warned: “Eviction by the end of June would mean immediate insolvency.” In addition to the Club Cassiopeia, other operators have received the order to leave the site. Others, however, have been offered contract extensions – which facilities are affected remained initially unclear. The Kurth Group announced a forthcoming statement to the Tagesspiegel but did not comment on Monday.
Source: www.tagesspiegel.de
