The summer in Berlin has up to now been rather mixed from a weather perspective, but for the Berlin BUWOG team there has been a whole string of interesting high points. There were smiling faces and even bright sunshine around the start of July, when the redesigned football facility at the youth centre “The Corner” was opened in High-Deck-Siedlung in Berlin’s Neukölln. Jochen Biedermann, the City Councillor for the district who is responsible for construction was our guest and, together with community management representatives and BUWOG COO Herwig Teufelsdorfer, handed the facility over to the young people, who immediately inaugurated it with a football match.
The football field, which is very popular with children and young people from High-Deck-Siedlung and the neighbouring areas, had been in increasing need of modernisation as a result of years of intensive use, and was therefore redesigned using funds provided by BUWOG High-Deck-Residential GmbH & Co. KG. The children and young people were involved in advance in decisions about the colour scheme for the new synthetic surface as well as the equipment for the football facility.
There is, of course, not only progress in BUWOG’s existing portfolio in Berlin, but also in the area of property development. At the start of the summer – still under sunny skies – BUWOG held an event to provide information on the redevelopment of the area at the Geyer-Werke, which is likewise in Berlin’s Neukölln. We are planning a project there which alongside commercial use also involves the creation of circa 220 to 250 new residential properties. The residential properties will be developed on the part of the site that has been unused up to now, while there will be space for 18 to 20 commercial units in the listed building. The Info Day was held in connection with the public consultation process that forms part of the building planning procedure. Neighbours, residents and other interested parties were able to form an impression at the site of the current situation and the planning status. We were pleased to welcome around 300 visitors, including once again the City Councillor responsible for construction, Jochen Biedermann, who opened the event together with Mr Happ.
The “La Belle Ville” project in Berlin’s Reinickendorf combines the existing portfolio with new construction. The intensification of the BUWOG Group’s strategy of construction within in its own portfolio not only enables our company to grow on an organic basis as well as provide urgently needed residential rental properties in Berlin, it also gives rise to an internal win-win situation, with BUWOG employees from Development and Asset Management optimally complementing each other.
In the middle of July, we laid the cornerstone for the residential construction project “La Belle Ville” in Avenue Jean Mermoz in Reinickendorf. The site was bought by the team in Development, was developed in close cooperation with the Asset Management team and transferred to the investment portfolio. In the Marketing department, the teams based in Kiel, which are responsible for the investment portfolio units, also work very closely with Berlin. There are 95 new residential rental properties being developed which are also managed by BUWOG. Completion is scheduled for spring 2019. The project comprises six buildings of three to four storeys, which will be built above a communal underground car park. At the cornerstone laying ceremony, we welcomed the district mayor Frank Balzer, the regional director from Ten Brinke Jan Siggelkow and once again Mr Teufelsdorfer, who said: “This project is further confirmation of BUWOG’s plans to be present in Berlin for the long term. The mixture of housing that we have planned covers a broad range of tenants and various lifestyles. This includes younger couples and families as well as older people who place value on barrier-free features in an apartment. In this way, we are creating the basis for a vibrant and varied living environment in which different generations feel at home.”
At the cornerstone ceremony, we of course had to deal with the Berlin summer again. During the preparations it was dry, not particularly sunny, but dry. And promptly at the start of the event, the rain came – but it didn’t affect the cheerful mood at the ceremony. Our guests enjoyed the sociable get-together, the discussions and the delicious buffet.
The Berlin BUWOG team naturally looks toward Vienna with a little envy. The sun has been shining there for weeks and colleagues there are enjoying a proper summer. The Berlin team has, however, a very special piece of news to close with – a new office location. In Rankestraße 21, not far from Kurfürstendamm, the BUWOG Group has found an office building for its entire Berlin team. The moving cartons are not yet all unpacked, but we are already feeling very comfortable at our new address. But you’ll be reading more about the new Berlin office in the next blog contribution from Berlin! 😉
Photos: Sabrina Lewe
