Berlin – In Karlshorst, 200 garages are to be demolished because the Federal Chancellery in Mitte is being expanded. The users of the rows of garages, most of which were built between 1975 and 1976 and are hidden in the green in the corner of Kötztinger and Zwieseler Strasse, are annoyed.
The federal government justifies the demolition plans as follows: Because of the new building in Mitte, which is to begin in 2024 and for which areas will of course be sealed, another plot of land must be “renatured” as a compensatory measure. In coordination with the Lichtenberg district office, a feasibility study found the 18,000 square meter garage property, which belongs to the federal government and a small part of Berlin, to be suitable. It is sealed so that rainwater cannot seep away, and the garages are also partially dilapidated.
They don’t make that impression, and their users are surprised: The cobblestone paths between the garages are bedded in gravel, and there are strips of green along the elongated buildings where the water can seep away. The demolition would also exacerbate the parking space shortage in the area. Because the roughly 90 garages are used by drivers from the surrounding area, who would then have to put their vehicles on the streets.
Lehrke
Together they clean and screw in front of their garage: Dietmar Wacker (left) with his new Indian “Scout”, Uwe Stephan with his 25 year old Yamaha “Virago”.
The foreman Dietmar Wacker, 62, and the pensioner Uwe Stephan, 64, have parked their motorbikes in a garage, where they work and clean. They share a garage with a third motorcycle friend and pay a total of 125 euros every six months. Now they are wondering where they should park their two-wheelers in winter in the future. There is then the possibility of leaving them with a motorcycle dealer, which is more expensive.
The district agreed to demolish the garage
The Left Bundestag member Gesine Lötzsch and the leader of the Left in the BVV Lichtenberg, Norman Wolf, had taken on the problem. In response to a letter from Lötzsch, the Parliamentary State Secretary in the Ministry of Finance, Bettina Hagedorn, replied that the area in Karlshorst was the only one of the eight federally owned compensation areas in Berlin that was suitable in this case.
Hagedorn suggests in the letter that the federal government can also offer compensation areas outside of Berlin, but Berlin has always refused that in the past.
Reiner Schulze is the provisional chairman of the “Garagenbau Interest Group”, which represents the users of 150 garages: “The planned demolition is pointless because we only have 1000 square meters of sealed area here, less than the amount that is sealed in the expansion of the Chancellery.”
Hope for longer use of the garages
The 61-year-old still has hope: “We are trying to create a round table with the federal government, the state of Berlin and the district in order to be able to maintain the garages or to continue to operate them until the Chancellery is expanded. There could still be a few more years, see Schönefeld. ”In principle, the buildings cannot be kept permanently because the demolition is part of the building permit for the expansion of the Chancellery.
Schultes Frank Architects
This is what the expansion of the Chancellery should look like. The bridge on the left would lead over the Spree to the main building.
In the event that no extension of the deadline can be obtained, the current users have the idea of canceling themselves. There is a financial reason for this, says Schulze: “For you, considering a termination before December 2022 is a serious financial decision. According to the Law of Obligations Adjustment Act, which expires in 2022, termination up until then means participation in half of the demolition costs. “
If, on the other hand, the property owners – the Federal Agency for Real Estate Tasks Bima (15,200 sqm) and its Berlin counterpart Bim (2800 sqm) – give notice after January 1, 2023, the area must be “completely cleared at the expense of the user. According to extrapolated estimates by a demolition company, that would be around 7500 euros per garage, depending on the degree of contamination with asbestos and roofing felt ”.
Basically, Schulze believes that “in today’s time of ecological change, such garage facilities” are no longer up-to-date, but a transition period of five to eight years makes perfect sense. “Continuing to operate the area with electricity as a parking area with various charging stations for the residential area is the better alternative for protecting the capital’s climate.”
The federal government does not yet have a budget or schedule
The Bima announced that the Lichtenberg district office still had to be discussed about the timing of the necessary dismissals. This also applies to the demolition costs: “This date had to be postponed again and again due to the corona and could therefore not take place. In this respect, there are currently no specific notice dates or agreements on demolition costs. “
The “first installation of the renaturation” will begin within two years after the start of the construction or building preparation measures for the extension of the Federal Chancellery. The termination of the garages and the unsealing would take place accordingly beforehand.
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