Berlin earmarks €300m to buy land for development

by   CIJ iDesk I
2020-06-08   12:57
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Having sold off land and office buildings for years, Berlin's senate is expected to adopt plans to spend €300m to create a land fund. It wants to ensure that it has sufficient land to be able to build new schools, day care centers and parks, but the city could also end up acquiring office buildings. These could be used as necessary for us as government office buildings, though current tenants could object to the transactions if it threatened their own business interests. City officials are anxious to act quickly in order to take advantage of current prices, as they anticipate inflation for real estate following the coronavirus crisis. Members of the opposition complain that the ruling coalition has yet to make its methodology for valuing land public and is demanding greater transparency. It also complains that rather than spending money on land it may use in the future, the city should concentrate on supporting businesses and employees in the city that are still threatened by fallout from the Covid-19 crisis.


Photo: Copernicus Sentinel-2, ESA