By Maria Martinez
Berlin (Reuters) – Art House Takels was the epicenter of the alternative stage of art and culture in Berlin, an impressive five -storey building in the heart of the capital, dating back to 1908 and occupied by artists after the fall of the Berlin Wall.
But in 2012, the ravis ended and the artists were expelled when the building was sold to an investor in New York and renovated to make room for apartments, offices, shops, a supermarket and a Swedish photography museum.
For Oliver Putzbach, a 52-year-old Berlin native to live nearby, Takels’s transformation symbolizes that of the capital itself.
As its economy is growing and investment capital is poured, longtime residents like Putzbach fear losing its sharp character and Bohemian charm, which his former mayor known more than two decades ago that Berlin is “poor but sexy”.
“It looks the same as the typical railway station in Germany … Just like a mall,” Putzbach said of the building, which he remembers as a multicultural village, where he posed with the organization of his Beat group three times a week.
“Berlin has sold his soul,” he said.
For decades, Berlin has been standing out among the European capitals, more than the rest of the country because of its unique history as a divided city and its expensive union.
For the last 10 years, however, the growth of the capital has outstripped the slow performance of the largest economy in Europe.
Last year, Berlin’s economy increased by 0.8%, while National was concluded for the second consecutive year, according to Friday. As a result, Berlin’s economic production per capita, which has long been lagging from Germany, is moving further above the national average, respectively 54 607 euros and EUR 50 819.
“Berlin was not rich, but it became the basis for getting up more than -rich: Berlin attracted young talents who came here to reshape their lives and turn their ideas reality,” says Martin Gornig, a researcher at the German Institute for Economic Research, Div Berlin.
The city has become the startup capital of Germany, which has ahead of Munich with about 500 companies, founded every year and digital consumer services companies, such as the Zalando or Fintech N-26 e-commerce group calling Berlin at home.
Tesla’s GigaFactory about an hour away and the city’s new airport, which opened in 2020 after many delays, also brought thousands of new jobs in the area.
The unique combination of Berlin from high culture, counterculture and history has also made it a major tourist destination, the third in Europe behind London and Paris in terms of overnight.
Now rich and dear?
Now, however, Berlin is the victim of his economic success.
The increasing costs are threatening the livelihoods of artists and bohemians, which, after the fall of the Berlin Wall, flocked here, drawn from low rentals and many abandoned buildings.
Increasing prices are also beginning to press the budgets of those who follow the boom start decades later.
Rentals are increasing more than the average for German, rising food and drink prices have caused calls for the price of kebab Donez prices, and techno clubs in Berlin have begun to charge expensive entrance fees, such as Watergate, forced to close.
“Prices get very high and if you go to Berghain or Kitkat, now it’s not sexy,” said Sergei Egorchenko for two of his most emblematic clubs. “It’s like commercially sexy now, you know?”
Egorchenko, a cloud engineer who has moved to Germany in 2016, has lived in Berlin since 2021. He now shares with his partner Claudia Marty, a two -bedroom apartment of 70 square meters (753 square feet) in the MIT neighborhood. They subjected one of the rooms to be able to cover EUR 1800 ($ 1,950) for rent.
“We share, but it’s good,” said Marty, who works as a cancer researcher at the Charite hospital.
The notorious strict home market in Berlin meant that it would be difficult to find another place that they could afford, she said.
Prices and rents in the capital remained low years after the unification of Germany in 1990, as most jobs there were relatively low in the public sector. The global resumption of inflation, but also the influx of private capital and foreign specialists, such as Marty and Egorchenko, has changed this.
As Berlin’s rents remain below those in some other large German cities, they have increased about 32% since 2021, according to data from the IMMOSCOUT24 housing portal, well above the average 20%.
Despite its transformation, the capital is still catching up with the traditional German business centers in the west and south.
Last year, local unemployment of 9.7% still exceeded the average 6.0%. Berlin’s gross average monthly profit of EUR 4,634 also remains under salaries in Munich, Hamburg, Stuttgart or the German Frankfurt Financial Center.
Still, Berlin has already achieved big steps in recent decades, Gornig said.
“If you look back for 20 years, Berlin has already evolved from the purely headquarters of the government into an economically strong center, which is a very remarkable development.”
And while longtime barliners say they miss her better, subversive sides, the latest transplants say there is still a lot to admire the city. Egorchenko, for example, says that street events, such as Love Parade or Rave The Planet, continue to reflect the openness of Berlin.
“Some places lose sexuality, but in general I would say that Berlin is still sexy, still cool, it’s still like … wow.”
($ 1 = 0.9231 euro)
(Report by Maria Martinez; Edit by Madlin Chambers and Tomash Yanovski)
