The plight of RAW Gelande has never been this dire. The dispute over the future of the site – widely regarded as Berlin’s subcultural hotspot – has been ongoing since the Kurth Group purchased it back in 2015 with the intention of developing it for commercial and residential use. It accelerated at the beginning of this year when the investors employed the so-called ‘construction accelerator’ to allow housing construction despite the zoning process for the site not being finished yet. They simultaneously issued a ban
on use for six venues occupying the ‘Sociocultural L’, citing their insufficient fire protection measures in light of the recent disaster in Crans-Montana, Switzerland. Several operators contradicted this claim and presented evidence for having sufficient fire protection. The atmosphere between the Kurth Group and the club operators has been increasingly tense but reached a new height yesterday. Even though it seemed that a compromise solution was on the horizon, which would have seen the clubs’ rents secured for 30 years in exchange for the Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg
district office allowing residential construction on the site, the Kurth Group retreated from the negotiating table. Instead, they issued eviction notices to several venues on their land. Among these venues is Cassiopeia, which now has until the end of June to vacate their premises. The club is considered crucial for the functioning of several other projects on the site and its closure would be disastrous to the local cultural ecosystem. Without the compromise solution outlined above, the Kurth Group will not be allowed residential construction
on RAW West but can still develop it for commercial activity such as offices. Both the local district office and the State of Berlin are aware of the cultural significance of RAW and its role in attracting tourism to the city; as such, the Senate has previously indicated openness to co-financing noise protection measures for the planned residential construction in order to prevent future neighbours’ noise complaints from forcing the established clubs to close. Despite the Kurth Group unilaterally declaring the RAW West development plan
process a failure and retreating from negotiations with the Senate and district office – thus essentially declaring all-out war on Berlin’s cultural scene – the city remains open to dialogue and implores the investor to return to talks. “I appeal to the Kurth company to return to the negotiating table,” says Florian Schmidt (Greens), Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg’s building councillor.
Cassiopeia, RAW Gelände, Kurth Group, eviction notice, Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg, Berlin clubs, fire protection ban, Sociocultural L, residential construction, noise protection