In early 1998, the Berlin office market was suffering from heavy oversupply following the speculative building activity in the years after German re-unification. Moreover, the development site itself and its surroundings lay for the most part idle at the time. At first sight, these circumstances seemed unfavorable for a large-scale, high quality real estate development.

However, the vicinity to the buildings of the German Federal Government, which were under construction in preparation for the government’s move from Bonn to Berlin in the year 2000, made us confident that we would be able to market Dorotheenhöfe to companies which were seeking to be close to federal institutions. We focused to create a project that was perfectly tailored to this target group.

We decided to build five differently-sized buildings and a common underground parking garage. We selected architect Oswald Mathias Ungers whose elegant and conservative architectural language would contribute to the marketing success. Thanks to the close cooperation with the building permit authorities, we were able to obtain planning permission for the project at an early stage.

The intensive preparatory phase paid off: were able to pre-sell two of the office buildings at Dorotheenhöfe prior to the start of construction, and the remaining two only a few months later to prestigious organizations and insurance companies at prices at or above our initial pro-forma assumptions.

Construction proceeded smoothly and on schedule. In 2001, the completed office buildings were handed over to their new owners. Dorotheenhöfe have reinvigorated the area between Unter den Linden and Friedrichstrasse railway station, launching a number of subsequent developments. They continue to set the standard for quality and urban planning in the area.

Basics