I've mentioned the Elbphiharmonie or Hamburg Opera Hall, on several occasions. This is the structure that was dreamed up around fifteen years ago, to be near the harbor and re-use to some degree of some historic buildings. The original estimate of cost was around the 200-million Euro range....then issues arose during construction and the amount escalated. At some point, the windows became a dramatic issue....with the original windows discarded because they wouldn't work because of the wind at the harbor. The final cost, with customized windows....near 800-million Euro.
A lot of speculation went around last year as it finally opened....that it would never turn a profit.
Well....NDR (the regional public TV network) came up today and said that a profit for 2017 was realized.
The profit for 2017? 900,000 Euro. To some degree, the city can brag about this.
The hall operates with three sections for shows. In addition, on the eastern side of the structure.....there's a luxury hotel operation. On the other side of the building, there are forty-five luxury apartments. The complex also operates a couple of restaurants and bars. So the 900,000 is basically the profit from all of these situations....minus the structural maintenance and normal monthly costs.
Will it ever pay for itself? No. But as long as it's not draining the city of any additional funds....no one is going to complain.
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