It's a curious piece out of the Berlier Zeitung (regional newspaper) that came up over Google.
Google had been out looking for a building to support their needs in Germany, and they originally wanted a site in Kreuzberg.
If you aren't familiar with Kreuzberg....it's a suburb of Berlin....south of the river and to the east. It's probably less than 200 feet away from Checkpoint Charlie (most northern point of the suburb). If you were going to walk down through the district....you would mostly identify it as a university student hangout....loaded with artists and weed-smokers...and an active migrant population. Some folks would say that Kreuzberg is 'alive' and has a wild character that attracts young people.
So when the locals heard that Google wanted a property there....they freaked out. Yes, they got hyped up that this arrival would bump up rental property costs and create some kind of wave that the locals could not control. So they did everything possible to halt a Google entry into Kreuzberg.
The German authorities....a bit hyped because they wanted Google there in Berlin....went to the real estate planning folks and have come to offer a property to Google......the old East German Stasi (secret police) headquarters....in Lichtenberg.
You would describe Lichtenberg as being on the far east outer belt of Berlin. 'Quiet' would be the best description of suburb. It's mostly a housing district, with a few businesses noted. There is a major hospital in the suburb. And down along Frankfurter Allee....there is the old secret police headquarters.
The best way to describe the concrete building....it's massive....eight stories in height (penthouse-like structure on top), with the subway of Magdalenstrasse about 500 feet away.
There are two pieces to this story which invoke a discussion.
First, this building hasn't been used since the early 1990s, and it's tied to the Stassi (the secret police). It's a stigma....an icon....a fairly negative image. The city authorities have tried to peddle it on various occasions....other than part of it being a Stassi museum, there's nothing there. My humble guess is that you'd really need to tear the whole thing down if you ever wanted to use it as a public facility.
Second, it was constructed in the 1950s and probably needs a significant amount of renovation. This would likely go way past 10-million Euro, and maybe past 100-million Euro. I suspect that Google want a building that is already standing....without any two-year wait for renovation.
Then you come to the quiet Google question....do you really want to move into a former Stassi headquarters and have this image as your German location? My guess is that Google executives just started laughing when they looked at the entire deal.
Why pick Berlin? That's something tied to political intrigue. They need to bump shoulders with the Bundestag folks...hang out at parties...and get insider information. Beyond that....there is a small and growing 'Silicon Valley-like' atmosphere brewing in Berlin and they might find ways to connect to these start-up companies. Beyond all of that....I probably wouldn't select Berlin myself, and would prefer to find some location near a major university in Germany with a big IT development center.
What'll happen? My guess is that the Google folks will continue on and try to find something else....maybe even down by the Tempelhof Airfield area.
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