Tempelhof, the former airport in Berlin, has been shutdown as a runway since October 2008. If you go around Berlin and discuss the area.....there's two prevailing attitudes about the former airport.
First, an awful lot of folks want it preserved 'as is'. They want the runways (two of them, one around 6k ft, and the other around 6.8k ft) buildings and adjacent area to just stay the way they are. No dismantling....no removal of the runways....no landscaping work. Nothing.
The second group of people....mostly from the CDU and SPD Parties....want to use different parts of the former airport for housing, apartments, and business operations. The Green Party and Linke folks? They oppose.
The odds of it ever been 'transformed'? There are lots of folks who see opportunity in the open space, and the location of the airport....but probably an equal number who just like the unique nature of pavements and open space. I hate to suggest it as a city-park, but that's precisely what it's become since 2008. Money for the old main-building? The city hasn't any real money up and it will eventually become an issue which demands public attention.
Seeing it? If you find Checkpoint Charlie on the map....it's around 20 minutes walking directly south from that point. I'd rate it as one of the twenty-odd things you ought to see in the city, although it's mostly just go out and stand the runway...imagine the airlift operation...and sip a beer for around twenty minutes, and then move on. You'd think there would be some great monument there to say something about Temmplehof and the airlift, but it's not like that....folks have moved on and it's simply green open space today.
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