Checkpoint Charlie was once the hottest spot in the Cold War, with tense standoffs between US and Soviet tanks. Now a popular tourist destination, the site has for eight years witnessed a different kind of stand-off – between Irish developers and the city of Berlin.
After years idling under Irish control, the site of Berlin’s infamous border crossing between East and West Berlin has reportedly been sold to a German developer at a €58 million profit for the National Assets Management Agency (Nama)
The two undeveloped sites total 9,000sq m on either side of Berlin’s Friedrichstrasse. They were offloaded by Mayo’s Cannon brothers for a reported €85 million, according to Bloomberg, to Trockland Management.
Michael and Cathal Cannon and their partner, Owen Kirk, bought the debt on the site for €29 million in 2007 after the previous owners went bankrupt.
The site’s complicated history meant the brothers never acquired outright ownership, but they later offered their controlling interest as security to AIB, a debt that has since passed to Nama.
Despite local scepticism, the Irish owners insisted they were serious developers and, in 2012, opened a temporary Cold War exhibit on the site.
But they failed to deliver the promised mixed-usage development. At one point the city almost foreclosed on them until, at the last minute, they paid outstanding property tax on the site.
Instead of the promised hotel, shops and a museum, a series of fast-food kiosks and an outdoor cocktail bar popped up on the Checkpoint Charlie site to serve the passing tourist hordes.
Local politicians were furious, accusing the Irish brothers of disrespecting their city’s history and the memory of those who lost their lives fleeing from East to West.
The Cannons insisted they were unaware their site manager had issued any kiosk contracts and promised to shut down by the end of 2014.
But kiosks are still trading on the site and have been joined by a Currywurst sausage museum.
It will be up to the new developers to negotiate with traders and untangle the site’s complicated debt structure before development can begin on one of Berlin’s most controversial pieces of real estate.
