The Irish Embassy in Berlin may move from its offices beside Checkpoint Charlie, the notorious cold war border crossing, after its cash-strapped landlord applied for preliminary administration.
The Philip Johnson-designed office block on Berlin's Friedrichstrasse, home to the embassy since 1999, was bought by a Bavarian-based property fund in 2004 for €150 million, using €100 million investor funds and €50 million in loans. After creditor banks halted a financial restructuring of the fund, its administrators were forced to apply for a court-appointed administrator to search for fresh capital.
"Like others, we have suffered in the last years in the difficult property market," said Ulrich Schellenberg, attorney for the fund, to Tagesspiegel newspaper.
He said he was optimistic the fund would find fresh credit from another bank and that its 1,900 investors - and the building's tenants - would not be affected.
"We were aware of some difficulties starting with the original investor and with current management, but it doesn't affect the day-to-day running of the building," said Seán Ó hUiginn, Irish Ambassador to Germany. The Irish Embassy has a lease until 2008 in the building, also home to the Singapore embassy.
The administration process is the latest chapter in the building's short but troubled history that began in 1994 when Ronald S Lauder of the Estée Lauder cosmetics company instigated the project for an "American business centre". He hired star architect Philip Johnson, designer of such landmark buildings as the pink AT&T building on New York's Madison Avenue.
The striking office block was completed in 1997, but Mr Lauder pulled out of the project and around a third of the 20,000sq m floor space remains unoccupied.
Rents have tumbled as low as €12.50 per square metre, well below the average Dublin office rent of €500 per square metre.