Steglitzer Kreisel

The Steglitzer Kreisel is a building complex with a high-rise building from the 1970s in the Berlin district of Steglitz in the southern area of Schloßstraße diagonally opposite the Steglitz town hall.

The main part of the complex is a 120 m high former administration building with 30 floors, one of the highest skyscrapers in Berlin, which housed the Steglitz-Zehlendorf district office until the end of 2007 and which has been empty since then. The base building also houses a BVG bus station with access to the Rathaus Steglitz subway station, a hotel and numerous shops; a parking garage adjoins it. The building is being converted into a residential high-rise as of 2015.

Planning and construction
Construction of the complex began in 1968 according to plans by the architect Sigrid Kressmann-Zschach. The estimated costs of 180 million DM were borne partly by the Berlin Senate and partly by the architect's property development company Avalon. Construction work was stopped again in 1974 ( see below ).

After demolition of the ruins had already been considered, the building was bought at auction in 1977 by Becker & Kries, who completed the roundabout for 95 million marks. After its completion in September 1980, the construction costs for the complex amounted to 323 million DM (adjusted for purchasing power in today's currency: around 395.9 million euros). Until the base was sold in 2015, the Steglitzer Kreisel was owned by the Becker & Kries community (owner of the base) and the State of Berlin (owner of the tower).

Since no tenant could be found for the offices after the high-rise was completed, the Steglitz district office finally moved into the complex. The consortium (Arge) BV: Steglitzer Kreisel consisted of the companies Anton Schmittlein Bauunternehmung, Wiemer & Trachte, FC Trapp, Siemens-Bauunion, Heibus Bauunternehmung, and Sager & Woerner.

It is rumored that a civil defense system was installed in the parking garage for some members of the American armed forces. The architect Ms. Kressmann-Zschach also created such a system in connection with her Ku'damm-Karree project.

History of the site
The current site of the Steglitzer Kreisel used to be the southern part of the estate village of Stegelitz, which was in a remote peripheral location until the construction of the first paved street in Prussia, later Reichsstraße 1 (afterwards: Bundesstraße 1), in 1792. There were four houses here. In 1801, Carl Friedrich von Beyme bought the estate village and in 1806 abolished the hereditary subservience of the farmers, so that the area became farmers' land.

In 1828 or 1831, Carl Stephani founded an inn on Albrechtstrasse. In June 1840 the Steglitz Railway Theater was opened on its premises. Comedy and musical plays were performed on the stage set up in an octagonal wooden house, including the then famous Karl Unzelmann. The theater only existed for two years.

The inn was taken over by Karl Friedrich Wilhelm Albrecht in 1863 and continued to operate under the name Albrechtshof. According to one source, “a multi-purpose building with a hotel, restaurant and theater” was said to have been built that year, but the first construction work was probably limited to the garden hall and orchestra stage. In 1871, Albrecht planted an oak tree that still stands today. The Albrechtshof was only significantly expanded in 1904/1905 with the construction of the multi-storey house at Schloßstrasse 82/83. The Albrechtshof-Lichtspiele cinema with 700 seats has also existed here since 1912.

The remaining part of the site remained agricultural. A photo from 1904 shows the Berlinickes' simple farmhouses on Schloßstrasse, while behind the railway line in the Berlinickestrasse area there are already multi-story residential buildings. As late as 1936, the restaurant kept twelve pigs and 500-600 chickens in the Albrechtshof, and residents of the houses directly opposite at Kuhligkshofstrasse 3-5 complained about the noise and the “stench”. After severe damage in the Second World War, the cinema was rebuilt in a simplified form in 1948 with only 480 seats and existed until 1967. After that, all buildings on the site were demolished.

The Steglitzer Kreisel was built on the block of the former properties at Schloßstrasse 71-85, Albrechtstrasse 1-6, Kuhligkshofstrasse 1-25 and Birkbuschstrasse 96-98, minus a southern section on which the west tangent was built. Albrechtstrasse and Kuhligkshofstrasse were widened and pivoted towards the block, creating some space for Hermann-Ehlers-Platz and the motorway to be enlarged. Schloßstrasse was also widened. Only the peace oak planted by Albrecht in 1871 in front of the property at Schloßstrasse 81 remained standing and is still there today. The other house numbers, Schloßstrasse 78-82, Albrechtstrasse 1-3 and Kuhligkshofstrasse 1-4, that are used today for the building complex were completely redistributed.

Kreisel affair
The project hit the headlines soon after its construction began due to rising construction costs. In 1974, the property's development company had to file for bankruptcy, whereupon construction work was stopped. Due to a guarantee of 42 million marks (adjusted for purchasing power in today's currency: around 66 million euros ), the Senate of Berlin had to pay for the debts of the architect Sigrid Kressmann-Zschach. Finance Senator Heinz Striek (SPD) and Construction Senator Rolf Schwedler (SPD) had carelessly trusted the construction project and signed the guarantee. In addition, 35 million marks had been promised for traffic construction in the roundabout and funds had already flowed.

In this context, the public prosecutor's office investigated suspicion of fraud against the architect Sigrid Kressmann-Zschach, but had to end the investigation in 1975 without results. The parliamentary investigative committee that was investigating Heinz Striek and Rolf Schwedler also had to stop its work without any results. Striek was forced to resign in 1975. The chief finance president of the Berlin Finance Directorate, Klaus Arlt, who helped Kressmann-Zschach professionally and was also close to her privately, was suspended from office.

Asbestos Exposure
In May 1990, the complex, now a Steglitz landmark, hit the headlines again when asbestos was discovered in the high-rise office building. However, these were only removed when damage occurred and therefore only partially. This procedure meant that an expert report had to be prepared by October 2004. The experts came to the conclusion that:


 * Parts of the high-rise building would have to be closed by 2007 at the latest,
 * Due to the location of the technical center and the escape routes, partial use during the renovation is impossible,
 * The costs for a renovation would be 82-84 million euros and
 * A new building elsewhere would be possible for just 41.5 million euros.

Two further reports were prepared by June 2005. From them, it emerged that:


 * the office tower must be closed at the end of 2007 if asbestos has not been completely removed by then and
 * the renovation costs should amount to 75 million euros.

The real estate company Becker & Kries offered to cover the costs and carry out the renovation gradually if the complex continued to be used by the district office.

The vacancy of the Steglitz complex after 2007 cost the Berlin Senate more than 700,000 euros annually (as of 2012) (until it was sold in 2017).

In June 2013, the Senate Department of Finance announced that the costs of asbestos removal could be reduced from the originally estimated 31 million euros to an estimated 20 million euros as a result of an EU-wide tender and the “well-thought-out renovation concept”. After the asbestos removal, carried out on behalf of the State of Berlin in 2016, the actual costs were estimated at 18.5 million euros.