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Europe's largest urban project – the port city of Hamburg

2023-01-14 14:45:54Biznes SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX
Europe's largest urban project – the port city of Hamburg
Europe's largest urban project – the port city of Hamburg

25 years after the decision was taken by the City Council, the largest urban construction site in Europe has reached its peak. Despite the crises, the construction of Hamburg's new waterfront district is going well.

Andreas Kleinau vështron me optimizëm nga dritarja e zyrës së tij në port. Drejtori i menaxhimit të projektit urban HafenCity Hamburg GmbH, hedh sytë mbi lagjen historike të magazinave të portit dhe mbi ndërtesat moderne me apartamente banimi dhe zyra, në rrugën Osakaallee. “Nga ana optike shkojnë shumë! E kuqja tipike e tullave të Hamburgut bën bashkë të vjetrën dhe të renë,” thotë Kleinau, të cilit iu desh të dëgjonte para fundvitit edhe kritika të shumta.

The most serious criticism was that the new neighborhood "absorbs" the purchasing power of the city, which is also struggling with the consequences of the pandemic. Kleinert rejects the accusation that there are no connections between the port and the city center: "There are many routes, on foot or by bus or metro, underground or above ground crossing one of the many bridges that lead from the center to the Elbe. But these connections can be improved even more. Now we are bringing our interests together in the city, to work on finding solutions to these issues."

Europe's largest urban project – the port city of Hamburg
Container terminal

Europe's largest urban project

The story began 25 years ago with the decision being made by the parliament of the city of Hamburg, the City Council. At the time it was hard to imagine how a musty collection of harbor basins, empty warehouses, warehouses and cranes could be turned into a stunning neighborhood with luminous projects such as the Elba Philharmonic and the Elba Tower. The new neighborhood with 150 hectares of residential area, offices, cultural activities and parking, with 2.4 million square meters of floor plan area, attracts today not only Hamburgers and new residents but also international companies, hotels and museums. The first foundation stone was laid on April 9, 2001.

For Hamburg, independent city (federal land) and port city, the Elbe project is still a touchstone: 25 years of construction, full of scandals, work stoppages and investor deaths. The most important is the Elba Philharmonic, which made history even with the huge increase in expenses (from the 60 million euros originally proposed, the project spent almost a billion euros). Today, the city, investors and exploitation companies make a positive balance after overcoming the COVID-19 pandemic: Since its opening in 2017, the concert hall called "Elphi" has had a real boom, also internationally.

Huge investment volume

Moreover, "about 13 billion euros have been invested in HafenCity until 2020, of which ten billion are private investments. About 3 billion are public investments, half of which is financed again by the sale of building land", Andreas Kleinau calculates and explains that since the beginning of the HafenCity project, the independent city and port of Hamburg included the land in a so-called asset special of the city and the port. From the sale of land, infrastructure projects such as the construction of roads, bridges or parks were financed. The other half of public investments such as for the university, schools or cultural buildings come from the city budget accompanied by the financial means of the federation.

Europe's largest urban project – the port city of Hamburg
Hamburg attraction Elbphilharmonie, Elbe Philharmonic

Overnight stay with the big transoceanic ships

The focus is on the thousands of visitors who come on ocean liners from all over the world to the port of Hamburg, dock there, spend the night and want to consume. At the "The Westin" hotel, the four-star hotel located directly next to the Elba Philharmonic, for example, when the hotel opened five years ago, so many people wanted to spend the night that the crowd could not cope. Music and architecture enthusiasts from Germany and other countries did not intend to visit only the concert hall in the former warehouses, Kaispeicher A. General manager Madeleine Marx says that: "The idea of ​​a concert hall that has the hotel its own at reasonable prices, it has worked.” Hotel with swimming pool and a large relaxation space, which lies in the old warehouse center and behind the arches with more than 1000 large windows of Elfi, has been very busy", says the hotel manager. Through the Elbe Philharmonic, Hamburg has become a favorite tourist spot at an international level.

"The pandemic managed to give a boost to this trend in fact," confirms Michael Otremba from Hamburg Tourismus GmbH. In figures, this means more than 1.5 million overnight stays in a single summer month. 88 thousand people work in the tourism sector in the port city.

Criticism of the largest construction site in Europe

Meanwhile, the construction cranes continue their work. For example in the Überseequartier, where an underground shopping center is being built. The foundations for three more hotels have also been laid. Tourists arriving by boat will go directly from the boat terminal to the mall. This architectural trick, inland one kilometer long, is highly criticized by the businessmen of the port city. Is the competition war starting? Madeleine Marx from Westin thinks that the port city's potential has not been fully exploited: "Since 30 years ago we were asking 'another hotel'?" Where will all these tourists come from? But so far there have been as many tourists as you want." She thinks that the biggest reserves for Hamburg lie in foreign markets, just across the sea.

Europe's largest urban project – the port city of Hamburg

For example, the Elba Tower that is expected to be built, a 245-meter-high skyscraper, with an investment of one billion dollars, located east of the port city, next to the Elba Bridge, and which is thought to give end of the HafenCity project. Financing is still uncertain, a panoramic platform is planned to be built on the 55th floor. With the hotel "Nobu", located at a dizzying height and co-owned by Robert de Niron, the construction firm Signa has decided to build a luxury hotel.

/Anja Steinbuch, Michael Marek/ DW

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