Thursday, February 26
At the end of January, several companies on the RAW-Gelände premises received a ban on use by the owner, Kurth Immobilien GmbH. This includes Cassiopeia, Crack Bellmer, Weißer Hase, Lokschuppen, Zum schmutzigen Hobby and Emma Pea.
The owner has claimed that the action was due to fire protection, citing the disaster in Crans-Montana, Switzerland, in January. Kurth claimed that documents for fire protection were requested from the district office and that it turned out that “there are no permits and fire protection in some cases”.
However, several operators have contradicted this claim, saying that a fire protection inspection with an expert did not reveal any abnormalities. They also claim that the situation between the district and Kurth Immobilien GmbH, who acquired R.A.W. in 2015, has been tense for a long time.
“We are in a conflict between the district and the owner,” one of the operators said in an interview with rbb. At the heart of the conflict is a proposed redesign of the location on Warschauer Straße, which is known for its alternative cultural scene.
Extended leases are no longer available to the companies and impending insolvency for the companies is a possibility. The Left, the Greens and the SPD in the district council of Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg have all spoken out, demanding long-term leases for the companies in R.A.W.. They also requested a permanent protection of the “Sociocultural L”, an area in which cultural and commercial use is anchored. They claim that the clubs have been “taken hostage” over the debate of a development plan.
Apparently, the owner wants to enable prospective residential use on the site. However, the district and operator circles say that this is significantly complicated, because of requirements for noise protection, for example.
