Berlin

Mitte — GDR-era administrative blocks

Large, shallow administrative buildings near stations, and a working precedent of the Land and a cooperative developing one together.

• Krausenstraße 38 is flagged unused in the cadastre: 6 storeys, about 10,400 m² floor area, 14.5 m deep
• Haus der Statistik: 290 rental flats planned by WBM, with ZUsammenKUNFT Berlin eG among the five partners
• Mitte handled 19 change-of-use procedures in 2025, with potential for 53 flats

Risk: Land in the core zones is valued at €7,500–8,000/m², so a co-op needs a public partner rather than a market purchase.

Lichtenberg and Hohenschönhausen

State buildings facing demolition, and cadastre-flagged buildings in residential zones where land costs about €500/m².

• Wustrower Straße 18 is largely empty and earmarked for demolition; keeping it was "not studied in depth" (July 2026)
• Röttkenring 27–29 is flagged unused: 8 storeys, about 9,150 m², 15.9 m deep, residential land value about €500/m²
• Herzbergstraße is protected production area no. 32 in StEP Wirtschaft 2040

Risk: The district says the emptied office parks around Ostkreuz cannot become housing under planning law; Herzbergstraße is a protected production area.

Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg — MediaSpree edge

The highest submarket office vacancy in Berlin, and commercial courtyards whose offices stand empty while their workshops are full.

• MediaSpree office vacancy 21.5% at mid-2026 (Cushman & Wakefield)
• GSG’s 18 Kreuzberg courtyards run 20–25% vacancy; offices are the problem, production space is let
• Markgrafenpark: about 14,000 m² of offices becoming 300+ furnished micro-apartments

Risk: Private buyers turn offices into furnished micro-apartments outside rent regulation, which outbids a cost-rent cooperative.

Spandau — federal and state sites

Federal offices marked for sale, state buildings with open futures and a new quarter of about 3,750 homes at Siemensstadt.

• BImA marked offices at Askanierring and Finkenkruger Weg "sell" (2023 list)
• Staakener Straße 79 (2,476 m² empty) and Kladower Damm 333 (2,779 m²) have no secured follow-on use
• Siemensstadt Square framework plan raised housing to about 3,750 homes (31 March 2026)

Risk: The district reports no significant office vacancy, and Siemensstadt south of Nonnendammallee stays industrial.

BIM (Berliner Immobilienmanagement) and the Land’s Portfolioausschuss

BIM runs concept procedures for cooperatives on a 90-year Erbbaurecht, usually with 30% rent-controlled flats, but has offered only 13 plots to cooperatives in five years and almost no buildings. Ask the Portfolioausschuss, which decides what goes to concept procedures, to put empty state buildings such as Grünauer Straße 140 or Wustrower Straße 18 into one instead of demolition.

BImA, through the Land Berlin’s first-refusal right

Federal sites go to the city first; the discount of €35,000 per new social flat also applies on Erbbaurecht and can be passed on to a cooperative. Name specific "sell" addresses and ask the Senate to exercise first refusal. Berlin has 320,153 m² of empty federal service space; former military sites (including parts of Tegel) are frozen by the Bundeswehr moratorium.

State housing companies (Gesobau, WBM and others)

They already convert buildings they hold: Gesobau turned its former headquarters into 66 flats and is due to take over Haus 41 at Brebacher Weg 19; WBM builds at Haus der Statistik with a cooperative partner. Offer to take on, run or co-develop part of such a building.

Senate, Archdiocese of Berlin and EKBO working group

Set up in September 2025 to review about 120 churches and 180 parish houses, with housing among the uses. The Archdiocese’s property process runs to 2030. Present a cooperative as a ready Erbbaurecht partner for parish houses and adjacent land.

IBB: funding model 4.2 and cooperative funding (GFB 2023)

Model 4.2 funds conversions into subsidised and cooperative rental housing with a loan plus a grant where building costs exceed €1,500/m²; the GFB 2023 also covers conversions, with €24 million a year earmarked for cooperatives in 2026 and 2027.

Insolvency estates and forced sales (Signa, Quartier 206)

Quartier 206 drew a top bid of €40 million against a value of €187 million at Amtsgericht Mitte: a clearing-price benchmark. The Senate holds a pre-emption right on Karstadt Kurfürstendamm, so approach it as a residential partner if it buys.

KfW 266 "Gewerbe zu Wohnen" (federal)

Since 1 July 2026: 30% of eligible costs, up to €30,000 per new flat, for converting offices, shops and similar buildings; Effizienzhaus 85 EE and 10 years of residential use. Apply before signing a construction contract; cooperatives are not named explicitly among applicants, so check the KfW Merkblatt.