Overview
- A Hamburg investor made public plans on July 1, 2026 to demolish a surviving bunker from the New Reich Chancellery and build a seven‑storey block with 66 apartments plus an office building.
- Berlin’s housing senator, Christian Gaebler, publicly supported not blocking the development to meet urgent housing needs and warned preservation could create a pilgrimage site for extremists.
- The Berlin State Monuments Council formally opposes demolition and has urged the State Office for the Preservation of Historical Monuments to assess the site for listing and protection.
- Preservationists led by Dietmar Arnold say the bunker is well preserved, with very thick concrete walls and ceilings, and propose converting the site into a memorial or building above it without full demolition.
- The next steps are a heritage assessment and the usual planning approvals, and the outcome will shape how Berlin balances central housing shortages with decisions about preserving material traces of the Nazi regime.