Development despite Recession
On September 1, "Spiegel Online International" sugggests that the damper put on big real estate developments by the global financial crisis has not effected Eco City Hamburg, with its first tenant moving in in July.
With the recession easing and oil prices rising, plans to build ultragreen model cities seem to be reviving.
Of the €120 million projected cost, developers have already shelled out €25 million for Hamburg's new "sustainable creative-industrial environment which brings large-scale industry and creative start-ups together in one cooperative and eco-friendly business community."
Once the site of a comb factory, the 10-building mini-city will, continues Spiegel, reduce energy-consumption by about 30%, while rent is 25% lower than in central Hamburg, which is only a 20 minute commute away.
There certainly seems to be a continuing interest, the magazine concludes, in green projects. Clean-technology venture investment rebounded in the second quarter of 2009 after two consecutive quarterly declines.
