Signa is a global real estate stock corporation that only cares about maximizing their profits. The corporation consist of hundreds of subsidiary companies, private foundations and letterbox companies. The Karstadt building is owned by the Signa Prime Selection AG together with 25 other “trophy assets”.
For Signa, the only importance lies in the monetary value of the property, not in ensuring the existence of the department store in our neighborhood. Profit for the company is generated through renting retail spaces in the building to other companies that pay high rents for a space in a central location.
With the construction of this massive building, Signa wants to:
- Enlarge the overall area inside the building (from currently about 45.000 m2 to 100.000 m2)
- Reduce the retail space occupied by Karstadt (from currently about 24.000 m2 to 17.000 m2)
- Rent all retail spaces for the highest possible prices
- Maximise their profits
Signa is planning further construction projects at Alexanderplatz, Ku‘damm, Ostbahnhof and Karl-Marx-Strasse (Schnäppchen-Center).
We are paying the price through rising rents and homelessness, loss of small businesses, increase in unemployment and poverty.
We are demanding that the people’s real needs determine the city’s development, not the interests of a profit-driven corporation.