The Bahntower (), also written as BahnTower and Bahn-Tower, is a 26-story, skyscraper on the

Potsdamer Platz Potsdamer Platz (, ''Potsdam Square'') is a public square and traffic intersection in the center of Berlin, Germany, lying about south of the Brandenburg Gate and the Reichstag building, Reichstag (Bundestag, German Parliament Building), and ...

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

, Germany. Built between 1998 and 2000, the Bahntower provides of office space for the headquarters of

Deutsche Bahn (, ; abbreviated as DB or DB AG ) is the national railway company of Germany, and a state-owned enterprise under the control of the German government. Headquartered in the Bahntower in Berlin, it is a joint-stock company ( AG). DB was fou ...

(). It is the sixth-tallest building in Berlin and the sixty-fourth tallest building in Germany.

History

In 2007 and 2008, it was reported that small pieces of glass had fallen onto the street from cracks in the façade. This was followed by a near-fatal incident in 2016 in which a pane of glass measuring fell onto a car on the street below. The original owner of the skyscraper was

Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at Sony City in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The Sony Group encompasses various businesses, including Sony Corporation (electronics), Sony Semiconductor Solutions (i ...

as part of the wider Sony Center. In February 2008,

Morgan Stanley Morgan Stanley is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company headquartered at 1585 Broadway in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. With offices in 42 countries and more than 80,000 employees, the firm's clients in ...

and others bought the Sony Center with the tower for €600million. In 2007, Deutsche Bahn had planned to move to a new headquarters built by Danish company 3XN outside the

Berlin Hauptbahnhof Berlin Hauptbahnhof () (English: Berlin Central Station) is the main railway station in Berlin, Germany. It came into full operation two days after a ceremonial opening on 26 May 2006. It is located on the site of the historic Lehrter Bahnhof, ...

, although this fell through and Deutsche Bahn extended its Bahntower contract. When Morgan Stanley's real estate funds came into difficulties they sold their stake to South Korea's National Pension Service in 2010. In 2016, the Bahntower was featured in the Berlin skyline scene, which is part of the Lego Architecture series.

References

External links

{{Portal bar, Germany, Architecture Skyscrapers in Berlin Buildings and structures in Berlin Helmut Jahn buildings Skyscraper office buildings in Germany Office buildings completed in 2000 Deutsche Bahn