Overview
- An auction in Hamburg concluded on Thursday, June 4, when Norddeutsche Grundstücksauktionen AG sold the former entmagnetization platform Ostervilm for €60,000 after about 20 bids.
- The winning bidder is Austrian modular-housing company McCube, whose CEO said the firm envisions cultural and event uses such as weddings or concerts but has not announced firm plans.
- Ostervilm is a Cold War‑era concrete platform built in 1954 on roughly 600 wooden piles in about ten metres of water with about 250 m² of usable building area and about 710 m² of total land-and-water area.
- The site is heavily dilapidated with rotted timber, rusted steel, broken windows, settlement cracks and pervasive bird guano, and is accessible only by boat, all of which will raise repair, transport and permitting costs.
- Long-time owners Gerhard Benz and Peer Wennmakers bought the platform after reunification but could not finance redevelopment, and the sale transfers responsibility for technical work, environmental checks and any collaboration with local partners to the new owner.