Overview
- Lawmakers from the SPD, Greens, CDU and AfD approved the contract transferring the Baakenhöft site and setting the financing framework, with the Left voting no.
- The Kühne Foundation has pledged up to about €330–340 million, while the city commits €147.5 million for site-specific costs and roughly €104 million for land preparation, the promenade and shore works.
- The winning design by Bjarke Ingels Group envisions a glass opera house with publicly accessible, spiraling rooftop terraces overlooking the Elbe.
- Extended pre-planning and a robust cost estimate will precede the foundation’s final decision on realization, with construction possible from 2030 and completion potentially in 2034.
- Opposition groups delivered about 10,000 signatures, academics urged a moratorium and an inquiry commission, and critics raised concerns about colonial-era and Nazi-era historical links tied to the Baakenhafen site and Kühne + Nagel.