Start of construction for a new, innovative project in Hamburg's eastern HafenCity: With the ceremonial groundbreaking, the project partners ECE, UBS DIGITAL ART MUSEUM, Studierendenwerk Hamburg and Harmonia Immobilien today gave the starting signal for the new construction project at Baakenhafen in the presence of Hamburg's Second Mayor Katharina Fegebank, Hamburg's Finance Senator Dr. Andreas Dressel and main investor and ECE CEO Alexander Otto.
ECE Work & Live in cooperation with Harmonia Immobilien is developing TIDE as a major part of the mixed-use building ensemble: several residential buildings with around 600 high-quality owner-occupied and rental apartments in a double waterfront location facing the Elbe and Baakenhafen and with views over the city. Another building will house a student dormitory of the Studierendenwerk Hamburg (Hamburg Student Union) with about 370 residential spaces as well as the UBS Digital Art Museum as a cultural and tourist attraction. In addition, there will be a daycare center, commercial space and restaurants.
At the same time as the groundbreaking ceremony, sales of the condominiums in TIDE, in the first two residential towers BEAT and PULSE, will start immediately. The apartments offer generously designed living areas and bright, light-flooded rooms with lots of glass and floor-to-ceiling window elements as well as exclusive design with various high-quality equipment lines. Large window fronts as well as spacious loggias and landscaped conservatories allow attractive views of the water in the direction of Baakenhafen and the Elbe.
The architecture ensures a varied design through different heights and cubatures, with glass high points and individual facades in clinker look, ceramics and colored recycled concrete. Attractively designed, landscaped courtyards and shared outdoor areas create a high quality of stay.
The cultural highlight of the quarter with international appeal will be the UBS DIGITAL ART MUSEUM. Hamburg's digital pioneer and initiator Lars Hinrichs and his team were able to win one of the world's largest asset managers, UBS, as a strong partner and namesake for the project. In the future, for the first time in Europe, visitors will be able to experience immersive artworks by the international artist collective teamLab on an area of around 6,500 m² Page 2 of 4 and in rooms up to ten meters high, which function without the usual distance between art and viewers. This makes the museum unique in Europe.
While current immersive exhibitions often rely on the digital reproduction of existing great works, teamLab uses complex technologies to create boundless, constantly changing art that interacts with visitors and evolves through them in real time.
The fascination that this form of digital art triggers in the faces of visitors can be marveled at from the opening in summer 2025.
Affordable, publicly subsidized housing in a sustainable design for around 370 students and trainees is offered by the student dormitory as part of Studierendenwerk Hamburg's master plan for housing. It is centrally located close to several Hamburg universities and has excellent public transport connections.
Completion of the total of four buildings in the first construction phase is scheduled for mid-2026. Two further buildings on the site in the direct vicinity of the River Elbe are in the planning stage. The TIDE project has a total investment volume of around 600 million euros and comprises a gross floor area of around 85,000 m² on a site area of around 15,000 m².
In addition to direct public transport connections via the Elbbrücken subway and S-Bahn interchange, the modern mobility services include numerous e-charging stations for cars and bicycles and an extensive car-sharing service. Thanks to the implementation of high energy standards, the use of renewable energies, a CO2-reduced construction method, the use of recyclable building components and a design geared to barrier-free access, the building ensemble offers maximum user comfort and meets HafenCity's highest sustainability standards with the Platinum Ecolabel.
Quotes and statements on the groundbreaking ceremony:
Alexander Otto, CEO of ECE Group: "Especially in these challenging times for the real estate industry, we want to send a positive signal with the start of our TIDE project by creating modern high-quality apartments for different users and a lively urban quarter with a real cultural highlight."
Katharina Fegebank, Science Senator: "With Tide, we are creating 370 new dormitory places for students at a time when affordable housing is urgently needed.They are part of the Housing Master Plan, which forms the important basis for the expansion of the Studierendenwerk's dormitory capacities in the city. However, the TIDE is not only creating affordable housing, but the residential environment is also being made attractive:In addition to the residential quarter on the waterfront, the exciting Digital Art Museum is also being built here which will be located directly below the dormitory. I would like to thank all those involved in the project for their work and look forward to this project!"
Dr. Andreas Dressel, Senator of Finance: "The project will be a further highlight for HafenCity and for our city as a whole! Urgently needed living space for students and trainees, attractive condominiums and rental apartments in prime locations, and, as a world-wide the Digital Art Museum based on the Japanese model - Hamburg has much to look forward to! In view of inflation, increases in construction costs and various bottlenecks, it was a Herculean effort by all involved at HCH, ECE, DAM, Harmonia, Studierendenwerk and many more,that we can break ground here today. Thank you for that - now let's get to work!
Theresa Twachtmann, Managing Director of HafenCity Hamburg GmbH: "This project ensemble is characterized by its particularly intensive mix of uses with a housing, ranging from subsidized apartments for students to rental and owner-occupied apartments on the Elbe. In addition, the UBS Digital Art
Museum enriches the area with an internationally renowned art project that represents digital innovation
and an ever-changing understanding of art, enriches the cultural offerings of the neighborhood and makes an important contribution to placemaking in HafenCity."
Dr. Michael Börner-Kleindienst, Managing Partner of Harmonia Real Estate: "Situated directly on the Elbe River and characterized by high attractiveness, centrality and urbanity, TIDE is a unique new, sustainable quarter with a variety of different complementary uses."
Lars Hinrichs, founder of the UBS DIGITAL ART MUSEUM: "The vision of the UBS DIGITAL ART MUSEUM in Hamburg is taking shape with the groundbreaking ceremony. We will see a building that will make its mark: in the public space, in the digital art scene and Hamburg as a cultural center."
Sven Lorenz, Managing Director of Studierendenwerk Hamburg: "Affordable housing for young people is scarce, and our living space is in high demand. With financial support from the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, urgently needed living space for around 370 students and trainees is created. By offering new, sustainable housing at fair rents, we are making an important contribution to more equal opportunities and to strengthening the attractiveness of Hamburg as a university location. The building project is publicly funded and is subject to a 30-year rental and year lease and earmarking period and is part of our Housing Master Plan."
Photo groundbreaking ceremony, participants from left: Lars Hinrichs (founder of UBS DIGITAL ART MUSEUM), Caren Brockmann (Director of DAM), Theresa Twachtmann (Managing Director of HafenCity Hamburg GmbH), Sven Lorenz (Managing Director of Studierendenwerk Hamburg), Katharina Fegebank (Science Senator), Dr. Andreas Dressel (Senator of Finance), Alexander Otto (CEO of ECE Group), Dr. Michael Börner-Kleindienst (Managing Partner of Harmonia Immobilien), Henrie W. Kötter (CEO of ECE Work & Live), Simon Querndt (ECE Head of Development Office & Residential).