In the early 20th century, the site was originally home to Berlin's bustling
city center. During
World War II, it was the location of the infamous Nazi
People's Court. Most of the buildings in its vicinity were destroyed or damaged during
World War II. From 1961 onwards, most of the area became part of the "No Man's Land" of the
Berlin Wall, resulting in the destruction of the remaining buildings. After the
fall of the Berlin Wall on 9 November 1989, the square became the focus of attention again, as a large (some ), attractive location in the heart of a major European capital city had suddenly become available. As part of a redevelopment effort for the area, the space was to be developed. In 1992, Sony acquired the site from the Berlin city government for 97.2 million German marks, about US$61.6 million. Shortly after, the
European Commission briefly investigated whether Sony paid less than the market price. Over the following years, a total of eight buildings were designed by
Helmut Jahn and
Peter Walker as landscape architect, and construction was completed in 2000 at a total cost of 750 million euros. The iconic vaulted roof covering the central open area between the main buildings was engineered and built by
Waagner-Biro using steel, glass and translucent fabric. In February 2008 Sony sold the Sony Center for less than 600 million euros to a group of German and US investment funds, including investment bank
Morgan Stanley,
Corpus Sireo and an affiliate of
The John Buck Company. The group sold the Sony Center to the
National Pension Service of
South Korea for 570 million euros in 2010. In 2017,
Oxford Properties and Madison International Realty acquired the complex for close to 1.1 billion euros. From 1999 until 2019,
CineStar operated a cinema, Cinestar Sony Center, and an
IMAX theater in the center. Both were used for screenings in the
Berlin International Film Festival until their closure. == Design ==