A German real estate developer stopped the dismantling of the Berlin Wall amid a protest on the residential project, reported Bloomberg Businessweek.
Nearly 6,000 protesters took to the streets and disrupted workers yesterday saying the project was destroying the Cold War's legacy.
According to Deutsche Presse-Agentur, Berlin's Mayor Klaus Wowereit was willing to draw a negotiation from the heated protest, reported Bloomberg. The Berlin Wall separated the communist East Germany from West Berlin and it remains to be a major tourist attraction today.
The developer was supposed to remove a 22-meter, or a 72-foot, piece of the wall adjacent to the River Spree. The space would be needed for a 35 million-euro, $46 million, real estate project, according to the industry newsletter Thomas Daily.
"The crane has been taken away. We won't move any more wall segments for the time being," said Maik Uwe Hinkel, the managing director of Living Bauhaus, a real estate investor, in an interview with the Berliner Zeitung newspaper. "We are ready to talk."
The company notified it would stop dismantling the wall until March 18, which is when they hope to have a settlement with the city district and civil groups.
"We don't have any interest in bringing upheaval to the whole city." said Volker Thoms, a spokesman for Living Bauhaus, in an interview with Bloomberg.
The protest also collected nearly 63,000 signatures from an online petition that asked the wall remain a national monument. Even government officials and higher members of the city assembly and Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union have joined the protest.
"Baywatch" star David Hasselhoff tweeted, "how can you tear down the wall that signifies freedom, perseverance and the sacrifice of human life?" according to Bloomberg.
Since the wall was torn down in 1990, the remaining 0.8 mile portion became known as the "East Side Gallery" and features murals of 50 artists, reported DW.
The development project actually arose from the district mayor who suggested the Living Bauhaus tear down parts of the wall to get access, according to Thoms.
The future project will include 36 apartments near the Berlin Wall , estimated to go for €2,750 and €10,000, or approximately $3,600 and $13,000 , according to the Berliner Zeitung.
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