The tall logo at the top of the building is a remnant of glorious times.
But these have passed.
National and international press agencies sent the current affairs from here to the whole world.
Today the high-rise is rotting away.
Homeless people who found their way inside through pieces of broken glass
are spending their nights in the former press center.
The police has to move in regularly because of copper thieves and vandals.
And this time because of us.
We proudly announce that we’re launching our very first collection of BWT-merchandise today!
We have been working on the designs for quite some time now
and we’re happy to finally be able to share them with you.
Take a look at the merch in our Spreadshirt shop.
And that’s not the only thing that’s new.
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With its 13 stories this office tower can be seen from far and wide.
For over ten years the giant has been decaying more and more.
On the second to last day of our urbex road trip in Austria
our local friend from the YouTube channel S3G Photography has shown us the former press center.
There was only little space for cars in the underground garage.
In the proximity of the building there were only limited parking lots too.
A direct access to a metro station is completely missing.
These were only some of the reasons that sealed the downfall of this colossus.
Until the end you could find a branch bank based in the ground-floor.
Today the former functions of these rooms can only be guessed.
In 2004, even a violent bank robbery with several armed perpetrators took place right here.
They managed to escape. But we don’t know whether they got caught some day or not.
"property management"
In 1970, the building was brought to completion.
Tenants from the beginning were local and international newswires as well as television networks.
They were - amongst others - from Germany, China, Iran and Iraq.
The whole area became a media center.
But in the following years many tenants moved out one after another.
Mainly to more central districts.
“On 06-17-1998: Doctor's office will be closed”
The largest rent payer finally left the building in 2005.
Since then the office tower has been abandoned.
Originally, the place was build with asbestos.
But according to experts’ reports the house isn’t contaminated.
However, for safety's sake we wore our respirator masks.
“What?!” – “This is the only way.”
„Are you sure?“ – „What??!“
“This will be really tough.”
“Can anyone lift me up?“ – “Lift you up??“ – “Yes.“
“And how the hell are we supposed to get down again?“
“I will never fit through this?!“
“What the hell??“
“What the hell!“
„Yo, Marco. Should I rather take a video or a picture of you?“
“I like both ideas.“
“Let me show what we are doing.“
“We have a camera…“
“…on a plank…“
„…which we placed here.“
“So the camera is inside the hoistway.“
"And we can get this shot.“
Two years ago a big anti-terror operation took place here.
The former press center was stormed by dozens of policemen
after witnesses spotted two John Does breaking into the vacant tower.
Both men were said to carry longish black bags.
But the special unit didn’t find anyone in the building.
The officers had withdrawn as a result, only the plain-clothes policemen waited.
Several hours later the unknown persons left the building.
This was the moment when the police clamped down.
Four cell phones were seized but there was no trace of the gym bags.
Both men were set free due to lack of adequate suspicion.
One of them said that they were only drinking a beer up there.
Today the building is growing lonely.
It’s called haunted house in the media because the high-rise block is nothing more than an eerie empty shell.
A couple years ago, the site was acquired by an architect.
A room for startups and modern flats were supposed to be created here.
But nothing ever happened.
It even should become a refugee hostel.
But the redevelopment was simply too expensive.
And so the building is rotting away.
Illegal parties, arsonists, copper thieves and vandals are keeping the local police busy.
As well as urban explorers.
When our Austrian friend climbed another antenna he was spotted by patrol cops.
Over the loudspeaker they told us to come down immediately.
It wasn’t that bad, we had already finished our exploration anyway.
And we were lucky. We got away only with a warning.
We hope you enjoyed the latest episode.
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See you next time!