O’Donnell Moonshine, a spirits manufacturer founded twelve years ago in Berlin, will henceforth consolidate its operational units at a central location in Berlin-Weißensee. This includes bottling, logistics, and office space. The corresponding unit is located in a newly developed property by Prologis, which has a total area of approximately 17,000 square metres. O’Donnell Moonshine will utilise an area of about 5,000 square metres there and will for the first time also independently carry out additional production steps, such as mixing the products.
Completion of the new site is planned for the first half of 2027. August Ullrich, founder of O’Donnell Moonshine, commented on the choice of location by emphasising the company’s origins in Berlin and its aspiration to continue growth in the city. He highlighted that the new location will enable the planning of larger production volumes and a more flexible response to the demands of the expanding international business, in contrast to the initially manual bottling processes in small quantities.
Location Choice and Sustainability
In addition to the specific technical requirements for a food-producing facility, the location within Berlin and good accessibility for employees were important criteria for O’Donnell Moonshine's site decision. With this industrial park on the Industriebahn, Prologis is revitalising a commercial location established for decades and fundamentally renewing its building and energy infrastructure.
The new building complex will be operated entirely electrically. Heating is provided by air-source heat pumps, supplemented by a planned photovoltaic system on the roof. During project planning, Prologis considered the directly adjacent residential development: a green park and recreation area is being created towards the residential buildings, serving as a buffer zone between commercial and residential use. A staggered arrangement of the building structures is also intended to minimise operational noise for residents.
Significance for Berlin as a Business Location
Philipp Feige, Vice President, Head of Capital Deployment and Co-Managing Director Germany at Prologis, underscored the company’s role as a long-term partner enabling company growth and developing locations to harmoniously integrate into the neighbourhood. O’Donnell Moonshine's decision for this location, including taking over the entire development, demonstrates the potential of the matured industrial site. Given scarce land, the city of Berlin is focused on securing and more efficiently utilising existing commercial locations. The Urban Development Plan Economy 2040 envisages activating existing land potential and further developing existing sites, with which the commercially dominated area on the Industriebahn correlates.
Dr. Severin Fischer, State Secretary for Economic Affairs, Energy and Public Enterprises, highlighted that Berlin needs future-proof commercial spaces where companies can produce and grow. He described Prologis’ further development of the Berlin DC5 site as creating the structural prerequisites for O’Donnell Moonshine to centralise production and logistics and continue its company history in Berlin, which represents a positive development for the business location.
- —Prologis celebrated the topping-out ceremony for Berlin DC5 together with O’Donnell Moonshine.
- —State Secretary Dr. Fischer and other representatives of the State of Berlin and project participants were present.
