Barmbek-Süd had faced major destruction during the Bombing of Hamburg in World War II. It was mainly rebuilt in the 1950s, including parks and apartment buildings with the typical brick architecture. In 1970 the major mall of "Einkaufszentrum Hamburger Straße" (today Shopping-Center Hamburger Meile) opened, then considered as the largest mall within a city in Germany. In the 1990s the office area of "Alster-City" was built on the site of the former gasworks.