The site is the former location of the Kaisergalerie shopping center, opened in 1873, destroyed by an air raid in 1943, and demolished in 1957.

The site remained vacant until the East German state-run Interhotel monopoly decided to build a flagship luxury hotel for Western tourists in the 1980s.

[6] The hotel was eventually sold, along with a number of other former Deutsche Interhotels properties, and renamed The Westin Grand Berlin on July 1, 1997.

[8] Blackstone renovated and remodeled the hotel from November 2007 to April 2008, including the addition of a seventh floor on top, adding 41 new rooms.

[9] Blackstone sold the ten Deutsche Interhotels properties they still owned, including the Westin Grand, to Starwood Capital and Brookfield Asset Management in 2014.