Geneva: SPS buys plot in Pont-Rouge development area

Swiss Prime Site is acquiring the 5,170 square meter Esplanade 4 land parcel, on which a service property with 15 upper floors and a rentable area of 30,000 square meters is to be built. The underlying design plan is legally binding and a general building permit is expected in 2018, according to SPS. Construction is scheduled to start in 2020, with completion planned for 2023.

The site right next to Lancy Pont-Rouge station is the first construction phase of the "Praille-Acacias-Vernets" (PAV) development area in Geneva. Over the next 20 years, PAV will create a new district for 50,000 people on an area of 260 hectares. A total of six buildings are being constructed around the station, which was inaugurated in December, which will be used as offices, stores, restaurants and public and leisure facilities. In addition, 600 apartments are also planned. The foundation stone was laid in June 2016.

From 2019, the Leman Express will stop at Lancy Pont-Rouge station and offer a direct train connection to Geneva Central Station and France five times an hour. Geneva city center can thus be reached in five minutes.

Peter Lehmann, CEO of Swiss Prime Site Immobilien, says: "For us, the location has the same potential as Hardbrücke in Zurich." In the summer, SPS sold two buildings from its major "Espace Tourbillon" project in Geneva to the Hans Wilsdorf Foundation. The acquisition at Lancy Pont-Rouge station is now "the best of all reinvestment opportunities".