Basel-Stadt acquires Rosental site

The previous owners of the Rosental site, a group of investors based in Gibraltar, invited several investors to submit a purchase offer in the fall of 2015. Immobilien Basel-Stadt, representing the canton and mandated by the government council, conducted the negotiations with the owners and ultimately prevailed over the competitors. The canton of Basel-Stadt will acquire the site with all buildings as financial assets in the course of this year.

The Rosental site was sold by Syngenta AG to English investors based in Gibraltar in 2007. Since then, the owners have signed numerous new leases and sold individual, smaller parts to the University of Basel (new dental institute building) and private individuals. The site is now marketed under the name Biopark Rosental and is mainly home to tenants from the chemical and life sciences industries. The buildings on the site are mainly industrial buildings (laboratories, offices and storage areas) and mostly date from the recent post-war period (1960s).

According to the canton, the agreed purchase price and the existing leases allow a gross yield in line with the market to be realized. The potential for additional new buildings on the site (plus 80,000 sqm of gross floor area on top of the existing 120,000 sqm) had not been taken into account when determining the purchase price. The construction of new buildings would therefore enable additional value increases.
Basel-Stadt states that the aim of the acquisition is to "ensure the long-term positioning and development of the site in the interests of the canton and the economy".

However, there are some downsides: The previous owners have invested little in the past nine years, BASF will move out as a major tenant in the next few years, and the soil is said to be contaminated with pollutants after long industrial use, according to a report by the Switzerland on Sunday. (ah)