Köniz: Businesspark Liebefeld becomes a school location
The canton of Bern rents almost 10,000 square meters in the Liebefeld business park in Köniz to accommodate school classes. The planned partial conversion of the building thus seems to be off the table.
After Swisscom moved out of the Liebefeld Business Park in Köniz (BE) a good two years ago, the property with around 26,000 sqm of usable space was largely vacant. The owner Swiss Life therefore planned to convert part of the building into residential space. 77 one- and two-bedroom apartments were planned; a corresponding building application had already been submitted.
According to information from the Bernese newspaper Swiss Life has called off the project. Demand for office space has picked up and the company is confident that it will be able to rent out the 9,000 sqm still available, the newspaper quotes a spokeswoman as saying.
A few weeks ago, the Canton of Bern decided to rent a good 10,000 square meters in the Liebefeld Business Park. In doing so, it intends to meet the increased demand for space at the high schools, and the rooms will also serve as a replacement location for the Neufeld and Kirchenfeld high schools during their renovation. According to the canton, the annual rental costs amount to CHF 2.7 million, and a loan of CHF 32.7 million is required for the expansion. (ah)
