Zurich: City seeks developer for Koch site
A new urban quarter is to be built on the Koch site in Zurich-Albiesrieden. The city of Zurich has now launched a developer tender for this.
Around 350 affordable apartments, 15,500 square meters of commercial space and a 13,200-square-meter publicly accessible neighborhood park are to be built on the Koch site by 2023, according to the city of Zurich. A developer tender for the residential and commercial uses began June 1 and is expected to be completed in September 2017. The city of Zurich acquired the approximately 30,000 sqm site from UBS four years ago for around CHF 70 million.
The building sites for residential and commercial use are put out to tender by the city of Zurich under building law. The "wohnbaugenossenschaften zürich" (wbg) was entrusted with the tendering of the two residential building sites among non-profit developers. Wüest Partner is supporting the city in the tendering process for the commercial construction site among commercial and non-profit developers. The neighborhood park on the fourth construction site is being planned by Grün Stadt Zürich.
According to the city of Zurich, the living and working concepts are to meet increased requirements in terms of sustainability as well as ecological, social and economic aspects. With the realization of the commercial building, the city intends to give a further impulse to the "Workplace Zurich". The target group is primarily the commercial and creative industries, which are commercial/industrial but also service-oriented.
Start of construction possible from 2019
The jury and the decision for the selected developers by the city of Zurich are scheduled for September 2017. After the evaluation of the developers, the best concepts will be further developed in an architectural competition, including the park design. The architectural competition will start at the beginning of 2018 and last until the end of 2018. Subsequently - in the years 2019 to 2020 - the development of the special use planning is planned. The period from 2019 to 2023 is planned for the project planning and realization of the building structures. The apartments and commercial space should be ready for occupancy in 2023.
The Koch site is currently still occupied. According to reports from local media, the squatters are allowed to stay on the site until construction begins, because the city council rejects evictions for the time being.
As the newspaper reports further, the FDP has submitted the initiative "Wohnen und Leben auf dem Koch-Areal" (Living on the Koch site). The Free Democrats want to sell the property to a private investor under certain conditions. They argue that this investor could realize a construction project more quickly.
