Basel: FHNW to leave Peter Merian House
Since large, contiguous office spaces are in short supply in Basel, the University of Applied Sciences of Northwestern Switzerland (FHNW) is to leave its location in the Peter-Merian-Haus near the SBB train station and move to a new site. The canton of Basel-Stadt wants to make the vacated space available to entrepreneurs willing to relocate.
Today, the FHNW operates a partial location of the Hochschule für Wirtschaft FHNW in the Peter-Merian-Haus (Peter Merian-Strasse 86) in Basel on approximately 7,500 square meters. Currently, more than 700 students are enrolled at the Basel location alone and around 100 employees have their place of work in the Peter-Merian-Haus.
The existing building, a rental property, has great potential for attracting value-added companies, the FHNW and the canton of Basel-Stadt wrote in a joint media release. The FHNW is therefore willing to consider a new location for the university. Two locations - one in Basel-City and one in the municipality of Münchenstein - emerged from an evaluation carried out by the Office of Economics and Labor in spring 2016.
A decision should be available by the end of 2016 at the latest on whether the FHNW School of Business can be transferred to a new building owned by the public sector. (ah)
