"Mister Glattpark" Beny Ruhstaller steps down
After more than 20 years at the helm of area marketing for the Opfik district of Glattpark, Beny Ruhstaller is stepping down. His successor has already been appointed.
For a long time, he resisted the title "Mister Glattpark," explains Beny Ruhstaller, but in the meantime he has accepted it: "Glattpark was actually one of the most important mandates of my professional career and many people identified me with it. That's why I'm a little proud of the title myself today," says Ruhstaller, who is considered one of Switzerland's most important location managers.
For 21 years, Ruhstaller served as managing director of an association of several property owners to form an overarching area marketing organization. The story of today's IGG Glattpark began in the early 2000s. At that time, the three largest landowners of the area now known as Glattpark - the city of Zurich, the city of Opfikon and the real estate company Allreal - wanted to jointly market the new development area.
The goal: to realize an urban planning vision
Ruhstaller, at that time still managing director at Halter Immobilien, prevailed with his concept in a call for tenders: A common brand was to be created, from which in turn all individual projects would benefit. The new organization - the Glattpark Area Marketing - was to be an information hub for property owners, the media and the general public, but also provide marketing services to the property owners.
But the main thing was not simply to build offices and apartments, but to realize an urban development vision, according to a statement by IGG Glattpark on Ruhstaller's farewell.
IGG Glattpark today includes 32 owners
In May 2002, the founding meeting of the Glattpark Area Marketing took place. At that time, 16 of the total of 21 property owners joined forces in the new organization and elected Ruhstaller as its managing director. Today, the organization is called IGG Glattpark and has 32 property owners. "Hardly anyone would have thought when the area marketing was founded in 2002 that the organization would last longer than the start of construction. The fact that beyond that point everyone understood the importance of continuing joint communication and coordination of landowner interests is remarkable," Ruhstaller says. According to the organization, the landowners have invested around four million CHF in the joint representation of interests over the 21 years.
He is handing over his mandate "with one eye crying and one eye laughing," Ruhstaller said. He will be succeeded at the helm of IGG Glattpark by Karin Blömeke, owner of Immoberatung GmbH. (ah)
