Zurich: BBL to sell old headquarters of Meteo Schweiz
The Federal Office for Buildings and Logistics (FBL) has been instructed by the Federal Council to sell the property at Krähbühlstrasse 58 in Zurich. Meteo Schweiz had already vacated the building in 2014.
As one of three federal building and real estate bodies, the FBL is responsible for housing the civilian federal administration. The building at Krähbühlstrasse 58 in Zurich-Fluntern had housed the Federal Office of Meteorology and Climatology (Meteo Schweiz; originally founded as the Central Meteorological Institute) since its construction in 1947. Three years ago, however, new organizational and spatial needs arose for Meteo Schweiz. As a result, the weather service moved to the airport.
"Substantial need for maintenance"
As the Federal Council explains in response to a question from Zurich CVP National Councilor Kathy Riklin, a condition analysis was initially carried out after Meteo Schweiz moved out. The result: the building had a "considerable need for maintenance, which made a complete renovation necessary," according to the Federal Council. At the same time, the possibility of concentrating a large part of the federal administration units housed in Zurich at Krähbühlstrasse 58/Ackermannstrasse 26 in Zurich was examined. Currently, the former Meteo Schweiz site is partially occupied by workplaces of five administrative units (EPA, Seco, BAV, Bakom and Babs).
However, for other planned users, such as the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland and Fedpol, the building cannot meet the needs without structural measures, writes the Federal Council. For a building of this size, it generally takes around seven years from the planning stage, through project planning, financing (real estate message) and building permit, to the completion of a construction project. In addition, on October 1, 2016, the city of Zurich's townscape was included in the federal inventory of Swiss townscapes worthy of protection and of national importance. "This makes construction measures in the neighborhood even more complex and expensive," the Federal Council said in its response to the parliamentary question.
City and Canton of Zurich with right of first refusal
Due to the change in the initial situation, the federal government once again examined all variants regarding the future use of the building (own use or sale), the report continues. The economic viability of the individual variants played a significant role. On the basis of this examination, the Federal Council commissioned the FBL to sell the property. According to Article 13 of the VILB, the public sector has a right of first refusal. As part of the sale process, the FBL would therefore contact the city and canton of Zurich.
According to the local city newspaper "Züriberg / Neumünsterpost", the property at Krähbühlstrasse 58 in Zurich-Fluntern has a size of over 10,000 square meters and is located in a two-story residential zone between the University Hospital and the zoo. As spokespersons from the Zurich Cantonal Department of Construction and the City of Zurich's Department of Structural Engineering told the local paper, the city or the Canton of Zurich has not yet received an offer to purchase the property.
