Basel: Claraturm to be built from summer
Construction of the Claraturm at Basel's Messeplatz is scheduled to begin in July of this year. The high-rise is a project of the UBS Sima real estate fund and is being built by the total contractor Halter.
More than ten years ago, the renowned Basel architectural firm Morger Dettli (now Morger Partner) won the competition for the high-rise building on Riehenring - and now it can finally be realized.
This summer, the go-ahead will be given for the Claraturm at Basel's Messeplatz, UBS announced. The tower, which will be about 100 meters high, and an annex building about 20 meters high will contain apartments in particular. Commercial and restaurant space is planned for the first floor. From the second floor, a mix of 1- to 4.5-room apartments will be created, and the top floor will be used for public purposes. A parking garage and bicycle parking spaces will be built in three basement levels.
The owner and developer is Balintra AG, a real estate company of UBS Sima. The Claraturm will create new living space in a central location, says Daniel Brüllmann, Head of Real Estate Switzerland at UBS Asset Management. The city apartments are to be rented out at market rates in the mid-range segment.
The 100-million project will be implemented by Totalunternehmung Halter. The company will also be responsible for leasing all rental space.
Many political and judicial disputes
UBS further announces that the leases in the existing properties on Riehenring had been temporarily extended until June 30, 2018. In the coming weeks, the project will be brought to execution maturity so that construction work can begin in July 2018. Demolition work and preparation of the excavation pit should be completed by spring 2019. Shell construction is expected to be completed in the fall of 2020, he said. Completion and occupation are scheduled for summer 2021.
The realization of the Claraturm was preceded by protracted political and legal disputes. The architectural competition, won by Morger Dettli, had been launched in 2007. In 2010, the UBS Sima fund took over the project from Warteck Invest. The Grand Council approved the development plan in 2013, and in the same year the population approved it after a referendum. The initiator of the referendum then brought two lawsuits, each of which he took all the way to the Federal Court. By 2015, the complainant sued against the development plan, which was dismissed on formal grounds. By November 2017, he sued against the building permit, which the Federal Supreme Court did not uphold even in the last instance. Thus, the approval procedure was completed and the building decision became legally binding.
