Zurich: Project competitions start for Koch site
On April 20, the four developers on the Koch site - the City of Zurich, Allgemeine Baugenossenschaft Zürich (ABZ), Bau- und Wohngenossenschaft Kraftwerk1 and real estate developer Senn - announced four project competitions.
The plan is to build around 350 non-profit apartments, 50 of which are earmarked for the foundation apartments for large families. In addition, there will be around 16,200 square meters of usable space for commerce and a neighborhood park covering over 13,000 square meters. The park is being built by the city of Zurich itself.
The city had acquired the site in Albisrieden/Altstetten, which covers a good 30,000 square meters, from UBS in December 2013 and paid around CHF 70 million. Part of the site was already occupied at that time.
On June 10, the people of Zurich will be able to decide on the future of the Koch site. The vote will be on a property loan of CHF 42 million, of which CHF 35.1 million is earmarked for the transfer of the two building sites earmarked for the non-profit apartments from the financial to the administrative assets. The remaining 6.9 million are a contingent credit for the project planning of the non-profit residential buildings until the preliminary projects have been completed.
Popular initiative calls for sale to the highest bidder
At the same time as the City Council's proposal, the popular initiative "Living on the Koch site" will also be voted on. This initiative demands that the city of Zurich sell the land to the highest bidder, with the condition, among other things, that residential space, commercial space and a park be built on the site. The city council rejects the sale of the land: "This is not in line with our strategy. We don't sell off silverware, but grant building rights," says Daniel Leupi, the city's chief financial officer. For the city council's project to be implemented, the electorate must approve the property loan and at the same time reject the popular initiative.
From April 20, the application period for participation in the competition procedures will run. The city council would like to receive applications from architectural teams for the residential and commercial properties and from landscape architects for the neighborhood park. The start of the competition is scheduled for mid-July - provided the project is approved by the electorate. The results are expected to be published in early summer 2019.
