St.Gallen: Rex cinema centre to make way for new building

The Rex cinema at Zwinglistrasse 2 in St.Gallen was built around 1950 and was rebuilt and extended several times in the following years. Since 2018, the cinema has been closed and HRS Real Estate has taken over the building from the operator Kitag.

How the St.Galler Tagblatt reports, the real estate company is planning a residential development on the site. The building application is with the city. According to the report, HRS wants to replace the cinema building and a single-family house behind it on the slope with secondary buildings. The design by Staufer & Hasler Architects calls for two new buildings: A two-story base is to be erected on the site of the old cinema building, and on top of that a structure with five full stories and an attic floor. A three-story building is planned on the terraced area behind it. On the western side, there are three apartments on top of each other; on the eastern side, the building is a row single-family house over the three floors.

A total of 17 condominiums and a terraced single-family house are to be built in the new buildings, the report continues. Commercial premises are planned for the basement level facing Blumenbergplatz. An underground parking garage with 24 parking spaces is planned in the rear part of the lower basement level.

HRS is acting as investor, developer and general contractor in the project. The investment volume will be around CHF 19 million. Construction work is scheduled to start as soon as the building permit has been issued. This could be as early as the end of 2019. (ah)