Bern: Almost 31 million for the Gaswerk site

If the Bern City Council approves the proposal, voters are expected to decide on the purchase of the site in February 2020.

Gas was produced from coal on the gasworks site until the 1970s. For around 50 years, the site, which is heavily contaminated with pollutants, has largely lain fallow and is mainly used for interim storage and parking.

As the landowner, Energie Wasser Bern (EWB) initially planned to combine the remediation of the contaminated site with a construction project and concluded a project development agreement with Losinger Marrazi for this purpose.

The city council resisted; the city wants to develop the area near the center itself. The plan is to build apartments, commercial and cultural space, and public open spaces. To do this, however, the city has to buy the site from EWB.

According to the city of Bern, a purchase agreement has been negotiated. The purchase price amounts to a total of CHF 30.76 million. The sum includes the price for the land and the existing buildings as well as compensation totaling 1.95 million for preliminary planning work by EWB and Losinger Marazzi. Irrespective of the purchase transaction, EWB must remediate the contaminated sites at its own expense to the tune of an estimated 19.8 million.

In order to develop the site, it must be rezoned; it is currently in a zone for public use. Because the land has not yet been rezoned and the purchase price is therefore higher than the current land value, the city is taking a certain risk, the statement continues. Whether the land value will increase in the future is still uncertain and depends largely on whether and how the land is rezoned.

The voters must decide on the zoning plan amendment as well as on any levy in building rights and on investments by the City of Bern. (ah)