Zurich: 265 new apartments for Altstetten
Liegenschaften Stadt Zürich and two municipal foundations are planning a housing development in Altstetten with a total of 265 apartments. The construction costs amount to just under CHF 134 million.
The development is to be built on the Letzibach D site at Hohlstrasse 444-456, which the city acquired from the SBB in 2013. The development, named "Letzi," will include 265 apartments, commercial space, a double kindergarten, an underground parking garage with 64 parking spaces, over 400 bicycle parking spaces, and a pedestrian and bicycle path along the track.
Liegenschaften Stadt Zürich (LSZ), the Stiftung Alterswohnungen (SAW) and the Stiftung Wohnungen für kinderreiche Familien (SWkF) are jointly building the development. The foundations are to take over the land for their parts of the development in building rights. According to the city of Zurich, the total investment costs, including land, reserves and value-added tax, amount to CHF 133.9 million.
The project "Mira" by the team Gut&Schoep Architekten and Neuland ArchitekturLandschaft is being implemented. A coherent structure will house 81 apartments of LSZ and 53 apartments of SWkF. The end of the settlement towards the intersection Hohl-/Flurstrasse will be formed by an approximately 70-meter-high high-rise building with 131 SAW apartments. The building will meet the Minergie-P-Eco standard.
In the residential part of LSZ, 3- and 4.5-room apartments make up the main part, and in the SAW high-rise, small apartments suitable for the elderly are planned, almost half of which will have 2.5 rooms. SWkF will build 4.5-, to 6.5-room apartments in the housing estate. According to current calculations, the net rent for a cantilevered, average 95-square-foot, 4.5-room apartment in the LSZ section will be CHF 1,560; the rents charged by the two foundations are reportedly within a comparable range. Since the two foundations aim for a very high share of subsidized apartments in new construction projects (SAW: 80%, SWkF: 65%), no LSZ apartments are to be subsidized. Considering the whole settlement, the share of subsidized apartments is 42%.
If the municipal council approves the property loan of 57.76 million, the loan is expected to be submitted to the voters in November of this year. Construction work could then begin in summer 2021; first occupancy is planned for spring 2025. The commercial space is expected to be advertised for lease in fall 2023, and the apartments in fall 2024, according to the city of Zurich. (ah)
