Major development in Bern-Bethlehem gets underway
A mixed-use neighborhood is to be built where the Bethlehem Center is located today. The corresponding zoning ordinance is in the public consultation phase.
New buildings are to be constructed on the site of the Bethlehem Center at Riedbachstrasse 8, 9, 10 and 12 in the Bethlehem West district. The project sponsors are the two landowners - the Migros Aare Cooperative (GMAA) and the Fund for Land and Housing Policy of the City of Bern - as well as the Band Cooperative and the non-profit housing association Baugenossenschaft Brünnen-Eichholz as building leaseholders. Planned are apartments, most of them affordable, as well as shopping and commercial areas. All this will be combined with attractive outdoor and green spaces.
The GMAA wants to build a new supermarket on the northern part of the West Area, where the Betlehem Center is located today. This is to be supplemented by third-party tenants, mainly from the retail trade. In addition, around 130 1.5- to 5.5-room apartments will be built, one third of which will be affordable. On the southern part of the site, the housing association Baugenossenschaft Brünnen-Eichholz plans to build around 70 affordable 1.5- to 5.5-room apartments on a building lease plot owned by the Fund for Land and Housing Policy.
The Band cooperative plans to relocate from Riedbachstrasse 9 to the southern part of the West site. There it wants to realize commercial and service areas on a building lease plot of the Fund for Land and Housing Policy. A total of over 300 jobs and integration positions are to be created. At the previous strip site, mainly apartments are to be built later.
In the center of the site, a neighborhood square is planned as a meeting and recreation area; the so-called Mittelweg will connect the new urban district with the Brünnengut park and the Tscharnergut development. Within the two building areas, larger contiguous and ecologically valuable open and green spaces are planned for play and encounters.
The public consultation period for the zoning ordinance will last until August 25, 2022, and the referendum is expected to take place in the fall of 2024, according to the city of Bern. (ah)
