Flawil: A cooperative for the Sticker Quarter

A non-profit housing and building cooperative is to be founded in order to make land policy in the Stickerquartier near the railroad station in Flawil (SG) more active. The municipality has now taken the first step in this direction: it owns three properties in the area between Wilerstrasse and Oberdorfstrasse and between Rösslistrasse and Enzenbühlstrasse. It would like to transfer these to the future cooperative on a building lease basis.

According to the municipality, the idea of founding a non-profit real estate cooperative came up in 2020, and it should be founded by the end of 2024. The municipal council does not want to found the "Lebendiges Stickerquartier" housing and building cooperative itself, but rather encourage people to do so, it explains. The housing and building cooperative is to be a non-profit organization so that it can claim any financial aid from the federal government's housing subsidy and also offer apartments with affordable rents for individuals and families on a long-term basis, so that the neighbourhood is mixed across social and generational boundaries.

When the cooperative is founded, the three properties owned by the municipality at Neugasse 10, Sternenstrasse 14 and Oberdorfstrasse 25 are to be transferred as building rights. The three building rights are to be granted until December 31, 2122. According to the municipality, the value of the building rights contracts amounts to a total of CHF 530,000, which corresponds to the land value of the properties.

With the establishment of the building rights, the newly founded housing and building cooperative acquires ownership of the existing residential buildings. The three buildings will be sold at a total price of CHF 1.19 million, with the purchase price to be financed by interest-free loans from the municipality, as the cooperative does not yet have any liquid funds. In return, the cooperative undertakes to renovate the properties quickly and then keep them in good condition.

The citizens' assembly of Flawil will vote on this project at the end of November. (ah)