Chiasso: Centro Ovale to be revitalized

The Centro Ovale shopping center in Chiasso achieved sad notoriety as Switzerland's first "dead mall": it was built in 2011, but it failed to achieve real success - not least because of shopping tourism to nearby Italy. By the end of 2015, the Centro Ovale was already largely empty. A planned repositioning as a shopping center in the luxury segment was ultimately not implemented.

Now the shopping center is to become an office property. According to a report by the Handelszeitung the online travel agency Lastminute.com wants to move its headquarters to the former shopping center. Accordingly, around 400 employees of the company would move into Centro Ovale.

As Bruno Arrigoni, mayor of Chiasso, told the Handelszeitung said, three of the shopping center's four floors are to be occupied by the Lastminute.com Group. The fourth floor is to be leased to external small and medium-sized companies from the digital/high-tech sector. Only the lowest floor will be occupied by retailers. The idea is to turn the unsuccessful shopping center into a "Centro Digitale, or digital pool," Arrigoni told the Handelszeitung.

However, the submitted project and the application for change of use still have to be approved in the cantonal capital Bellinzona.